Group items tagged

Overview: The National Geographic website is informational and entertaining it is Is full of startling photography and mind-expanding writing on space, the environment, animals, and even world music. Its purpose is to inform people on interesting news and events along with many entertaining stories and topics. Its intended audience is for anyone and everyone even a link for children. Content: There is so much content and information on this site. On the homepage there are top stories, videos, photos, and polls. There are tabs to photography, environment, travel, adventure, National Geographic TV, kids, and shop. There are also links to the magazine, news, animals, science, video, education, maps, games, music, blogs, movies, in the field, and a site index. When you access the site is easy to determine the content and intended audience. There is available information about the authors and researches for the different articles. The information is always constantly being updated and revised so nothing is out of date. The links also are easy to use and work properly. The information and content presented is not biased and achieves the intended purpose of informing and entertaining Design: The design of the National geographic website is very organized and easy to navigate through its many links of information. It is full of eye-catching photos and colorful links and tabs. It is easy to read and very understandable and accessible. The website downloads efficiently and the site is appealing and grabs tor attention. There is a site index and search box. The sites also provide copyright informational the provider is clearly identified. The links are clear and helpful and all the information including the photos videos and articles serve a clear purpose to the site.

This website is highly recommended in the world of educators. National Geographic is a well-known magazine. The purpose of the site is to make their information more accessible. When looking for an article for a science report this is a good site to go to. The audience for National Geographic is from 5-100; they have articles designed for young children but also sophisticated articles for a more mature audience. Also on this website if you wanted a hard copy of the magazine you could subscribe. My overall impression was very good. The content of the website is easy to maneuver around and find. Because National Geographic is a well-known magazine you know that the information presented is reliable and accurate. The website has access to games and videos to further explore the concepts.  As for design, it scores just as high as content. The homepage is appealing to look at and easy to use. When searching for a topic many articles come up giving many different perspectives one could choose from. The site has many colorful pictures that make your research more appealing to conduct.  Overall this website is very well designed and easy to use. 

Overview: This website is fun and informational providing many items on common questions and articles. There is an updated homepage with photos articles polls, quizzes, and videos. This site aims to explain everything from DNA coding to car transmission problems in simple articles and videos. This site's intended audience is for adults due to the article and links provided. Content: This website provides up to date headings and topics on anything and everything you may want to know. It has tabs for adventure, animals, auto, communication, computer, electronics, entertainment, food, geography, health, history, home and garden, money, people, and science. When you access the site is easy to determine the content and intended audience. There is available information and the authors and researches for the different articles. The information is always constantly being updated and revised so nothing is out of date. The links also are easy to use and work properly. The information and content presented is not biased. All the articles also are valid and have an intended purpose to entertain or inform. Design: The design of howstuffworks.com is easy to use, organized and attractive. The homepage provides many interesting headings, photos, and videos. It is easy to read and very understandable and accessible. The website downloads efficiently and the site is appealing and grabs tor attention. The sites also provide copyright informational the provider is clearly identified. The links are clear and helpful and all the information including the photos videos and articles serve a clear purpose to the site.

Overview The first website that I evaluated was howstuffworks.com. This is an educational website aimed at all age groups that can answer questions about how many different things work. The website offers a variety of different resources. An example of the resources would be how the site teaches skills that everyone should have on topics such as money. Overall, I thought this website was great. It's easy to navigate, and offers many different types of educational materials. Content Not only is this website educational, but it is fun as well. You can come to the website to find out something serious, but you can also come to find out something that's entertaining and fun. The content of the website is easy to understand for any age. Things are explained simply so that you can actually learn at your own pace. It's also easy to find out about the website by clicking on the "about us" link at the bottom of the page. There you can find who sponsors the site and where the content comes from. Design The website is very easy to navigate through. As soon as you get to the homepage you are faced with many different tabs and also a search bar so you can find exactly what you are looking for. In addition to the tabs, there are resources such as videos and blogs that you can get access to through the site.

Overview: This websites main focus is to breakdown simple mechanics of almost anything from how a toaster works to economic policies of the year 2011. This is a source to explore the world around us and understand the things that we encounter and use daily, as well as providing a guide for users ion new endeavors into of learning. Concept: The classification of materials found within this writing is more vast than an encyclopedia. It includes multi-media and interaction presentations to gain the attention of the reader and create a better understanding. The material can become more complex and technical, but can be a resource for any researcher. I would recommend for teachers seeking to better explain concepts or to satisfy the curiosity of a learner. Design: Clean, simple, and precise. This website has a rather challenging searching process, but a pursuing researcher can use the search tool to peruses topics that coincides. The clean layout of the material and explanations make the learning process something to be a part of. As well as a social network application installed to share the knowledge of "how stuff works".

