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.nasa.gov and its new Spanish
companion at http://spaceplace.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.
NASA Ames Research Center, in the heart of California’s Silicon
Valley, is working cooperatively with NASA Headquarters, JPL and other
NASA field centers to better serve Spanish-speaking communities and
individuals throughout the United States.
