Group items tagged

Overview: Fuel the Brain is a math website which provides games for students at different learning levels. This site is mainly geared towards lower grades including K, 1, 2 and 3. This site seems really fun upon first glance. Not only are there games for children, there are also printable worksheets for teachers and parents. Teacher guides and articles are also available.  Content: This website offers games that cover counting, numbers, operations, algebraic thinking and geometry. These games would be ideal for young children. The website has minimal advertising. The author information is available under the 'About' link and the contact information is available under the link labeled 'Contact'. The copyright is not available. Design: Fuel the Brain's homepage is very colorful and attractive to younger children. However, older students would not appeal to this website. At the top of the homepage the links are provided clearly for easy navigation. 

Content: This website contains lots and lots of stuff. It is set up like a classroom and has a reading link, a math link, a playground link, and an arcade link. I think this is more of a game site than an educational one. There are also lots of links to other help sites, but the majority of the links are for advertiser's webpage's, distracting visitors. Design: After looking at it for awhile, I started to feel lost and uninterested because of all the advertisements and the lack of visuals. There are thousands of links for kids to go to, and the actual site doesn't really support a good learning environment. As said above, it's mostly games with reading sections that really looks fun, but if you have to look through the games to get to that section, students will probably never get there on their own. The visual part of this website is interesting. The homepage is pretty boring and filled with links, but the reading and games tabs are designed for younger students. Attribution: The purpose of this site is probably intended to promote learning is fun, but becomes easily more of a distraction with all of the advertisements. I don't think I would promote this site in my classroom without adult supervision because students could so easily be distracted by toys and games.

Overview The purpose of this website is to help kids interact with math and reading. The intended audience is K-8. My overall impression of the website is that is very beneficial and a good free website for students to practice math and reading, whereas with other websites you have to pay to use the website. Content The only thing that I would critique on this website is having other links that would be appropriate and have to do with reading and math. But other than that, I would highly recommend this website. Design I think that everything is up to date but there is no for sure way to tell on the website, there is the copy right that does say 2013 but there is no one hundred percent way to tell if it has all been updated. So this is one thing that I would change on the design for the website.

Trevor Montgomery For this resource, we see another website that in a way, tricks students into thinking they are just playing games by giving them subject related activities. With the subjects of math and reading, students having interactive games, books and comics and even more fun links, without thinking they are doing much work. Through the "Funbrain" arcade, students can also complete activities and must pass obstacles to get through an interactive game board. If they do not successfully complete an activity, they will not be able to get past their current location, but will feel challenged to get through each activity and will most likely attempt multiple times until mastery of the activity. The great thing about this website is that students can also use codes to pick up where they left off on the game board so that they do not have to start over each time they log on (with their parents' permission of course). From grades 1st through 8th, there is a great variability from subjects, and students who are feeling extra brave might even try a level of difficulty higher than their current grade level. As someone who used this website in school when he was in elementary school, I can say that this resource is extremely effective and I think that students will come back to it time and time again. Navigating the website is easy enough. If you type in www.funbrain.com in the url box, you will be directed to the site. From here, you can choose to use the math arcade, reading, fun arcade, playground, and all games tabs, as well as books & comics and more fun activities. This website is specifically directed towards the audience of students in grades 1st through 8th, so as a teacher you can trust it to be safe and student-friendly.