Posted by Amber Rittenhouse on 1/24/10 Overview: This site is used primarily for educational reasons. It is intended for high school students and beyond. The site offers help in many areas of math in order to help with the understanding. Links are provided to get more help beyond what is provided in the site. This site accomplishes its purpose of teaching very well through the example problems given and the lessons provided. Content: This site offers help in order to learn many math concepts, including algebra, trigonometry, calculus, differential equations, complex variables, and matrix algebra. Once you select one of these categories, you can then pick a certain area within the subject. It then offers you an example problem and solution. It is very easy to navigate around the web page. The site offers a lot of information and a lot of help to better learn many math concepts. It does list the date that it was last revised, so the viewer can tell how accurate the information is. Links to other sites are provided to get more help. There are very few ads, so you are not distracted from the learning. Design: The site is very well designed. It is not hard at all to get to a certain subject area that you would like further help in. The site is not incredibly colorful, but this does not distract the viewer from their learning. There is a lot of useful information in this site, so it is definitely worth visiting if you need help in math.

Overview SOS Mathematics is a site for high school students and higher for extra practice and review of materials they are learning in class. It is easy to use and has easy access to where students should go for certain subjects. There is easy access to the other links on the website that allow the website to be complete. Content The content of this website is mainly informational about giving review in higher level math classes for at least high school students. The content of the website is complete because there are no broken links or part of the website does not have any incomplete content. The links are all up to date so there are no problems with the other sites it is linked to. The website is well organized and easy to understand. It is worth bookmarking and given to students to use as review. Design The design of this website is appealing to the eye because it is not too crowded or overwhelming because of the content. All the links are working properly and easy to follow. The website is available on all internet browsers. Due to its easy access students can use it not just only at school but as home as well for extra practice and review so it is easy for students to do better in the class material and subject matter. The website is well designed and easy to use.

Posted by Erika Jeffs on 1/24/2010 Overview: Webmath is a website designed to aide in math homework for many levels of math. The site helps solves problems and shows the processes to get there. The student can type in specific problems or practice concepts with provided examples. The site is meant to help when students are having trouble with their homework; however, this site could be utilized too much and may allow students not to do there own work. Content: Webmath directly states what this website is for as well as the levels of math that can be found on it. The site is copyrighted and contact information is readily available, but the authors of the site are unclear. It is also unclear whether or not the site has been updated recently. The information you are looking for is easy to find because the math content is broken up into in an easy to understand fashion. There is also a quick find drop down bar, but it has several options that may be hard to wade through. Students can type in specific math problems and the answer is delivered instantly. There are several advertisements, which imply that math help is not the sole purpose of the site. Internal and external links seem to work well, but the site has limitations and probably cannot answer every question. Design: Webmath loads and operates quickly. The homepage is unattractive but effective. The site is easy to navigate, and there are instructions if there is any question on how to use a feature. The links work properly, and the layout is consistent throughout the site. Webmath is lacking in interactive material and attractive graphics.

Hannah Streeter 2/1/2011 Overview- This website is colorful and fun. It has lots of games based on literary skills driven toward elementary school students. Its a little silly, and easy to use. There is also a really great teacher/parent link on the home page. Content- The content of this website is literary games with fun characters like monsters, animals, dwarfs, and other fun characters. The content is based on auditory explanations, uses simple words to explain the games, and then expounds into more complex concepts to help teach things like Poetry and the alphabet, depending on which category you pick from. The games are super fun, even for a big kid like me. Design- The design is bright and colorful. The games load quickly and the sound is clear. There are many different games and animations for all elementary grades. there are links to the home page, and other games to play and learn from. All in all, a really great site!

