Group items tagged

Allyson Boyer Review date 2/2/12 This website is intended for teachers and educators. It is designed for teachers to get quick tips on how to handle their classroom, how to discipline in the classroom, and an overall view on education. There is not a list of available resources, but there are people who can comment and give their opinion on the articles, some of these comments are left by teachers. My overall impression of this site was that there is a lot of information, but it's not organized well. There could be more graphics involved as well to make it more appealing to the reader. When I was looking over the content of this website I found that I had positive reactions. I found that the site was updated in 2012 and the information was relevant to the page. I also liked that the site was not bias in any way and that it gave open suggestions for teachers to explore at their own will. I did however find some things that I was not so impressed with. On the home page there is no author so you are not able to research anything about the writer, but if you click on a link there is often an author displayed on certain articles provided. Because there are multiple authors, or some authors not listed at all it is difficult to find out if the information is accurate. This website did seem like a good source of information because the New York Times Company helps sponsor it. Overall, there are many links on this site to help teachers with various situations such as classroom rules, ice breakers for the first day of class, and discipline tips. When I came across this site I was not impressed with the graphic design. The website looked very busy and there were not a lot of pictures. I did however find that the information that was provided would be very useful. There were also no directions for this site if you were lost. You just have to click around until you find what you are looking for. I also found that there was outdated material lingering on this site. I'm

Scott Chanthongthip on January 23, 2010 Overview: National Library of Virtual Manipulatives is a free website offered online to help teachers us visual aids to teach mathematics. The content is from the Utah State University and is edited by the university. Content is easy to navigate and understand because it focuses on students from K-12. Content: The National Teachers Council of Mathematics five content standards are listed vertically in a grid, while the grades for each of the standards are listed across the top of the grid. Navigation based on the content standard and grade level appropriateness is accessible because of this organization. Teachers just need to find the content standard and line it up with the appropriate grade level. Although the site has a version that it offers to schools many of the virtual manipulatives are easy to use as long as one's computer has JAVA capabilities. There are four different language options for the different virtual manipulatives, so it makes it easy to use in bilingual settings (English, Spanish, French, and Chinese). The main reason for this website is to offer teachers with computer technology to teach manipulation of different math areas when the physical manipulatives are not available. Teachers can also use the site to help explain concept clarity of hard to understand math functions. Design: The initial web page offers a grid of math standards and grade levels from K-12. Teachers can click on the appropriate link and it will lead them to more options on different subjects in the content areas. None of the links are broken for the virtual manipulatives. Design of the website is updated often by the USU. NLVM also allows users to select from four different languages.

Kaci Philpot Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide teachers and students with fun, interactive Math manipulatives online, because manipulatives help students to see visual relationships in Math and help to actively engage students. The website has the following standards for math education; numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis & probability. Each standard has four different age groups to choose from: pre-k through 2, 3 through 5, 6 through 8, and 9 through 12. This website is one of the very few educational websites I have found that is free and clear or useless information and clutter. Content Summary: This website content quality is very high; it has an index chart on the homepage with grade levels and math standards. Each box on the chart is linked to a page of full of various virtual Math manipulatives. If you navigate to the credits page you can see who is in charge of creating what, however it does not provide information about or credibility of those individuals. It also does not have revision dates. But the site is well organized and has very rich content. The manipulatives are an excellent way to get students excited about learning math. Total yeses: 19 Total no's: 2 Total N/A: 3 Design Summary: The homepage of this site is very easy to navigate and understand, but it does not have very strong eye appeal at all. But the manipulatives are very useful and all have clear directions if necessary and all internal and external links work properly. It does not appear to have any outdated content, if Mathematics can even be outdated. My favorite link on this website is the link to the Spanish page. This would be very useful for teachers with ESL students; it helps to ease the language barrier. Total yeses: 22 Total no's: 2 Total N/A: 0