2-5-12 Overview This website was designed by the Okaloosa School District in FL. It has sections for the administrators, parents/community, students and teachers to be involved in fun learning. The student resources have many sections such as Brain teaser, Student games, Principal's Club (more games and activities) and Practice activities. The student games are organized by subject and by age level. Activities are easy to find and easy to use. Overall, this website is a good source for students and others in the community to find games, activities and other resources for learning. Content This site has a lot of information for a wide variety of audiences. In student games, there are sections that are then broken down further into different skills in the subject. Overall categories include math, language arts, science, social studies, technology, games for fun, research and homework resources, search engines and preschool games. Once you choose a topic within the subject then links to games in this subject come up. For example, when you choose Number Basics within Math there are 13 different links to games. Each link has a description of what the game teaches or practices. There are a lot of information and fun activities on this site. Design This website is very organized. The whole website is broken down by who will make the most out of the resources. Once in a section such as student's games, it is broken down further and further to really find a game or activity that fits what you want the students to practice. It is not too complicated to get to, it is simply systematized. This makes navigating the website very easy and allows you to spend more time doing the activity you were looking for instead of searching for it or sorting through games that don't fully match the topic. I really like the organization of this website and how easy it is to use.

2-5-12 Overview This website is an interactive learning website for everyone. The goal was to make learning fun as well as memorable and to provide an opportunity to learn and improve for everyone. This website has sections designed by subject as well as age. There are sections for preschool/kindergarten, elementary, middle/ high school, college, test prep and adults. There is something for everyone in this site with varied levels of difficulty. The site provides games, interactive reading pages, facts, quizzes and brain teasers. Overall I feel that this site is wonderful and I would use it in my classroom and suggest it to others. Content There is an unbelievable amount of information on this website. It is mainly based for elementary and is separated into subjects; USA, world, vocabulary, health, science, math, history and animals. The site also can be organized by age level. This makes it easy to find an activity based on interest. There really is something for everyone, from preschool games to chemistry quizzes to games for adults. There are also facts of the day in each subject. The hidden animals is great for learning about adaptations and the way animals camouflage themselves and survive in a fun, interactive way. The site can be considered a business since you can purchase software and materials from an online store. However, mostly it is a free interactive website that provides something for everyone. Design I am slightly disappointed in the design of the website. It does not give a revision date even though the information all seems accurate. I am also disappointed in the links. If you open the site from Diigo, the links to pages other than Hidden Animal Games do not work. However, if you open a web browser and put in Sheppard Software, the whole site works perfectly. Even though I am disappointed in these flaws, I really like the way the site is organized. It is colorful and appealing but more importantly it is extre

Candace Carder October 13, 2014  Overview:  The video focuses on the four seasons in a year, and is aimed for younger children. This video was published on January 14, 2013, and the category that it is focusing on is education. The video is intended for the audience age of 5-8 year olds. The videos information is all there and easily seen.  Content: The website talks about the four seasons, and sings about each season. The video first talks about winter, and how you build snowmen, go sledding, and how you need hats and gloves to go outside. The next season they sing about is spring, and how it rains for hours, and the flowers are starting to bloom. The next seasons, they talk about is summer and how you go to the pool, and how it is very hot outside. The last season the video sings about is fall, and in that season you rake leaves, and wear sweaters. The video then recaps singing about all four season in a year.  Design:  The video is set up to be a cartoon video that catches students attention. It is a song that will stink in your brain after you listen to the song. The video is made for younger students, it is supposed to catch young students attention. The video was pretty accurate and gave good information to students. 

Charlene Asay: 1/23/2010 Overview: Puzzle maker on discovery education is a free teaching tool or resource. This website is used to make different puzzles on your own with your own information to put in them. This could be used for teachers to use as teaching resources in their classroom. Or a student could use them for assignments. All the different links seem to work just fine. You can buy different teaching resources software on this site. This site seems to be pretty user friendly, besides that there is so many different links that are distracting. Content: Besides all the different links and advertisements that can be clicked on this site, this could be a great site to use for an educational purpose. You can make different puzzles such as word searches, math squares, number blocks, and mazes on this site. There are also different links for brain boosters, science sites, and links to buying software. Design: The site is well designed. There is a lot of links, ads, and other distractions to look at on this site. There is a copyright date, which means that it was published, instead of just some plain old person getting on here and putting scam free puzzle makers online. There are difference chances of learning links that can be clicked on.