Literary Learning

Shelley Limegrover January 22, 2011 OVERALL The third site I evaluated is the Physics 2000 site. The site explains general physics concepts in a dialog format using an imaginary cast of physics professors and students. One or more interactive simulations accompany all dialogs. The site is intended as a resource for high school and non-science college students that presents otherwise abstract material in a more comprehensible format. I found the presentation of material to be very creative, although the site itself seemed visually "busy" and awkward to navigate. CONTENT The authors of the site are clearly identified and include a physics professor, various science advisors as well as a high school physics advisor. The credentials of all authors and advisors are not provided, but the site claims to be funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, giving it some credibility. The dates of copyright and last revision are not readily apparent. However, the main page states that they are looking for sponsors to support continued operation. Recommendations for supported browsers are a few years out of date. The content itself does not seem adversely affected by lack of updates. All content links are functional as are all interactive applets that I tried at random. DESIGN Some pages of the site are designed better than others. The choice of colors and layout do not make information immediately visible. The navigation is not consistent across pages. The relevant content, however, is presented nicely once I get to it. This makes it worth a visit to the page. Interactive applets are provided wherever they are beneficial.

Shelley Limegrover January 22, 2011 OVERVIEW The second site I evaluated was phet.colorado.edu. This site contains interactive simulations of math and natural science concepts relevant to all grade levels including college. This site is intended primarily for Teachers. Besides science simulations, the site contains suggested classroom activities and lesson plans corresponding to the simulations. All content can be downloaded or run directly from the site. CONTENT The content and intended audience of the site is made immediately clear on the first page. More detailed information about the intent of the site as well as about the authors and sponsors is made available via a list of links at the bottom of the homepage. The information on the site is not immediately easy to understand. However, this is remedied by instructions and suggested uses of all the content on the page. The site also offers dates for teacher workshops so that they may learn how to apply the material. As I mentioned in the overview, this site is primarily for teachers. A student would not be able to navigate through the material effectively without guidance. DESIGN The homepage downloads quickly and is clear of distraction. A simple navigation bar is provided at the bottom of the page. No scrolling is necessary to see it. The copyright date is clearly identified though dates of last revision are not. There are no broken links and all material appears to be up-to-date. The format of all pages is consistent and a navigation bar is always present. The site was compatible with all three browsers that I had available to test. The simulations are neatly presented on a single page, searchable by subject matter or grade level. There are no unnecessary graphics or video files on other pages of the site.

Lauren McDaniel, 9/4/11 Overview:  This website would be useful for people with a sturdy knowledge base wanting to know anything having to do with the field of philosophy.  Teachers and future teachers would find the website especially useful because it provides biographies of philosophers that have contributed to educational philosophies, and explores detailed concepts, arguments and analysis of the many different educational philosophies. Content:  Information on the editor, supporters of the site, and copyright date are clearly present and can easily be found when navigating the site.  The content is updated regularly, which can be seen by clicking on the different tables of contents listed by the year they were published.  The formality of the page shows its purpose is very informational.  By clicking on the table of contents and finding the subject interested in, which is listed in alphabetical order, one can easily find whatever they're looking for.  Information is presented in a factual way, lacking bias or prejudice, and certainly seems to be accurate because of the supporters backing it.  Information is easily accessible by locating the table of contents, which presents a page looking similar to a dictionary.  Words, people, places, and other things can be clicked on, and a plethora of information is presented in an organized and clear way. Design:  The design of this website is very formal, and the pictures fit the formality.  When first arriving on the website, it is incredibly appealing because of it's organization and neatness.  The table of contents is only one click away, and is incredibly easy to navigate.  The links associated with the information presented are useful and all working properly.  This site is very well designed and definitely worth visiting.

Megan Switzer September 11, 2011 Overview: Overall I was thoroughly impressed with the ESL lounge web site. The purpose of this website was to familiarize on with information about ESL through teacher's stories, guides, books etc. It also provided lesson plans as well as activities to do with students in your classroom depending on level whether beginner, intermediate and so on and so forth. The targeted audience of this website is mainly teachers, although there is a link which leads you to a site for students. ESL lounge for students provides children the opportunity to learn through activities, guides, exercises, anything that may be helpful in their learning of the English language. Multiple resources are available on this web site and are clearly labeled for easy accessibility. Overall this website is organized and clear with information that pertains not only to teachers, but also to students. This website seems like a good resource for those interested in learning about ESL. Content: The content of this website was extremely helpful as well as appealing. Not only did all of the links work, but the information was easy to navigate, understand and accurate. The date of when it was last revised seem to be current and although there did not seem to be any information providers such as an author, the information still seemed trustworthy, consistent and accurate. The way in which the information was organized was clear and easy to find the concepts one would most likely be looking for. Design: Overall the design of this web site was extremely satisfactory. It had an appeal to the eye, was easily understandable, it provided a helpful guide as well as was organized into sections. All links were up and working, the information was extremely helpful as well as relevant. Although I could not find a creator the information was up to date and helpful. Overall this was a site that was easy to navigate and the purpose of it shined through. If one has any que

