Group items tagged

Jamie Henry 19 May 2011 Overview: The website Learn.Genetics is a very useful site for teachers and students alike in the science field, especially when it comes to genetics. The intended audience is teachers, but it is also designed for easy student use if teachers wanted to use it as a resource. Based on both the content and design reviews, I found this website highly helpful and effective. It would be an amazing practice tool to use when teaching students about gene transcription and translation. Content: Using the Content Evaluation sheet from Cyberguide, Learn.Genetics proved to be a useful site. In nearly all the criteria I marked "Yes" for Learn.Genetics. The information was easy to use and served clear purposes. There were many interactive games and pages that would make it useful and easy to use for students and teachers. The only thing this website could do would be to give links to other useful sites and one to a person who could be contacted for more information. Design: The design of the Learn.Genetics website was also very good. Not only was the site appealing and easy to navigate, it was recent and each part had a clear purpose. There were no directions for using this website, which may have been helpful to some, but since it is such an easy site to use, directions are not really necessary.

The value of studying genetics is in understanding how we can predict the likelihood of inheriting particular traits. This can help plant and animal breeders in developing varieties that have more desirable qualities. It can also help people explain and predict patterns of inheritance in family lines.

The purpose of this site is to teach about genetic trees. Is an upper level reading level so older students. Everything that is in the site is labeled and summarized at the beginning. Overall the website is very well put together and easy to use.

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.

Photo courtesy Shutterstock. There are four basic mechanisms by which biological evolution takes place. These include mutation, migration, genetic drift, and natural selection. Each of these four mechanisms are capable of altering the frequencies of genes in a population and as a result, they all are capable of driving descent with modification.

Punnet squares

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