Chelsey Lynch 1/31/11 * Overview: This website is for the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. The intended audience of this site is teachers, and students of all ages. The available resources are a wide array of virtual math manipulatives. This website is extremely useful to teachers because it provides children with a firm grasp on concepts by letting them learn directly through physical objects that enable students to visualize relationships and applications. * Design: This website is attractive and very easy to navigate. The main page of the website contains a large grid system which serves as a menu for the math content area and grade level. All information to contact the sites provider is given, and all the information is current. The instructions for the manipulatives are very easy to follow and the site even provides examples when necessary. This site has adequate graphics, though the music and sounds in games is a little dated and sometimes annoying. * Content: The authors of this site appear to be highly education and experts in this field. The purpose of this site is very clear and the content achieves the intended purpose effectively. This site is extremely interactive, well organized, and easy to navigate. I have personally used this site numerous times and love it. The only things I wish this site contained more of are links to websites that are similar to this or had further information.

Casey DeGabain January 24, 2010 Overview This site offer a large variety of options for students there is virtual tours games worksheets. This site would be great for students that grew up in town and do not have a large agriculture background. Content Agriculture in the Classroom is a grassroots program coordinated by the United States Department of Agriculture. To help get students involved with agriculture, this site you will find teacher resources and lessons plans. Although designed for the classroom, the activities would adapt well to after-school programs. Which might help get more students involved with the Ag industry. Design This sit is fairly plan but there is a lot of great information and activities to get kids involved. This site would allow kids to learn something and apply it to a real life situation. Which kids are always wanting to know, when will I ever use this. The links off this site go to all kinds of creditable sites from universities which are trying to get kids interested

Casey DeGabain January 24, 2010 Overview This site seems to have a lot of information but does not seem that appealing to very many age groups and would probably not be the best teaching tool. Content There is a lot of information's dealing with Ag in the classroom, Ag career pathways, educator resources, e dag programs. This sight has a lot of good information but does not seem like something that would be very good to use in the classroom because there is only specific things it deals with and does not have a wide variety of things to interest a lot of kids. I would not use this in my classroom. Design This sight does not have very much graphics or things that really stick out. It is pretty plan with just facts and information. I do not think it would appeal to students very well because of this. It isn't really hard to find your way around but it seems poorly designed for an educational tool.

Kara Mitchell 1 February 2011 This website is lacking in bright colors and animations, because it is intended for an older audience such as high school students. This site looks into world history as well as history of children, women, the French Revolution as well as a few other specific areas of history. The site provides a wide array of information that could potentially be overwhelming. When choosing one site from the title page the student is then faced with another title page breaking down what the specific section includes. The site is easy to navigate as each sub title page is identical. Content: In each sub section is a listing of the sponsor or professor responsible for the information as well as the copyright and date. However the site is dated for 2006. History will not change because it has already happened but the site should be updated to show it is being maintained and not subject to falsification. The site loads quickly and efficiently, with no grammatical or spelling errors. However, there are no ads or links to other sites that may be beneficial or provide more evidence. Design: The site is easily maneuvered and there are no loopholes to finding information. Every page is the same format and there are no distractions. However, this would not be a good site for younger children because it lacks colors and animations. At the same time, no distractions are available to hinder work. Overview: I would use this website in my high school class because so much information is available. Primary sources are easily accessed as are reviews if a student needs clarification. There is no music or videos that I would find helpful however pictures and images of primary sources are at the students fingertips.

This is a website for students to use for planning the class trip. This site has tools to assist the students with creating the trip!

This has a sample of a start sheet to use for the detailed schedule of the trip. It also has good drop down menus for Questions to Students and Teacher Reflection.

