NASA Sites Provide Educational Space Exploration
Space adventures are just a click away on NASA’s educational Web site, NASA Quest (www.quest.arc.nasa.gov). The site incorporates activities for K-12 students and resources for teachers that relate to the areas of astronomy, astrobiology and aerospace. Students can view profiles of NASA experts complete with stories about their workdays, as well as participate in live interactions with these experts. Interactive tutorials allow students to experiment with planetary features and see the resulting outcomes. The site also enables teachers to search by subject and/or grade level for lesson plans and activities. Other useful tools of the site include a calendar to keep teachers posted on Webcasts and other events in which students and teachers can partake, as well as a section dedicated to the “Women of NASA.”
Noticiencias NASA (http://ksnnsp.larc.nasa.gov) is an online Spanish-language resource for students in grades K-5. Sponsored by NASA’s Office of Biology and Physical Research and produced by NASA’s Langley Research Center for Distance Learning as part of its Hispanic Education Initiative, the site is designed to introduce young Hispanics to the world of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, as well as NASA missions and research. The site uses animated characters and video to help young students understand the everyday phenomena of the world, such as why the sky is blue. An English version of the site, NASA’s Kids Science News Network, is also available at http://ksnn.larc.nasa.gov.