Space Ants Websites

Here are a few websites of interest.

I had been wondering about the actual science experiment using the ants on the Space Shuttle in 2003, then it occurred to me... wasn't that the shuttle that burned up as it re-entered the atmosphere? I searched on the internet, and that's when I discovered it was. Shame on me for not remembering. I didn't realize that all those student experiments were on board during that mission.

Today, I did some research, and found STARS Academy, the website that lets you meet the students, the crew, learn about the mission, and the experiments.

http://www.starsacademy.com/sts107/index.html   Click here to go directly to the homepage of the STARS program website. To reach the page that features the Fowler High School experiment, Ants in Space, click on Learn About the Experiments, then click on the far right red picture of ants. There you can read the description of their experiment, and their interesting hypothesis. Once you are there, you can link to various other aspects of the STS107 mission such as meeting the crew, the students from USA, Israel, China, Australia, Japan, and Liechtenstein, who created the experiments. There were seven different student-designed experiments taking place on Columbia before its untimely end in February, 2003. When you visit this website, you cannot help but feel the hope and excitement for this mission among the youngest scientists and their teachers.

Then, for the kids I found these two sites with games and activities for kids of all ages.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/home/index.html   Kids can go to this site for games and stories, art, activities, and more. Also, links to other NASA sites including Space Kids, NASA Quest, Space Place, StarChild, KSNN, and Astro-Venture. Check it out!!

http://games.funschool.com/game   This website has some commercial ties, but you can easily avoid the main advertisement by clicking where it tells you near the top. Then you select an appropriate grade level (pre-school through 6th grade) for your child. This will allow you to choose from several games designed for that particular grade level, but don’t let a lower grade level fool you ! I tried playing Bubble ball at third grade level and learned I have no timing! But the kids will excel here. My favorite games were Clean up the Environment, where the kids must seek and click on recyclable trash (plastic, glass, cans, paper) in the environment, then dump it in the correct recycle bin! The Downhill Slalom was fun until I got into the upper grade levels, then I kept crashing my skier into the trees. Animal Homes is really sweet, but I found some of the animals hard to identify.  Mostly, though,  I could match the animals to their homes. At K level I couldn’t figure out where to put the sea otter because I wasn’t sure what he was. I tried two different homes before I got it right. There are many other games at all grade levels. Just for fun. Check it out!

My ants have retired for the evening. I have a towel wrapped around them to give them the darkness they need. I won't peak until tomorrow.