Take students light years into the future with sites that explore the outer reaches of space.

For these and additional related resources, visit NetWatch online at www.oct.ca.

For past editions of NetWatch and additional sites for most topics can be found online at Archives.

by Lynda Scarrow

Star treks

Canadian Space Agency


Arts Edge

fly Canadian
www.asc-csa.gc.ca

Our own Canadian Space Agency’s site has nice interactive features for kids. Animations show how Dextre, the space station robot, works, and you can print the corresponding colouring pages or colour them online. Send postcards to astronaut Bob Thirsk. Multimedia resources can be ordered.


Nasa Kids’ Club


Incredible Art Department

flashy web site
www.nasa.gov

Choose For Students to get to the Nasa Kids’ Club where information is organized by skill level. Content is beautifully and simply presented, with lots of detail. Navigation is set up in spaceship-like control panels, and students can help Buzz Lightyear ensure that the next load of mission supplies meets weight specifications. The main site has lots of great teacher resources.


Amazing Space


Larry's Toon Institute

well-designed option
amazing-space.stsci.edu


Want to see what’s happening in the sky tonight? Amazing Space offers solid information. Discover lots of resources under For Educators and Developers, including classroom activities and educator guides. Online Explorations has great Flash presentations.


Google Sky


Cybermuse

Google space maps
www.google.com/sky

Google turns its eye to the skies with images from Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Digitized Sky Survey and the Hubble Space Telescope. Type the name of a planet in the search box to map its current location. Or click on the Solar System icon, for thumbnails of current planet locations.


National Geographic


Artsonia

excellent resources
science.nationalgeographic.com/science

imageYou have to sift through other science information, but it is well worth it to access the space materials on this site. Scroll through the Science and Space multimedia bar to access the Interactive Solar System, and scroll down the main page for the Floatable Planet, Space Photos This Week and the Moon Mysteries and Myths quiz. The left-hand navigation provides a complete list of resources. Then find exceptional videos at http://video.nationalgeographic.com.


Hubble Site


Artsonia

well-known options
hubblesite.org

image Some of the most up-to-date information geared to Grade 5 and higher regarding what is happening in the night skies is found on the Hubble Telescope site. A weekly podcast presents the latest discoveries; Google Earth helps you to scan the sky nightly or be a detective and discover a black hole. This site is well worth a visit!


Lynda Scarrow is the College's web editor. She can be reached at lscarrow@oct.ca.

For French sites visit www.oeeo.ca.