John Ripley 9/13 Overview: This is a site produced by the Federal Reserve to promote financial literacy. It is aimed at providing information and activities to all age groups from kindergarten to adult. There are only two games/activities for the K-4 level and I didn't think that either one was especially good. There are several more games for kids at older age levels that are a little better. I still can't imagine kids getting excited about playing any of the games that I looked at though. The games/activities are only a small part of the site and I think that the real strength of the site lies in the information that it provides for a high school age audience that might be exposed to the information through a teacher in a classroom that could help interpret it. The educational value is more as an aid to a teacher in planning a lesson or relaying a concept rather than assigning the

Overview: GOOD originated as a magazine company and with advances in internet, GOOD has designed one of the most unique interfaces to gain information, current issues, and learn more about community ideas. Concept: The concept of GOOD is that of news organizations, but in a sense that breeds community. Some ideas shared can seem a little more one sided than others, but it brings good ideas, people, and news to the front page. This positive interface brings education aspects to social constructs and the newest in each subject. I especially like the Challenges they give the readers each month for August "The effects of going Vegan" or for September "Send someone a Post Card." We value getting mail, but never seem to be able to write to our dearest friends. I love the facts that back up this simple good idea to become more outgoing. This can be a resource for teachers to challenge students. Seek through news and actually find "good" stories to share to the class. The content in comprehendible and an awesome resource to get students away from main-stream media to understand community polls on political standings or engaged in dive into design, food, or education. Design: GOOD is a website that values its high design, easy access, and reader friendly qualities. I am also thoroughly impressed with Good's Infograph posted to tell stories of simple if "If Facebook users are more Trusting?" The design is so user friendly you can quickly glance over headlines while browsing each most viewed story. Students of post-primary education can access with without being drowned in adds or bias news articles.

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

Posted by Mitchell Clark 9/18/09: HippoCampus is an interactive homework site that provides homework help in math, science, psychology, history and religion. Content: HippoCampus is a simple but very effective homework help site sponsored by the Monterey Institute of Technology and Education. This site uses a combination of resources to help students understand the basics of nearly any level of math, science, psychology, history or religion class that they might encounter during high school or college. The lessons on this site use images, audio and user interaction to help with the comprehension of the material at hand. In addition to this there are also Spanish options for subjects such as calculus and algebra. There are also links to actual text books, but they are deceiving. It turns out that instead of being able to view the text, the user is presented with a video interview of the textbook's author about a certain subject. This can display a certain bias if the interview is conducted poorly. Another potential problem with this site is that it was last updated in 2007. Now for some subjects such as math or language arts this is irrelevant but for subjects such as science and psychology this could result in the absence of new and important information. Aside from the "textbook" links, this site is so well organized that the user can easily find the exact chapter or concept that they wish to review with just a few clicks of the mouse. Design: This site is well designed and very easy to navigate. There are four advertisements but they are organized neatly on the right side of the screen and are nothing more than links to scholarship information and additional resource sites. The sponsor of the site is clearly stated at the bottom of the page and there is a link to their contact information. The site is mainly composed of two sections, the first being a list of general subjects that the user might be interested in, i.e. math and the second section is where

Mary Magnuson, The Website http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl.php?set=b&topic_id=4&subtopic_id=60&intro=false is great. It is organized really well. The downloads are really fast, and all of the ones I tried worked. It is geared towards both the student and the teacher. They are resources that can be used in the classroom, or you can assign students to go there, and there are specific directions with pictures that the students could follow. It is also organized based on grade levels. The content is also good, and from the museum of natural history, so it is reliable. It helps organize deep concepts into easy to understand models.