WatchKnow.org Michelle Petty, January 22, 2011 Overview: This site is aimed at students ages k-12, with a variety of educational portals from science to math to social studies. The site allows the user to select the area they are learning about, for example social studies and then within that category they can specify a content area like the Trail of Tears. Once the search results come back it offers a variety of information, however the information is only presented through videos and pictures. The site is easy to use and covers a wide variety of topics that makes it useful for students studying a variety of topics. However, without articles it makes using this site in research type projects difficult. Content: The website is clearly aimed at students and links to all content area taught to them. At the bottom of the site there is both a contact link and an about us & visions tab that informs the viewer who maintains the site, its goal, when it was last revised and how to contact someone with questions. When search results are found, the viewer can watch the video, go find the history of the videos to see where they came from and what the video has to offer and a separate tab to leave comments under. All of the video links work and are of good quality and offer a wide range in video content, from people reenacting historical events to math problems being solved step by step. Design: The website, while aimed at ages k-12, caters more to the younger audiences. The graphics used and even the color of font indicate that it wants to appeal to younger aged students. It is easy to navigate and use, and gives plenty of choices in videos and gives the appropriate information about the video that it can be used in an educational setting. I feel like this site would be very useful in replacing youtube videos used in class, because all of these videos are educational and meant for that use. I think I would use this site periodically, but I don't think I would

Sarah Kautzky January 31, 2011 Overview: The purpose of this website is to provide basic statistics help to high school and college level students. This site is intended for students who are enrolled in a statistics course and are seeking additional help and information. This website may also be used by statistics teachers to create lesson plans or be used as a reference. The information is separated into chapter like grouping. My overall impression of this site is a very good one. This is something that I would surely use as a statistics teacher and I would encourage my students to look at it and reference it as needed. Content: The creator of this website is an undergraduate professor who created it as a supplement to the textbook for his students.  He is a credible source and contact information is available in the form of a drop box. Links to other sites and sources are in working condition and are very helpful. This website achieves its purpose in delivering the basic information taught in a statistics class. All of the information is current, relevant, and correct. The information is easy to understand as well. The site is very well organized and free of bias and spelling or grammatical errors. Design: The design of this website is pretty good. There are no download errors or broken links. The homepage is very neat, clean, and organized which appeals to me, but others might be that it is plain looking. The site does not contain a table of contents because it is one in itself the way it is laid out. A copyright date is listed at the bottom of the page. Navigating the site is fairly easy and there are links that allow the user to jump to related pages. The graphics are only used when appropriate and when they add something to the material. The cleanliness and simplicity of it promotes learning and limits distraction.

Ryan Magrum Sept 15th, 2011 Overview: This site is a tour through the exhibits of a natural history museum. The purpose is to experience the museum without actually going there in person. There are many menu options on the home page for kids and for educational purposes. I like this site personally because for students it's like a field trip without ever having to leave the class room (computer room). The site seems fairly main-stream and appropriate for all ages. Content: This is the basic museum home page on the internet. The site has all the information for the museum (contact info, research and curation, business…). There are many links to other similar sites as well as games for kids and to resources for teachers and to merchandising. There are many pictures to lure the user into the site. In terms of the galleries page, The site is a basic tour with captions for each of the interactive picture of real things in the museum that explain what you are seeing in the picture - what a tour guide will tell you. The pictures are mostly for highlights of the museum geared to getting you to visit in person. There is a plethora of information within that is very easy for students and the public to learn from. Design: The site is easy to navigate. All the pictures and colors make the user feel welcome. At first, getting into the specifics of the site and finding what exactly you are looking for is a little difficult but the ease of navigation allows the user to orient their self in the contents after a little exploring. There is a search box so the user can search the site for specifics contributing even more to the ease of navigation. All the advertisements in the site are relevant to education and/or the museum and appropriate for kids.

