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Mike Wilson Site review September 18, 2009 Dr. Saul's Biology in Motion Introduction Biology In Motion is a relatively simple website designed to provide engaging animations for basic biology concepts. The site is designed for both teachers and students. Student level is Junior High School but could be easily used for entry level 10th grade Biology. Teachers can use the site for in class presentation. Teacher tips for in class use are provided. There are 9 animated self guided lessons and/or games. These lessons are information correct and convey the material to be learned very well. This is an excellent site targeted at specific biology topics. Google ranking of 6/10 - Excellent with 61 backward links. Content Evaluation First Look The home page clearly in both text and graphics conveys the purpose of the site. All the key information is above the fold. Information Providers Biology In Motion is a creation of Dr. Saul, a university Biology Professor and Web game / site developer. Links to Dr. Saul's credentials and additional websites are top left on the home page Information Currency While the site has not been updated for 4 years, there is not a need to do so. The science content is fundamental concepts that will not change. The graphics are age appropriate and play quickly. Information Quality Site is fully functional. Each interactive lesson through the use of text and animations teaches the subject concisely. There are Google link ads on each page which I do not like from a pure educational standpoint. On the other side, the ads are not obtrusive and what are a few extra bucks in a teacher's pocket. Design Evaluation Speed All pages and graphics load very quickly. Animations are well designed but are not speed bulky. Home Page Very appealing and all critical information to keep you on the site is above the fold Ease of Navigation All lessons are linked from the home page and need to know information is top lef

This website is called The Biology Corner. It's a website that is edited by a high school biology teacher who has a bachelor's in Biology and a Masters degree in Educational Technology. The Biology Corner is basically a compilation of useful links for studying, as well as links for worksheets, videos, and resources a teacher would find useful in writing lesson plans. The audience of The Biology Corner includes high school teachers of biology, and high school biology students. I think that this website would be very useful, and it's design is fairly appealing. On the homepage, it's easy to see what the purpose of the website is, with minimal reading. It is mentioned that the website is meant to be a resource for students as well as teachers. The author is clearly identified and there is even a link for more information on her qualifications. All of the content is easy to access and every link works. The website is catered to a single textbook (the one the teacher uses at her school) which causes it to be a bit less useful, but altogether, the website has very good content. The design of this website is okay, but not really appealing. It's very plain and there aren't that many photos or videos that are actually imbedded into the site. None of the important information (table of contents, links, revision dates, author) is missing from the site but it isn't presented to the user in the most attractive way. 

Overview: The purpose of this site is to show simulations/animations of biological processes. It's more related to higher-level biology classes but there's basic animations for mitosis, meiosis, and cellular respiration that would be useful for high school students. This is a really great site, especially for college students because there's more complex processes that will be more easily learned with these animations. Even though there's not as many for high school students, it's still a good resource and has the main processes that high school biology students will need to know and understand.  Content: the content of this site is quickly determined: all of the animations available are clearly visible and laid out. Authors and copyright information is available for each module when clicked on. The date posted is within a few years of todays date so it's pretty recent. The quality of this website is phenomenal - the animations are easily accessed and understood. There are also links to other science current event topics upon clicking on the science in focus tab. Design: The homepage downloads quickly. Each topic is clearly noted with tabs for different services. The page is very user friendly, each module is where it would seem to be. The multimedia use is phenomenal - the animations are very useful for learning different biology processes. It is browser compatible with its use of IOS or flash. There is a lot of valuable content for biology students as well as links to other science current events. 

Share My Lesson is a resource for teachers to share their lessons with other teachers, and find new ideas for lesson plans.. The page that I was particularly interested in was the high school biology teaching resources page. The intended audience for this page is biology teachers This page has a lot of different links to many different topics, and I think that it would be a great resource for a biology teacher looking for inspiration for lesson plans. The content of the site is reiterated many times, so it is very easy to determine the basic content. I wasn't really able to see who actually edits the site, but the authors of all of the lesson plans are various teachers who are members of this site. This could be a problem because I don't think there is anything requiring members to show that they are actually teachers. However, I think if a user is careful, this website would be a really excellent resource for writing lesson plans and finding worksheets etc.  The design of Share My Lesson is really well done. I think that the website looks very professional, has strong eye appeal, and it's very easy to navigate. All of the links work, and there are a lot of videos and pictures embedded into the site. The design of the site was a real strength.

