Group items tagged

Ericka Chorniak October 9, 2012 Overview: This website is available for students as well as teachers interested in any type of science. Students could use this site to review the scientific method, gathering ideas for science projects, and getting help with their questions. Teachers can easily use this site because it provides them with a 'teacher resources' link that is equipped with handouts and worksheets. With all of the possibilities this site provides, it is easy to say that my overall impression of this site is that it is very well designed, easy to use, and very useful for my needs and purposes as a student and as a pre-service teacher. Content: The user is able to determine the basic content of this site at first glance, as well as the intended audience. The author of the material on the site is identified, information about them is available, and they appear credible. In addition to the author, the sponsor is clearly identified and they provide contact information. This site is current as it provides a latest revision date and that date is appropriate for the material. The links to other sites are current and work properly. The purpose of this site is clearly identifiable (informational) and the content effectively achieves this purpose. The content appears to be complete, is well organized, is easy to understand, is free of bias, appears to be accurate based on previous knowledge, was proofread (spelling and grammar are correct), and is consistent with similar sources. The links that are provided are related to the needs of students, my needs and my purposes, as well as the purpose of high school physics teachers and they are worthwhile and appropriate for these needs and purposes. Design: The site downloads efficiently. The homepage is attractive and it is easy to tell where the user is. There is a table of contents to navigate through the site with ease, making there no need for direction, but there are short explanations as to what the purposes o

Gregor Mendel explains that breeding short and tall pea plants didn't produce a medium-sized plant.

brief overview of Alexander the Great.

Stephanie Mecca 2/5/12 Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide information on different types of art and the artists that work with art. The site includes the Art 21 episodes and short videos that can be seen on the PBS TV channel and includes written blogs about the Art 21 artists that are featured in the episodes. The intended audience is not just for education uses but anybody can enter the site to learn about art. Teachers could use this site to teach students about different artists and about the types of art. There are some links to the PBS site that provides other resources but there are not many other resources. Content: From the main page the viewer can see that the site includes information about artists and includes videos and episodes. The intended audience can be seen as art-seeking individuals by just looking at the overall art theme. The site douse include a whole section about the site and the people who work on the site and on the Art 21 episodes. You can read about the sites policies and terms of use, you can also easily email any of the board of trustees. The content of the whole site serves a general art purpose including current and past art. The site is well organized but doesn't clarify the currency of the information, meaning it doesn't include revision dates or updates information. Design: The overall design of the site is appealing, with the bright pink color and clear pictures. There is an easy-to-read top menu that you can click on and the copyright is at the bottom of each page. The site is easy to navigate though there are no directions on how to use the site. There some links to the PBS web site but not many other external links. The video files load easily and are clearly seen and heard. There is a lot of information to make it a sufficient site devoted to artists and art. The site uses the same basic format throughout and provides contact information for further information.

Paige Hanewald 10/21/13 Overall: The purpose of this site is to expand the vocabulary for all ages between middle school students and adults. This site contains not only an accurate dictionary, but competitive and interactive assessments of vocabulary knowledge, specific vocabulary lists, and interesting blogs that pertain to the use of strange words, their origins, and other relating topics. Overall, I think this site could potentially be useful to anyone who wants to expand their vocabulary knowledge, especially students. Content: The content has several organized features that offer what I had mentioned before: dictionary definitions, vocabulary lists and blogs that are updated frequently, and "quizzes". The website adapts the words according to your increasing level of vocabulary proficiency so you are always challenged. Contributors of the blogs are employees of Thinkmap, the sponsor of the website, and usually include a short biography expressing their qualifications to the site. Design: The design of the website makes it easy to navigate. There are tabs for every feature, including contact information. The links to other pages are helpful and engaging and have no issues.

Khan Academy is an excellent resource for parents, students, and teachers. It is basically a free online classroom with video lessons and the opportunity to try and solve problems in short online quizzes. It has resources for math, science, economics, and more. The resources are intended for a diverse audience with resources that vary from kindergarten all the way to high school and beyond. Teachers and parents can use it to help their students or children to get extra instruction and practice. Students can use it to help them develop a better understanding and to help them practice or study for tests. The site is well made and the information is credible which makes it an excellent resource. The content is obvious as Khan Academy has a drop down tab that allows you to navigate to all the different subjects and the audience is also obvious as each subject is broken down by which grade you are in. The content specialists are all experienced experts in all sorts of different fields and so the information can be verifiably accurate. Everything is well organized and the information is explained mostly through videos which tend to thoroughly explain the information. The website downloads very quickly and is aesthetically appealing. You can tell that it was professionally made. All of the links work and directions for using the website are fairly straightforward. All the videos and graphics serve a clear purpose which is typically to explain and illustrate different subjects. For example in the Trigonometry section a video is shown which illustrates a right triangle and the different ratios that can be used to solve the sides or angles of the triangle. The website is also extremely current as the copyright date is 2015.