Sara Hindman January 24, 2010 Overview The site I evaluated was NobelPrize.org and its main purpose is to educate anyone about the history of the Nobel Peace Prize award and possibly convince people to pursue that award. Along with educating and persuading, the website has educational games in subjects; such as, chemistry, physics, medicine, literature, peace, and economics. The intended audience for the Nobel Peace Prize website is for anyone over the age or 18, while the educational games section of the website is for high school, middle school, and late elementary school students. Some games include blood typing, Pavlov's dog, Lord of the Flies, electrocardiograms, and a split brain experiment. Unfortunately there are no links to available resources outside of the website. The content was very clear and concise, but the only thing I had trouble with was who designed the website and who could I contact if I had questions. Design is awesome, everything is easy to find and there is clear instructions for the games. I would use this website in my classroom, but it definitely for older children. Content NobelPrize.org had many strengths and little weaknesses. Their strengths included understanding the purpose of the website, easy access to the latest revision dates, and information quality. Their one weakness was I could not find the name of the person who provided all the information. I assume that the Nobel Peace Prize Organization provided all the information and games and that it is credible, but I do not want to jump to conclusions. There were also no links to outside resources that related to some of the same areas of interest; such as, medicine or economics. Overall, the content was great except for the lack of authority. Design This website is one of the best I have seen. The speed was fast, the home page attractive and informative, and the website was extremely easy to navigate. All the graphics, audio files, and video files worked perfectly

Mandy Schumacher 1-24-10 Overview: Internet 4 Classrooms is a website with many components. The purpose of this website is to help teachers use the Internet effectively. On the "Home" menu the user can choose to visit any of the seven links posted. Those include: Grade Level Help, Links for K-12, Technology Tutorials, Assessment Assistance, Daily Dose of the Web, On-Site Training, or About Us. This is a free website that is designed to help teachers find free Internet Sources to use in the classroom setting. Content: This site is full of information and consists of many separate components. This site is mainly visited by teachers who are hoping to find a way to integrate the Internet into their classrooms. From the site the user can choose a specific grade level and subject. Once the user has selected a grade level and subject a list of sites that can be used for classroom instruction appear on the screen. For example, if the user chose Language Arts for Elementary Students, sites such as "American Literary Classics" or "Brain Food" would appear and the user would then choose one of those links to instruct their students. These links can take you to anything from a list of good books to read in the classroom, word puzzles to challenge your students, or anything else related to Language Arts for Elementary students. Design: The website is somewhat organized, however, it can be a little confusing to navigate since there are so many separate links on the Home page. There are also several ads which can become distracting. Overall this site provides good information for teacher and students about using the internet as a learning tool.

Caroline Wittman (Virginia) January 31, 2011 Overview Ology is a fun website that allows children to collect virtual trading cards and use them to make online projects as they learn about different science topics. The list of topics is varied, including anthropology, archeology, astronomy, biodiversity, the brain, climate change, earth science, genetics, marine biology, paleontology, water, and zoology. Each area presents a plethora of interactive applications for children to explore: games, animations, quizzes, and suggestions and guidance for completing simple offline science investigations and experiments. There are also book lists and other helpful internet sources that can be consulted for further information. Content Ology is sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History. Accordingly, information was accurate and up-to-date. It was also well organized and communicated on a level that elementary school age children can understand and relate to. Information is also in line with what is covered in the typical elementary school science curriculum. Although specific authors of articles are not usually listed, it is easy to find contact information for the sponsoring organization. Links to other internet resources were relevant and informative. Overall, the content of the site serves to ignite children's curiosity about the natural world. Design The Ology homepage, as well as its interactive applications, downloaded quickly. The overall design is appealing to elementary school children, incorporating lots bright colors and bold shapes. Navigation is simple, even for young children. The major areas of the site are located in an obvious place on the homepage. Information is easy to locate within each of these areas. Directions for games and other interactive content are very straightforward and explained clearly. Close inspection reveals that each detail of the site's design works toward enhancing children's learning.