Levi Jensen September 2, 2010 Website Review http://www.nclark.net/Biology Overview The Amazing Biology Teacher Resource website was created to provide science teachers a place to reference when teaching their classes. I assume that this site was created by a present or past science teacher. The main focus of this site is in assisting in making lesson plans for teachers and to give helpful ideas for science activities. This site covers both biology and chemistry subjects and also offers many links related to science education. Overall, I found this site to be rather elementary in design, and also had some difficulty using some of the drop-down menus. Content At first look it is quite easy to understand that the intended audience is for science teachers. One drawback that this site has is that information about the author is vaguely apparent. There are no sponsors given, and the only way to contact the author is through a management email to which there is no name given to write to. It seems as though content is updated quite often due to the links posted but there is no revision date provided. As far as information quality I believe that this site does a nice job and the content is readily available and easy to read. Design I had some problems using some of the dropdown menus on this site. Upon trying them a second time they worked just fine for me. The visual appeal to me looked as if a child had designed it. This is supposed to be a professional website that is used by professionals. Also the home page is just a list of topics that could be broken down into groups in order to create a more orderly page. Finally this site needs to have citations behind the information that they are providing so that the reader is able to look the information up to confer the information.

Jamie Henry 19 May 2011 Overview: Biology Lessons is a website designed to give biology teachers a source for lesson plans and worksheets for students. The audience is very clearly teachers, as it offers only resources that teachers would want or need. My impression was that it was an organized site that would be helpful for teachers to build lesson plan ideas off of. Content: The Content Evaluation for Biology Lessons showed that this was not a strong website, or one that should be used at all. Almost every link from the homepage was broken or would lead to nothing. Because of this, the site fails to serve any purpose and so the value declines immensely. This site has good intentions, but with so many broken links, it cannot be used to its potential. Design: The design of this website was also fairly bad. It really did not draw any eyes, as it is just a gray screen with green writing on it. It was very organized, but the information was not available because of broken links. There are no graphic or audio links, nor are there any links to other sites that may be helpful for either teachers or students. This is definitely not a website any educator should try to use in their classroom.

Colter Huhn 1-24-10 The purpose of this site is to be a resource for science, specifically biology, teachers. The site contains quizzes, worksheets, lessons, labs, and information on biology. The intended audience is science teachers across the country. My overall impression is fairly strong with this website. The content is great and could be very helpful for a biology teacher. The design is simple, but well put together and easy to navigate. As far as content goes, there are many strengths, and definitely some weaknesses. Upon first look the basic content and intended audience is clearly stated in the opening paragraph on the home page. Also, the information quality is excellent. It's well organized, easy to understand, seemingly accurate, and most importantly does a flawless job of fulfilling the sites purpose in helping science teachers. The major flaw I did find was the information providers and currency. There were no authors or references sited anywhere. Given, most of the links were to worksheets, labs, etc. but an author or creator should be listed somewhere. The only way of finding out who the author of the site is, was to email him/her. Now to the web design itself which was nearly perfect. The site was fast and usable on at least Firefox and Internet Explorer. The homepage was attractive and well organized. The site itself was very easy to navigate with directions in the opening paragraph. There were clear categories to content and helpful links for further information. Finally the content presentation itself was perfect. It's easy to use, organized, same format throughout, and sufficient information. The flaws seem to be there was no date of last revision, and a copyright and site sponsor were nowhere to be found.

Good resource for lesson plans, labs, worksheets, quizzes, etc.. for Biology and Science teachers.

Justin Sanchez Reviewed 10-21-13 www.biologycorner.com Purpose: The purpose of this website is to provide biology related teaching material. There are quizzes, worksheets, and other teaching material tools. Intended audience: The intended audience is teachers who are looking for education material. Available resources: There are many links to other education material websites. Overview: This is a really good website for teachers. There is a ton of different educational material. This website is also creative commons. The website seems to be well maintained and easy to download. Moving from link to link is very fast and easy. Content: All of the content seems to high school biology related. The content is mostly targeted towards teachers through education material. Design: The website downloads fast. The site is not too busy. The site seems to be well maintained, there is not broken links or under construction pages. All of the links are obvious as to where they will take you.

Justin Sanchez Reviewed 10-21-13 www.canaryzoo.com Purpose: The purpose of the site is to provide biology related information through facts, games, and other entertainment. Intended audience: This site is mostly intended for high school students. Available resources: Links are available, but they are not biology related. Overview: The best part of the website is the biology games. They are very education and are trivia based games. There are also some biology jokes and facts that are entertaining. The website is a little busy, making it a little hard to navigate to where you want to go. Content: In the biology games section, the content is good. Some of the other sections are not so biology related. Design: The design of the website is a little too busy. There are a lot of links to different stuff that seem a little unrelated. The website does download fast and movement between the pages is quick.