Trevor Montgomery Khan Academy is a resource that students, teachers and parents can all use to encourage and promote positive attitudes and confidence for students in math by using activities that seem like games that actually help students practice and hone their math skills in a seemingly fun learning vessel. Khan Academy is also an extremely great resource for parents and teachers because they can not only track their child or students' progress, but also create activities and lessons for students to do outside of class and have their own online tracking guide. As far as content goes, the activities are based on grade level and category for the students, so as teachers, you have a lot of control as to what the material is. Additionally, you can add students to the class at any point and when necessary, look at the lessons from a "student view", where essentially you are logged in as a student and can take a crack at the lesson yourself to see if there are any errors or misconceptions. This is actually a great tool as a way to, in a sort, "proofread" your lesson or online homework activity assigned. You can also track skill progress specific to each of the students and when a child is done mastering a certain activity, you can keep track of that and maybe quiz them in class as a way of ensuring mastery of the concepts. The intended audience is parents, students and teachers alike. As a personal user and someone who knows they will use this resource as a future teacher, I have to say I give this resource a big thumbs up. So as far as easiness and fluidity of the website goes, it couldn't be easier to navigate. Especially for students, you couldn't ask for a better layout of a resource like this that clearly identifies goals and activities for you. As a teacher, everything is neatly organized in one place for you to navigate back and forth through students and activities.

Great informational video for how the newspaper is made.

Jessica Chandler January 24th, 2011 *Overview: This site is called Starfall. This website was designed to help students read. There are different categories to choose from such as ABCs, Learn to Read, It's Fun to Read, and I'm Reading. Each category has great contents once the recommended link is chosen. ABCs read the letter aloud that is chosen and shows word in which make the correct sound. Learn to Read contains different easy reads on line for the kids to read. It's fun to Read contains different types of reading such as tongue twisters, poetry, music, and etc. I'm Reading brings up a selection of books to read. This allows the students to choose what book sounds the best. If the child doesn't know a word, clicking on the word will read it out loud. There are many useful things to get out of this website for elementary and preschool kids, and for the teachers of that certain level. *Content: The content is very clear and prepared. It is easy for children to understand the concept of this website. It is easy to access everything to learn about reading. A child could participate in this designed website alone or with the parents. It has great content and is very beneficial for the younger students who cannot read. This website also makes reading fun! *Design: This website is fantastic! It helps the students love to read and demonstrates different patterns and the alphabet to the children. It is very colorful, but only the links are. Therefore, the content isn't hard to read. It is easy to find what you are looking for, and the site Is not overloaded with a bunch of information. It is quite eye catching and would be an excellent website for kids trying to learn how to read!

Whitney Reese Reviewed: 2/4/12 www.starfall.com Overview: The purpose of this website is to teach children to read with phonics. The intended audience for this website is children ranging from the prek grade levels to second grade. It includes many resources such as the letters of the alphabet and their sounds, tools to learn colors and numbers, short tales for beginner readers, several word and reading games, reading materials for more advanced readers including comics and plays, and many interactive educational games. It also has its own unique curriculum for teaching children to read. My overall impression of this site was very good. It was really easy to navigate and loaded quickly. It is very colorful and kid friendly. It also has great content for learning to read. Content: The content of this site is very clear and concise. It is organized in an orderly fashion, which makes finding where you want to go easy. The authors of this site are identified and are credible. The content of this site seems very up to date and serves as a great resource for teaching children phonics. The quality of information provided is very good and every aspect of the site seems to work properly.  Design: The design of this site is very attractive using bright colors and animated graphics. The homepage is set up easily so that kids are able to navigate but has links that adults can use to obtain site information as well. All multimedia aspects serve a clear purpose. Kids would love the design of this site. 

A free website to teach children to read with phonics. For preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. Exciting phonics games and online interactive books.