Ryan Magrum Sept 15th, 2011 Overview: The purpose of this site is to teach student about the frog system through a virtual dissection. The dissection lets the user display the organs of the frog in any combination with or without skin and skeleton without the mess of an actual dissection that many of us have done in high school biology class. The site is strait forward with a big frog picture to click on to start the dissection and various links to other information. Content: The first page has all the bureaucratic business with the contact info, the site creators and developers. There is also a link or two to other pages with more sites like this one and pages with more information. The dissection is a little disappointing. When one highlights an organ or set of organs the organs are sitting there like a real frog on a dissection dish. For a virtual dissection I wanted to see clickable options with descriptions and information (click on the heart and a box with info on the heart of a frog pops up). For a dissection, the pictures accurately depict what an actual frog looks like without the mess of a real dissection. The only other criticism is one can't physically touch the parts of a frog which is one of the benefits of the real life thing that the internet may never have. Design: The website is plain in nature. There are no fancy pictures or visual effect to draw a person into the site. I believe the site is there purely for educational purposes. The title page is white with black print and blue hyperlinks. There are no advertisements. The interactive frog brings the user to the page where the user can play around with the frog parts and view them and how the parts fit together. The art involved is somewhat primitive but the parts are colored and one can tell what they are. This interactive page is plain as well. There is no commercial aspect in this website - it is obviously for educational purposes.

Overview: This site is so cool; I wish i knew about it earlier. I was refered to it by my current math professor because we are discussing manipulatives in his class now. Manipulatives are usually the little blocks and shapes kids can use for learning math. On this site, they have a huge variety that extends beyond that. It can be used by students of all ages and of any skill level. Content: This site has a huge library of different manipulatives broken up by the age group that would most likely use them. They also have some information about the site and how it came about. I had no problem accessing any aspect of the website. Design: The site is really easy to use. The first thing visible when you open the site is a big grid breaking up the manipulatives by grade level and the sub-subject of math it deals with. All you need to do to access the manipulative you want is click on the square in the grid that it corresponds to and find exactly what you want on the big list. I think something that could improve the site would be to include a better discription of each different manipulative. While it is easy to navigate and well designed, I think the site could have been made more aesthetically pleasing.

This website contains virtual manipulatives for all grade levels in Numbers & Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis & Probability. These virtual manipulatives help the student understand the formulas, principles, and concepts in mathematics and science.

Overview: TeacherVision is a website that allows you to pick themes and units that you would like to teach to a class and offers printable's such as games and other activities easy accessed to give to the student's. It also provides links to lesson plans related to social studies and language arts. This website is for links related to the Olympics, which includes history and ideas to provide for students. The overall design is a bit lacking, but it is easily navigated and offers references and slideshows to help understand the Olympics. Definitely something that would be useful when looking for activities and ideas on a unit concerning the Olympics. Content: You are easily able to determine what is on this website due to its easy navigations and layup where everything is labeled and links are provided for each label. The audience is intended for teacher's who are needing ideas, lesson plans, quizzes, and activities when it comes to a unit; in this case the Olympics. The authors for the links are located once you click on the link, and most are teachers or other educators who have used these ideas in their own classrooms. The copyright is located at the bottom of the page which is an accumulation of all links located in the site from 2000-2011. All links currently work and provide a good source of ideas and interactivity that a teacher may use in their classroom. It is very easy to understand, and if Olympics are not a topic that is needed, then there are themes provided for other units if there is something else needed. I would use this site if I was doing a unit on the Olympics. Design: The homepage is easily downloadable, but does not have a strong eye appeal. It is a site for teacher's use only, not one that I going to interest student's. The site is easily navigated with descriptive links for activities and lesson plans needed for an Olympics unit. Everything is details within the links, and there are resources available for extra information and

The Dynamic Earth Overview: This website is set up in a very operative way. The purpose is to inform its viewers about the earth and its components, the solar system, and how the earth came to be here today. The intended audience seems to be teachers for grades 4th through 12th; the teacher could design a lesson plan and incorporate this site into a class activity. Outside of the classroom this site could be targeting anyone interested in earth sciences. My impression of this site was positive; it has tons of information about the earth, solar system, gems/minerals and plate tectonics. Overall this is a well put together site for teachers to incorporate it into a lesson. Content: The overall layout of this website is adequate for any teacher to obtain information or use the site as a teaching tool. Right off the bat it gives you an option of multimedia or printable version, which could please a variety of people. When going through multimedia it provides four opportunities to discover what you want to know about the earth. The quality and abundance of information is set up in an organized fashion. From my knowledge the information is all up to date, but it can't really be outdated when it's about how the earth developed, the solar system etc. The only flaw about this site would be that nowhere to be found directly on the site is an author; it only refers to a National Museum that put the site together. There is also no revision dates. Design: Right from the start, the site loads up and provides the viewer with two options, one being multimedia. At every new screen there is a ton of information regarding earth sciences. The content is designed with a lot of pictures that look very real, allowing it to be interesting and engaging. The way the site is laid out makes it easy to navigate and find what you want, everything is just a click away. At the bottom it has the sponsor and creator, the creator being a National Museum, the link goes to the museum website

