2 min read

Afterschool Students Become 'Space Editors for a Day'

Written by NASA/JPL EduApril 4, 2011

Students in LA's Best selected their favorite images and wrote captions as part of JPL's "Space Editor for a Day" activity.

Credit: NASA/JPL

February conjures up thoughts of Valentine's Day, President's Day and, depending on where you are, a snow day or two. In Los Angeles, February also brings an annual partnership between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and LA's BEST, a Los Angeles-based after-school enrichment program.

The main objective is for JPL engineers, scientists, business managers, outreach staff and educators to visit LA's BEST after-school sites to share exciting topics in science, engineering and space exploration with students. One group from JPL's Office of Communications and Education led a "Space Web Editor for a Day" activity. Fourth and fifth graders selected their favorite space images and wrote captions explaining why they liked the images. They also prepped images and text for a web page. Their final product can be seen below.

I named it colorful Venus because its color is like a rainbow and I like all the colors of the rainbow. - Isabel

I picked Mars because it is cool but I think it is a little bit dangerous. I also like Mars because the dirt is the color brown and brown is my favorite color. - Adriana

I like this image because it looks interesting and I like the shiny things coming out of it. This image is red, and a little bit yellow. I love the color yellow. - Anali

I choose this picture because it looks very interesting. The sun is yellow because the sun is hot and bright. - Jonathan

I like it because it looks like a ball of fire in space. Fire comes out and spreads into space. - Johnny

Saturn's moon Enceladus seen beyond Saturn's rings

You might see it is similar to an eclipse, which more or less happens on Earth. What I think, it is an Eclipse. Since Earth's eclipse is similar, Enceladus is my best guess. - Eduardo

What I like about Neptune is that the color it has is blue. Blue is my favorite color. The shape of it reminds me of a round ball. - Natalia

I like this picture because it looks like a big pink diamond and it heats us up. - Alexandria

I like this image because it looks like a sponge. - Jaime

The moon gets heat from the sun and melts into the moon's surface. The moon may have low density. - Virginia

I like this picture because it looks like floating water in space. I also like this picture because it's cool. - Ammerica

It looks like a lot of stars connecting. The whirlpool looks so bright. To me, it looks like a tornado of ice and water. - Carlos

I picked the Whirlpool galaxy because it is like it is spinning around. It is blue, my favorite color. It is famous. I also like it because it is called Messier 51, named after Charles Messier. - Jacqueline

I like this image because I could learn about this galaxy and where they found it. - Juan

The Whirlpool galaxy is a famous spiral galaxy. The Whirlpool galaxy is also called Messier 51, named after Charles Messier. The Whirlpool's very bright spiral arms show areas of compressed dust and gas. - Maritza

About the Author

NASA/JPL Edu

NASA/JPL Edu supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education by providing NASA and JPL activities, resources and materials to educators and students in grades K-12 as well as STEM internships and research opportunities to higher education students and faculty.