Overview: The website is great and has many different websites that teachers can use for free to assist them in their everyday teaching. Diigo.com is number three on the list. This website is not only just for bookmarking but gives websites for research, different apps on Google, and even lesson plans. Content: The content of this website is very helpful. It gives teachers so many good tools. There are websites for templates and lesson plans, research and reference, bookmarking, games, reading and writing and the list goes on and on. I think it is a great tool, maybe for more than just elementary school teachers. Things such as Diigo and Google Maps can be used at any level. I would use this website in my classroom and for my own benefit. Design: The design of the website is lacking in flare which could cause people to easily overlook it. It is very easy to navigate though. It gives you the link to the website and a short explanation of what the website is used for. All of the links are up and running and work how they are supposed to. The one thing I really didn't like about the website is the amount of advertisements that were on it. It could cause someone to question the credibility of the site. Overall, I think the site was designed well.

Game Zone Overview This site has a variety of games available for a variety of ages. The games focus on different types of English grammar functions. There are many games to choose from which makes it easy to find what you are looking for. There isn't really much information in this site besides the games. It is the primary focus of this site. Content The content is very basic. There are many games to choose from that deal with a variety of different English concepts. The games are specified into elementary, intermediate, and advanced. This allows you to choose the content that is the best for your grade level. The games are where the all of the content is. Each game has a specific focus depending on what you are looking for. This site lacks any other information beside what is in the games. Design The design of the site is very simple and straightforward. There is a lot of white space. The nice part about the design is when you drag your cursor over the quiz names it gives you a short overview of the game and it also tells you what it's focus is and what grade level it pertains to. The site is easy to navigate and the games have specific directions. It's easy to play the games and they are very creative in their design also. The games are very animated and graphic.

Jacqueline Twiford Web Site Review September 20, 2009 http://www.abcya.com/first_grade_computers.htm This first grade website allows you to incorporate technology with your students by allowing them to do activities for learning. This webpage has activities for grade levels K-8 which is helpful for bringing technology to all grade levels. On this site it allows students to navigate the web with voice instruction, and has large navigation buttons for easy understanding. CONTENT On the "ABCya" website it allows students in the first grade to play interactive computer games to learn concepts such as the alphabet, drawing, lowercase and uppercase letter matching as well as mouse exploitation. This site has a list of activities that students can use in helping them learn some of the essential concepts they will need to know. DESIGN The design of "ABCya" is a very colorful and organized webpage. Having a large display for navigation buttons and voice instructions makes introducing technology to your young student very easy. The design of this game site is very easy to use and explains in voice as you go. The webpage's load very quickly and easily. Also, if there is something you do not understand, all you have to do is click on the icon for a description of what the icons meaning is. "ABCya" has a design that will allow you to use it in a short class period without having to run from student to student helping. This design is like having an assistant with each student explaining how to operate it. Wonderful for the introduction to technology in the classroom, without the time frame fear (not having enough time) that most teachers have with using technology in the classroom.

Whitney Lindt Purpose: I think that the purpose of this website is to provide parents and teachers a safe website to send their children to. There is so much that one has to worry about on the internet these days it is nice to know that there are safe websites for the younger children out there that they can learn from. Overview: I think that this site would be great for teachers and parents of young students to use. It seems that more often than not students are learning with technology and they think it is fun and it keeps their attention and this website is great for that too because it is so visually attractive. The main focus of this sight is numbers and the alphabet which is perfect for 1st graders because that is the main focus in the classroom. And this website provides links which would help the students not only learn the material but practice what they are being taught. Content: The content of this site is perfect for what 1st graders will be learning in school. As a teacher I would even recommend this website to the parents of my students so that they knew their children were going to safe websites. There are storybooks on this website which would just be fun for the students to go to or for teachers to use in the different subjects they are teaching if they can apply it. Also there are links that can have the students work with spelling and the alphabet and also numbers. This website might also work for younger students than 1st graders because there are some really easy ways of learning numbers and letters on this site. Design: This website is wonderful because as soon as it opens it would have the attention of 1st graders in school and it would keep them attracted to the website. This website is really easy to read even though it has a lot of colors. It is also easy to navigate instead of just a table of contents the different areas and links of the websites are split into different boxes with pictures on them so it makes it easy for a little kid to

Wonderful website for first grade learning games. There are games for letters and numbers