Evonne Raymond Evlauation September 16th 2009 Content: This website is clearly defnied as a website to teach chemistry to student.Once again there are several authors, depending on the linky ou decide to employ, but the sponsor is the American Chemical Society. It is updated frequently, and the last date revised was March of this year. It is interactive , well organized, easy to understand as well as easy to access. It would be a great interactive tool for teaching chemistry to studetns of all ages, elementary school and up.The information provided is easy to understand and wold fit the needs opf a classroom teaching setting. Design: The design of the website is clear , and it is easy to direct you to your next area of interest on the website. There is lots of multimedia and links, and all of this links I tested worked efficiently with the overall concept. It is also compatable with several servers and compatable to my mac computer. The website is interesting and visually attractive, but not distracting. There is a clear distinct visual aide to click on any links, and the interactive programs are easy to follolw and run smoothly. Overall this website is really accesible, and really interesting. Attribution: The inteded audience is students and teachers, as well as parents and family memebrs who are looking top help their kids understand chemistry a little bit more. It is a helpful website, you would just need to make sure that you are using the age appropriate programs provided by the website. It is both very interesting and very visually entertaining. This website is great for any chem teacher looking to put some bang in their lab.

Kayla Bowie 13 October 2014 Overview: Starfall.com is a site for teachers, parents, and students for preschool. It goes over back concepts like ABC's, reading, math, calendars and holidays. It has instructional links for parents as well as games for students. There are also links to the starfall store where you can purchase curriculum activities for kindergarten phonics. Content: The links are working and it is easy to navigate around the site. The content is current and accurate and will still be useful for years to come. Design: The design is very well done. At first sight it is kind of in your face with colors, but other than that is very easy to navigate. With a little help, younger children could easily use it.

An interactive tutorial for learning trigonometric identities, their uses, and trigonometric functions.

Whitney Reese Reviewed: 2/4/12 Overview: The purpose of this site is to help children learn different math skills through games and word problems. The intended audience is school age children from grades 2nd through 5th.  The available resources include several games or "challenges". Each challenge has informational hints and fun facts to go along with it to help the user figure out the problem. I think this site has good resources for helping children learn a wide variety of math concepts. However it doesn't seem as kid friendly as other sites and may be hard for kids to understand how to navigate the site.  Content: This site has several useful tabs for navigation. The website has clear and credible authors and the information seems fairly up to date.  The challenges and games make learning math fun for children and demonstrate how math is used in everyday life and why these skills are important. It even includes a tab that changes the content of the site from English to Spanish.  Design: The design of this website makes it fairly easy for kids to navigate. They may get confused at first because the intention of the site is to keep you on a certain challenge until you have figured out the answer and chosen a new challenge. However, once the kids are able to understand how to navigate this site it should be no problem for them. There is a lot of text on this site that may seem boring for some kids. The graphics are fun and colorful. This website is clear and organized fairly well.

This site is intended to help families outside of school enjoy math by solving everyday problems, but may also be used at school. The material is at a middle school grade level. There are multiple challenge problems and for each problem the website gives hints, complete solutions, additional related problems etc. This website was developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. So there is a lot of valuable information. I like how the challenge problems are unique and different than your everyday practice problems. Although, there was one major problem with the site. It was very confusing and hard to navigate through. There was not a clear indication on the home page of what the purpose of the website was and how to find the information. There were silly animations that had nothing to do with the math and distracted the eye. The set up was not appealing or well organized. Once I figured out how the website was set up I enjoyed the content, but they should have instructions or a table of contents on the home page. I would definitely like to use this website in my classroom and even with my family once I have older kids, but I would hope the authors improve the navigation system for future newcomers

Earth Science World provides a substantial amount of material, Earth Science concepts, and information on Earth Science for the student, the educator, and anyone interested in Earth Science. The organization also provides publications, toolkits, events, activities, and more on Earth Science to those interested.

Jessica Lee 10/21/2013 Overview: The purpose of this site is to address some common core standards for mathematics in a different, fun way with the use of animations and online games. This website is intended for middle school aged students. There are not any external links for additional resources included. I am very impressed with this website due to its overall design and organization as well as the content-rich materials that they promote. It also provides a learner guide for the teacher to use in the classroom which makes it very convenient. Content: The content of this website is very easy to read and understand for the intended audience. It not only provides fun activities for the kids to enjoy, but also an explanation for each one for what it addresses. It presents math concepts in a new way that will attract "math-haters." Design: The design of this website is aesthetically appealing and easy to navigate. Everything runs smoothly and quickly and all of the internal links work well. The pictures representing the animations and games are significant and attention-grabbing. The only negative thing about this website is the lack of a revision date; therefore, there is no way to know, immediately, that it has been kept up-to-date.