Erin Kirby January 23, 2011 Overview: The sight http://www.brainpop.com/is a good sight for older elementary students, and middle school students. The homepage offers different subjects that a student would learn everyday in school. Each time you click on a link it keeps breaking down into certain subject. This makes it simple for students to use, each link is filled with helpful information. The site is very 21st century based and there are many different things to do such as read, play games, watch movies, and more. The content on this site would be helpful to use in a classroom and would get more students interested and involved in certain subjects. Content: Everything on this site seems simple to use, easy to follow, and has very reliable information. There is a link that allows parents, students, or teachers to see what brain pop is all about. It tells you that there are other brain pop sights that are for younger children and even some for teachers that will help them create lesson plans and other activities. It is an educational website that contains a lot of material that all seems accurate and easy for children to understand. One thing that could be a problem is that on some things on the site you need to subscribe to get the full information, but they do have tutorials and lots of other helpful information. I think that most students would enjoy looking through the subjects on the sight and finding something that they are interested in to learn about. This sight is easy to get involved in and enjoy it at the same time. There is so much information that some kids might stay on for hours! Design: The websites speed is fast and works smoothly link to link. All the videos and games that I tried ran great and I had no problems. The graphics are clear and entertaining for students. When starting at the homepage, it is simple to follow and not distracting at all. There are no pop up that get in the way or take away from learning. This sight is great for

Overview: This website was very visual and very organized. This website was good for educational purposes at the high school level. There were many different subjects with interactive games involved. Content: Each subject that this website offered had alot of information in it. There was a wide range of topics under each subject which helped the viewer get a better understanding. THe content of the site was clear and obvious. All of the information for the providers of the website was easy to find. I couldn't find the lates revision date, but other than that, the information quality was accurate based off of my knowledge. There were few links to other sites. Design:Everything downloaded efficiently. The hompage was very organized. The copyright date was obvious. Navigation was easy and clear cut, it was easy to move around the site. There was alot of interactive games that consituted as multimedia. This website had plenty of useful info. that made the site worth visiting

Lauren Peterson 10-21-13 http://www.brainpop.com/ Overview: This website is a multifaceted educational website that contains numerous subject matter. The site provides educational tools that can be utilized within classroom activities; furthering understandings of various subjects. In order to simplify and further education in particular areas of study, this website makes use of games and videos. Overall, this site seems to be a rather useful tool for a classroom, as it is easy to navigate with content that is clearly understandable. Content: The content seems to be geared towards Jr. High students, although there are other websites from BrainPOP that offer similar content more appropriate for younger ages. This site makes the various subjects within Math, Science, English, etc. very clear through explanation and visuals in videos, as well as interaction through educational games. Design: The use of color and animation throughout this website seem to be rather appealing to the eye. Not only does this sites appearance have the potential to intrigue a viewer, it is also easy to navigate. The links and activities function successfully with very few issues.

Overall This site is for children age k-8, and it is supposed to help them with math and reading. The resources are for many games and activities that have to do with math, reading, and just plain fun. I think it is a very good site overall, based on its functionality and appeal. Criteria The site clearly states that it is provided by Pearson Education, and it is all very justified. The information is all current, of good quality and relevant to the purpose of the site. Design This site does not take very long to download, and it is able to function with multiple different browsers. The media is all relevant and serves a purpose; the site also is easy to navigate through.

Great tool for grades ranging between kindergarten and 8th grade. This specific portion of the website has fun math games for kids where they can go around a game board until they complete the game. There are other pages that have to do with other subjects as well.