Content: This website's purpose is easily determined within moments of looking at the page. Although I do not specifically want to teach science the information it provides makes the idea a lot less threatening. The content that is displayed provides a variety of topics that have to do with biology (whether it is human, animal, ECT…). Even though, the website is pretty short the attention it demands when you open the screen is remarkable. There are links to several other websites that all open and are available to further education in other areas of biology like I said previously. Design: From exploring this site, I believe that it is a reliable educational website for the use of teaching science topics and providing stimulating visuals to assist in the students learning. This is a website teachers can use for a variety of grades as it is grade appropriate website as it suggests. The homepage not only opens quickly and efficiently but exhibits other science based activities and strategies in other tabs; it is very clear and directive for the users Attribution: Overall this website is one that I would most likely use if I was going to be a science teacher. From the moment you open the site you see that the intended audience is for students but also provides valuable information for the teachers. As far as what links connect the user to where seems to be very clear. The media that is presented in this site is both interactive with the visual effects and descriptive which amplifies learning. From what I experienced, everything runs smoothly and is up to date with the current knowledge of what is to be expected in the classroom when covering these topics as well as making learning fun, which is equally as important. There happens to also be various links in which the user can use to seek out help.

Deneé Chintala October 7, 2012 Overview The purpose of cellsalive.com is for the instructor of a biology class to provide their students with interactive activities online regarding the parts of the cell, phases of mitosis and meiosis as well as more background information of microbiolgoy. The audience includes biology teacher as well as their students. The site is free with many different activities to do including quizzes and puzzles with content about cells.  Content All of the information on the site is incredibly accurate due to the author, Jim Sullivan. The site provides information in at least two ways for each link (interactive video and a summarization of the video below). Interactivity is huge on this website because the student not only gets to interact during the lesson but a review can be given to gage the student's progress at the end of the lesson. The fact that there are simple cartoon graphics which can allow students to depict different organelles help, but there are also real pictures of microorganisms throughout the site.  Design This site has flare to it with the black background and neon text. It's appealing to a middle school age group but I could see high school students finding it alluring as well. It is also easily maneuverable due to the hyperlinks on the left side as the title of the lesson. If I were to give a class of the links to click on to get to the lesson it would be a very simple task with little to no questions.

Biology4Kids.com! The web site that teaches the basics of biology and life science to everyone!

Justin Sanchez Reviewed 10-21-13 www.biomanbio.com Purpose: To provide fun original games and quizzes to students. Intended audience: The intended audience is students who want to have a fun way to learn different biology facts. They can also quiz themselves later with quizzes provided. Available resources: There is a link to Apple Store to download games on the site. There is no other links. Overview: The website is a little basic. It is easy to navigate though and loads fast. The games seem to be very original but can bug up sometimes. The games seem like they are suitable for students of all ages. The quizzes seem to be upper level and would be more appropriate for high school students. There are many different biology topics this website covers. Content: There are many different games and quizzes that could keep students entertained for a long time. The content seems to be mostly suited for high school students. The content is also over a wide range of biology topics. Design: The design of the sign is very basic. The site is eye appealing and easy to navigate. There is a clear lacking in links and information about the site. This site seems like it needs some improvements it's a little basic.

Ryan Magrum Sept. 15th, 2011 Overview: The site is an online game site known as Armorgames.com consisting mostly flash games aimed at wasting time. However, there is a game Armorgames offers called CellCraft. While CellCraft is fundamentally a game, there are many aspects of it that are very educational. The goal of the game is to command a cell to grow and function as an animal and/or plant cell would and utilize all the functions and organelles as would an actual cell. The game explains all of the functions of the organelles you control and gives some information on the different parts of the cell, how the cell utilizes energy, and reproduces and fights off attack. The instruction in the game is similar to a high school biology class. Content: The game has multiple levels. Each level has a specific goal for the cell which the user controls. Each level also give some explanation of the new organelles available for use as well as the intentions of the antagonistic elements that an average cell has to deal with on a regular basis like infection and replication. The game has instruction for both plant and animal cells and all the included features of cells. It focuses on teaching the user how a cell operates and how to create a strategy to help the cell survive. The effects of the game are very close to reality - neglecting the very fine details. Design: It's a game. It comes with instructions. The game goes chronologically, so to speak, beginning from a time where the user can only move the cell around, to growing and fighting off infection, then to exploring new worlds and avoiding extinction. Just like in a biology class room, the student is expected to learn the basics and then think critically about problems using the basic knowledge to solve the problem, so does CellCraft. The game takes the user, educates the user on how a cell works (and I mean just about everything one would learn in a general biology class), and sends the user off to ke

Posted by Lyndsey Neelands on 9/18/2009 CELLS alive is an educational website that is designed for teachers and students. The purpose of the website is to use interactive technology to teach students about cell biology subjects. Content: This website has a lot of good content on it. The author of the website is clearly identified and his credentials are enough to author this site. The information seems actuate but a clear updated date is not displayed. The information on this sight would be very helpful for a struggling student and also as a resource for a science teacher looking for a visual way to represent this material. The Cell Cams are especially interesting, providing a real life representation for students to see. Design: This site is very well designed. It is colorful and very easy to understand. This would be able to be used by young students as well as older teachers. The content is well displayed and very easy to see. Navigation of this sight is self explanatory and does not seem confusing. The author's information is also very easy to get to. Contact information for questions and more information is also easy to get to.

