credits

This rather amazing website was originally created as part of my third year Educational Studies and English Dual Honours degree dissertation (!??) at Keele University to investigate the effectiveness of the Internet as a learning tool. Various current cognitive learning theories such as Constructivism and progressive learning influenced the way the project was designed in order that the strengths and weaknesses of these theories, using the Internet as a platform, could also be assessed. This analysis was done through feedback through E-Mails and the Guest Book, through a visit to a primary school and through monitoring of the the number and length of visits to the website.

The website is aimed primarily at school children who may find the site useful for projects and homework and, of course, for anybody interested in the topic of space. Other websites do exist for similar purposes, although finding them isn't always easy! I intended to explain space in an easy-to-understand way, without patronising the user. The wesbsite isn't over-technical, nor is it over-simple. Just about anybody with access to the Internet can view the website, since it doesn't make use of technology that only owners of super-powered computers would benefit from.

Design of the website began in late 1999 (I got as far as deciding my project was going to be about space and even designed a logo - interestingly, its original name was Bob the Alien's Tour of the Galaxy. Well, I find it interesting...) Proper development started at the end of January 2000 and, with a little help from my flatmates and geology expert Gav, the very first pages of Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System appeared on the Internet at the beginning of March 2000. At that time, you could see a title page and a preview of a page about The Sun. After a few difficulties getting pictures to display on published pages, a completed version of the site appeared in the middle of March, The website was hosted on AOL's Hometown and had a positive start. In its first month, it won the Stately Homepage Competition run by AOL (UK). Six years have gone by since Bob the Alien made his internet debut and the site has seen a few changes, mainly a few new pages and some design changes. In the future, Bob the Alien plans to expand his horizons and explore other things other than space. If you have any questions about the website, its development, or the conclusions that I reached from my research, please E-Mail me at bob@bobthealien.co.uk

This website was developed with Microsoft FrontPage Express (although is now maintained with FrontPage 2000). This software package is available free with Microsoft Internet Explorer. FrontPage 2000 costs money, but lets you do things like make buttons change colour and, er, some other things too. Unless stated otherwise, all pictures are courtesy of NASA/JPL who operate a copyright-free policy. For more information and pictures, visit their website at www.nasa.gov

Graphics feature largely in this site, so make sure your Internet browser can view them. Older pages featured MIDI music, which will be removed from each page when they get updated. Music was originally added as a research tool to find out whether it complemented or hindered learning. Interestingly, I discovered that children preferred to have the music playing in the background, but the decision has been made to remove it all as it isn't essential. This music was taken from various sites on the Internet, and will be removed if copyright owners wish it to be.

The visitor counter is provided by Sitemeter.com, who also produce the graphical statistics like the ones above. The guestbook, quiz and web poll are all provided by alxnet.com.

Design and Development
James Adams

'Scientific' and Geological expert
Gavin "let's fly to Jupiter and steal its hydrogen" Ford

Artiste Extraordinaire
Vickie Butler

Resources (books)
Frances M. Clapham and Ron Taylor (1982, 1986): The Junior Colour Encyclopedia of the Universe, London, Treasure Press
John Gribbin and Simon Goodwin (1998): Empire of the Sun: Planets and Moons of the Solar System, London: Constable and Company Limited
Simon Lamb and David Sington (1998): Earth Story, London: BBC Worldwide Limited
David McNab and James Younger (1999): The Planets, London: BBC Worldwide Limited
Karl Hans Wedepohl (1971): Geochemistry, USA: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

Resources (internet sites)
Our Solar System: http://www.alcdsb.on.ca/~jjon/educate_you/space/solar/index.html
Natalie's Space Place: http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/planets/main.html
The Lunavision Amateur Astronomy Site: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/8102/lunavis.htm
NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Views of the Solar System: http://lasco2.mpae.gwdg.de/solar/eng/homepage.htm
Latest Hubble Space Telescope Pictures: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/latest.html
NASA's Photojournal page: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/PIA.html
Astroarts Space Picture Gallery: http://www.astroarts.com/gallery/index.html
The Nine Planets: http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/nineplanets.html
The Nine Planets - For Kids: http://www.tcsn.net/afiner/

- The Sun - Mercury - Venus - Earth - The Moon - Mars - Jupiter - Saturn - Uranus - Neptune - Pluto -
- The Solar System - Comets - Asteroids - Galaxies - Stars - Space Exploration -
- E-mail Bob - Sign and View Bob's Guestbook - Lost in Space? - Space Links - Credits -