David D Castle 2/7/12 Overview: The site provides access to worksheets for K-12 teachers but requires a subscription to access the majority of the content. There are links to other sites for free worksheets, but access is limited without a subscription. Though at a cost, the site appears to be worthwhile. You can generate your own worksheets within the site, as well as upload pictures, submit artwork, and play brain-training games. Content: The site covers almost every subject and provides worksheets for all of them. The purpose is clear, and a subscription can be purchased directly from the homepage. The site looks professional but isn't clearly organized. It has copyright information and a 'contact us' button, but doesn't say exactly who the site creator is. Design: Without subscribing, the site doesn't provide sufficient information to make it worth visiting. It does provide links to free sites and gives you a pretty clear idea about what the site contains, but it overly organized. The directions to subscribing are clear, it appears professional, and it offers multiple resources.

Bailey Stanfield Reviewed 10/12/2014 This resource has a lot of information and resources for not only teachers, but students as well. There are several guides for teachers to use in terms of mostly math and writing integration. The main audience is students and children. The majority of the resources on the website are games for children that helps them to solidify educational ideas that may be covered in the class. I think this website could make a great supplemental resource to be used in the classroom and at home to help students grasp certain topics. The content of the website was rather strong. The only information that was hard to find was the author of the website and who that was. The sponsor was very clear, but the author was hard to find. The other information that was hard to find was the revision date. The website does have a copyright date of 2014. Overall, the content of the website is clear and of quality for the intended purpose. The design of the website was very appealing and easy to see and navigate through. It was simple enough that children will be able to understand and properly use the website effectively. Games consist of appeasing music and images that will intrigue children. Content and content areas are very clearly placed on the website.

Overview: This website is to help students review mathematical curriculum. The purpose is to have students challenge themselves by moving forward in math and work more on the certain math subject they needed more help with. The intended audience is students of all ages. This site has a lot of different math subjects that a student can work on. I believe that this website is beneficial, but nothing that you can let your students be able to explore on their own. Design: I do not think that the overall design of this website is very clear and organized. It is hard to read the links of what subject they can study. Also the pictures can be very confusing to students. The website is very colorful, which can either be appealing or confusing for a student. Content: The content I chose to study on this website is math. You can also go back to the homepage and study/practice other subjects if needed. There are plenty of games available and different videos the students can watch. This website does navigate well to the different contents. The purpose of this website is to study different math curriculum and use it for more practice.

New Horizons is an educational site that contains strategies for teachers to enhance and expand their educational curriculum. I chose the Arts in Education page for this review. Content: This website has been around since 1980 and although it is currently retired, it has been the launching platform of many new educational sites. In specific the Arts in Education page offers resources pertaining to art's beneficial attributes in brain stimulation and possible scientific processes that can be applied to art. Design: The design of the site is very easily understood and followed. There are no advertisements on any of the pages and links navigate within the newhorizons.org site only. Although it lacks the appearance of similar websites, this is a very simplistic and easily run learning tool. Attribution: This site's purpose is purposeful and educational. Its aims are primarily at benefiting the teacher and helping to incorporate pertinent tools to their educational programs. As a teacher I would very likely use this in constructing different approaches to learning, however I would be weary of how current and valid the information actually is due to the fact that it is retired.

Mandy Schumacher 1-24-10 Overview: Internet 4 Classrooms is a website with many components. The purpose of this website is to help teachers use the Internet effectively. On the "Home" menu the user can choose to visit any of the seven links posted. Those include: Grade Level Help, Links for K-12, Technology Tutorials, Assessment Assistance, Daily Dose of the Web, On-Site Training, or About Us. This is a free website that is designed to help teachers find free Internet Sources to use in the classroom setting. Content: This site is full of information and consists of many separate components. This site is mainly visited by teachers who are hoping to find a way to integrate the Internet into their classrooms. From the site the user can choose a specific grade level and subject. Once the user has selected a grade level and subject a list of sites that can be used for classroom instruction appear on the screen. For example, if the user chose Language Arts for Elementary Students, sites such as "American Literary Classics" or "Brain Food" would appear and the user would then choose one of those links to instruct their students. These links can take you to anything from a list of good books to read in the classroom, word puzzles to challenge your students, or anything else related to Language Arts for Elementary students. Design: The website is somewhat organized, however, it can be a little confusing to navigate since there are so many separate links on the Home page. There are also several ads which can become distracting. Overall this site provides good information for teacher and students about using the internet as a learning tool.

