NASA's popular educational Web site, Space Place, has announced a new Spanish-language version for children and their families.
The Web site at http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov and its new Spanish companion at http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/espanol serve children 8 to 13 years of age. The site contains approximately 40 activities, including games and "amazing facts" about space, Earth and NASA.
The 2000 census data shows that Spanish is the primary language for more than 27 million people living in the U.S. Of those, nearly 13 million feel they do not speak English very well.
"This Web site is dedicated to reaching that audience. NASA is committed to explaining the results of its programs to the entire American public in all its diversity," said Dr. Jeffrey Rosendhal, education and outreach director of NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.
The Space Place site launched in early 1998 and continues to add new activities every month. Its educational value has been recognized by the National Science Teachers Association, the International Technology Education Association, Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and several children's educational Web sites.
The Space Place is an outreach effort of the New Millennium Program, managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena.