Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum site is a great spot for finding photos, videos, and other media to assist students in their learning and teachers in their lesson plans. The site goes far beyond the typical photos you see about an event or mission, going into more minute detail, for example, with objects showing what food astronauts ate and how they took care of their daily hygiene. The vast array of material available allows for some deep dives, with large object collections for topics like the Apollo 11 program (250 objects), International Space (180 objects), Instruments and Avionics (3,553 objects), and so many others.

Students can do their own research on the site to learn about current and past air and space projects, publications, resources, and even fellowships, and the many well-written articles cover a wide array of topics. Teachers can utilize the many educator guides and activity instructions for classroom use. The STEM in 30 show, the events with live chat, and the virtual field trips allow for some great virtual learning, either when doing school from home or back in the classroom.

Unfortunately, the website isn't well organized and can be hard to navigate, with too many places to look. It's easy to lose track of how you found things in the past. There isn't a systematic way to explore the resources other than by search or browsing by topic. Materials aren't all searchable by grade level, and different links often take you to the same place. Portions of the site haven't been updated recently, so the site doesn't have a cohesive look, and there's the occasional broken link. But if you can find what you're looking for, the material is top-notch.