Trevor Santy Sept 14 2011 Overview: This site is mostly a teaching resource with activities for grades from preschool to 12th grade. With many different activities ranging through different class levels. The activities also cover a large variety of topics from science to math to English making it a good learning tool as well as a good place to practice the skills associated with that subject. It even says the grade level the activity was meant for making it a must have for a teacher's resources. Content: This site contains different activities for different subject matters such as history, math, science, and a few others. It also has a games tab that contains learning activities for all ages ranging from the easy to some that are very challenging. Also the activities make great lessons for aspiring teachers and the site has help sections in case you get lost or don't know what grade to do an activity for. Design: This websites design is extremely simple and straightforward. With tabs to take you to individual class levels and activities. On top of that it has a handy on site teacher training for using the activities that is pretty easily designed using a mix of videos and text.

Randi McInerney September 15, 2011 Overview: Internet4Classrooms is an educational website primarily for teacher usage, but could be used by students. There is a good amount of information available on a variety of topics, but the site is not as organized or appealing as it could be. Helpful links, educational games for k-12, assistance and information for teachers, technology tutorials, and SAT/ ACT prep are available. Content: There is a lot of information available, but the SAT/ACT prep is only accessible if you become a member. Interactive games, tutorials, and information are available. The content could be easier to find and access. There is email information to contact the website developers. Design: The site does download, but is not that visually appealing or organized. The site provides tabs to find information, but then will just list a large amount of information that you are expected to look through in order to find what you need.

Overview: This site had many games involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It could be used for all grade levels because you can adjust the level of difficulty on each game. There were daily puzzles, word games, math games, and printable activities. The site is meant to make math fun and it uses creative games to do that. The ability to adjust the difficulty level makes it great for a classroom because you can make the activities grow as the student's understanding grows. Content: This website loads quickly and has an eye appealing front page. There are suggestions of popular math games but there is also a website index at the top of the page. The index was organized into understandable categories. The games uploaded and played without pause to load. The brain teasers and games were correct to the best of my knowledge. There were also links to math trick videos and other game ideas. This website could be used in the classroom as a fun reward for students who finish their in class homework early. Design: The homepage downloads efficiently. The site sponsor, contact information, and date of last revision are not easily accessible. The website also does not run as well in other browsers. I was using Google Chrome. The list of links are very well organized and easy to use. Each link had a description of the game before you click on it to see what it is. The instructions for the games were easy to follow and very logical and concise.

This website provides educational games, daily puzzles, word games, and math games.

Aylin Márquez 13 September 2011 Overview: The Problem Site.com provides educational games, daily puzzles, word, and math games designed for teachers and Pre-K-12th grade students. Reference and printables tabs provide a free educational source for teachers. The site provides mathematical problems from previous years with their solutions included that influence students' analytical thinking. Interactive games are also designed to improve students' memorization. Content: Although the basic content of the site is easily determined, the user needs to check internal links to determine the intended audience of the site. If the audience is young children, they may need adult assistance to navigate within the site since the site has advertisements that can be considered inappropriate (games, dating sites, and etc.). The site has an overview that explains how the site was started and what it is about. A contact person and address are also available for users to ask questions. Both the site overview and contact information are located at the bottom of the site. Overall, the purpose of the site is clear, and the information appears to be accurate. Design: The homepage is designed well and downloads efficiently. It is appealing for mainly high school students and teachers. The user is able to navigate easily. The internal links work properly and are helpful and appropriate. However, there are advertisements that may not be appropriate for young children. The graphics and animations serve a clear purpose. A list of links is well organized, clearly labeled, and easy to use. The site also includes a search area where users can look for other educational sources.