Whitney Lindt Purpose: The purpose of this website is for teachers to go to in order to get ideas about what they could do in their classrooms. Not only would this website be useful for just teachers but there are some links off the home page that would be fun for the students as well. Overview: This site would be great for teachers to get different ideas of ways to teach language arts and math to their students. Not only could teachers learn from this website but their students could also learn from this webstie because there are several links between these two subjects that students could play games from and learn at the same time. This website would keep the students engaged with what the teacher is trying to get across because when a teacher can teach with games students can learn more because they are actually involved in the learning process. Content: The content of this website I think does a great job providing links that teach the students in math and language arts. In the language arts section it goes from grammar, to phonics, to reading; meaning that it basically covers everything that students learn as first graders in the class room when it comes to language arts. In the math section of this website it covers mathematical processes, numbers and operations, algebra, geometry and measurement, and data analysis. Some of these math processes might be a little advanced for first graders but it would still be good for them to look at so they are not completely unfamiliar with them as they go higher up in school. Design: What I really like about this website is that it is extremely easy to navigate. It splits up the information into different grade levels and then from there it goes into the different subjects. I think this website was mostly designed for the teachers to use because it is not appealing to the eye if a first grader were to use it. That is the only thing that I do not like about this website is that it is not really that appealing to the eye b

Overview: Knight Cite is a bibliography maker. You just plug in the information into the specified box and it creates a proper citation in MLA, APA or Chicago style for you. This site is intended for those needing guidance on how to cite their sources for any research project that requires one of the provided formats. I have been using this website since 5th grade and it has always been useful and correct. The sponsor updates the page on a regular basis, when the new handbooks come out. A very useful site for those needing help with their bibliography or teachers trying to instruct their classes on how to properly cite sources. Content: Overall Knight Cite is pretty skin and bones. It does not have many fancy features, but it serves its purpose well. The page is clear and easy to navigate. It allows you to cite practically any reference you can think of in the three major writing styles. Since the sponsor is a University, it is assumed that they are qualified to provide this information. The intended purpose for this cite is clear upon opening the page. They have links where you can contact the authors, and the information aligns with other bibliography websites. Design: Knight cite downloads nicely and is designed for streamline efficiency. Although there is no "welcome page" it is immediately obvious what the intended purpose of the site is. When you open it, it immediately gives you the blanks to fill out to create your bibliography. There are instructions incase you are still unsure how to use it, but it is not difficult. To move between styles, it is as easy as clicking a tab at the top of the page. Same for changing the type of resource you are using. The site is extremely helpful if you have many citations as it will save them as you go and then when you are don you merely have to copy and paste your completed bibliography.  

Michelle Jacobsen 9/16/11 Overview: This website really isn't the best for students to use I would say. Some of the games are free but most you have to pay for. For teachers, it is a little more helpful for helping first time teachers teach different parts of math, like the times tables for example. Content: The content of this website is more directed towards helpful tips for teachers in teaching elementary math classes. They give teaching tips and guides as well as strategies to use to help get the point across to kids. Design: This isn't the easiest website to navigate though that I have come across. It's really a boring design and has everything cluttered into the home page. There are also quite a few ads that will also show up on the side of the page. Overall I'm not a huge fan of this site and wouldn't really recommend it.