Posted by Lyndsey Neelands on 9/19/2009 CELLS alive is an educational website that is designed for teachers and students. The purpose of the website is to use interactive technology to teach students about cell biology subjects. Content: This website has a lot of good content on it. The author of the website is clearly identified and his credentials are enough to author this site. The information seems actuate but a clear updated date is not displayed. The information on this sight would be very helpful for a struggling student and also as a resource for a science teacher looking for a visual way to represent this material. The Cell Cams are especially interesting, providing a real life representation for students to see. Design: This site is very well designed. It is colorful and very easy to understand. This would be able to be used by young students as well as older teachers. The content is well displayed and very easy to see. Navigation of this sight is self explanatory and does not seem confusing. The author's information is also very easy to get to. Contact information for questions and more information is also easy to get to.

The purpose for this site was for a game on evolution. The site was designed for students, of all ages, and teachers, which he provides tips for. There are multiple games which one can use for other parts of biology. Over all I think this site is well done, and can easily be used. Content is simple but proves a point.

Overview: The overall purpose for this website is to have lessons and activity examples that teachers can use for different grades in science. As a teacher this is a great website to seek activities to use in your classroom for different science terms and lessons. This website has activities for science grades varying from kindergarten to 12th grade. This website also has workbooks that teachers can order to give their students to work out of. Overall, this website is very helpful.  Content:  The content of this website is for teachers and there are many activities to do with students that explain science terms and lessons such as science biology of animals, weather, and volcanoes. There are many more lessons available to teachers on this website as well. There is also a way to find certain standards for science that teachers need to meet, which is nice to have so that they can teach the appropriate material. The content on this website is a helpful and fun way for teachers to teach.  Design:The design of this website is pretty simple to navigate through. There are tabs on the top to click on to lead to the other pages. There are quite a few advertisements on this page for different businesses. The color scheme is pretty simple just white and some greens and blues. There are no obnoxious links all over the page or spelling errors either. The design of this website is professional and accurate. 

Overview - This site is great for somebody who is looking for information on dissection and its history. It is suitable for almost anybody in the science field or just looking to learn about it. Its article is very informational and very interesting to a reader interested in this topic.  Content - The content of the page that i bookmarked here is very useful and I believe very accurate. It has credits, related topics in working links, and a bibliography and the end of the article. To me it seems that this page is very credible and very helpful to a student, or really anybody looking to learn about biology and desertion. Design - As good as the content, I believe that this page as the best design of any of the 3 that I looked at. It has a related graphic at the top that drew me in and I'm sure would draw any other reader in. The related topics in links are very easy to find and the color schemes fit the topic and don't take away from the article.

Samantha Snethen- Feb. 5, 2012 Overview: This site has resources all about science and technology for teachers and students (grades k-12). It provides experiments, videos, quizzes, games, lesson plans and much more for a variety of scientific subjects such as biology, chemistry, physics and weather. The site is generally appealing, provides a sufficient amount of subject appropriate resources and is very well organized. Content: The author of the site was clearly listed, and there was plenty of information about him available as well as an easy way to contact him. The site was incredibly well organized and easy to navigate. There was enough information given for each subject and the information is revised frequently and accurate. The only missing were links to other related sites. Design: The site was generally appealing, although there are not many graphics or extras that might make it more appealing to younger children. The site did provide sufficient information that was very well organized and easy to navigate. However no directions for the use of the site were provided as well as links to other related websites.

Overview: The intended purpose and audience isn't very obvious when first looking at the page. Once the user hits play he/she can clearly see that it's a punnett square simulator in determining genotypes and phenotypes of the rabbit offspring. The audience is for students in biology learning about punnett squares - it's a kid friendly site with the use of animated rabbits.  Content: The content and audience is easily determined once hitting play - a set of instructions pops up. The author/info provider isn't clear on the website of the simulation. There's no information on date published. The quality of the site is good - it accurately helps students with punnett squares. There were no links to additional sites.  Design: The page downloads quickly. The homepage is appealing to the eye - a children or student would be attracted to this site with the use of animated rabbits and high use of color. There isn't anywhere else to navigate - it's simply a simulation for practicing with punnett squares. The multimedia is key for this site - a perfect use of it. The site is compatible with multiple browsers. The content is presented well - it's obvious that it's a simulation.