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WebQuest website

Chelsea Brunski 10-08-12 Overview The purpose of this site is to provide help to students with math. The website allows student or teachers to create worksheets. They also have an interactive game section and flashcards to help with math subjects. There is also a homework helper section. It is intended for students' k-12. There is a resource that is very helpful which breaks down the entire grade levels. My impression of this website is that it is an okay website but not the best. It has some very useful and neat components to it which I would use often. It doesn't look like much effort was put into making this site. Content This website says that it is intended for k-12 but there isn't ever different sections on this particular site that distinguishes that. The link that is provided is the only site that actually has different levels of content. I do think that the homework helper is a very useful tool for younger age kids. It can only help with basic math skills. If you need help with upper division math then this tool would not be useful to you. The worksheet section is one of the best things that this site has on it. This tool isn't just for students but can be used by teachers. It allows you to create your own worksheet dealing with different subjects in math. The only problem is that this is also for more basic level math. The game section is very small and limited. It only gives you games concerning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This wouldn't be for any of the upper grades only for lower grades. Design The website doesn't draw you in at all. You have to read the homepage to really understand what the website is even about. It doesn't look like much effort was put into designing this website. There are different tabs on the left hand side that allow you to navigate the site. These are easy to navigate to. It looks like the website really just wants you to go to the other link that is provided. This link is much more

Jessica Lee 10/21/2013 Overview: The purpose of this site is to help students (elementary and middle school aged) improve their math skills by offering flashcards, online games, a homework helper, and worksheets. However, the overuse of internal links within the introduction makes navigating through the website confusing and distracting. In addition, because it requires Java (which I don't have), it is useless and inoperable. The only decent thing about this website is that it provides an external link to Mathway.com - a website that answers basic math problems. Content: They have decent material as far as helping students improve their math skills; however, because the website is inoperable without the Java, the content is basically nonexistent. Their ideas include having the students work on flashcards, playing content-rich games, providing worksheets, and a basic homework helper that answers their problems. Design: The design of this website is so displeasing, that I knew that I would never use it after first glance. The color scheme is distracting and the layout is unorganized. Some positive points about this site, however, is that the table of contents on the side is useful and tells the viewer what to expect. In my opinion, they should have concealed the internal links in the introduction so that it does not take away from everything else. It's very choppy to the eye rather than being smooth and connected.

Jennifer Durn January 24, 2010 Purdue Online Writing Lab - http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ OVERVIEW The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a site designed to provide online writing resources for writers of all ages; from middle school through college and into adulthood. This site provides a variety of writing resources ranging from assistance with APA and MLA formatting, to tips for avoiding plagiarism and resume assistance. Overall, I found the site to be particularly user friendly and have utilized it when completing assignments in past courses. CONTENT The purpose and function of the Purdue OWL site is readily identifiable when the home page is accessed. Sources and authors are listed clearly and the content of the website is current and up-to-date. Resources are also available which highlight recent updates to the site and provide navigational tips for accessing information quickly and easily. Information presented in each section is relevant and easy to select what is important for the particular writing project. DESIGN Using Mozilla Firefox, I did not have any issues with navigating the Purdue OWL site. Recent updates and upgrades to the website have improved the visual appeal. Multimedia resources are not available on the site but given the subject matter, this is not surprising. One area where this site could use additional work is the lack of links to other websites outside of Purdue University's English Department.

Stetson Fancher Reviewed Aug. 31, 2010 Purpose The purpose of the Purdue Online Writing Lab is to help give information and references towards writing documents for school related projects. It is there to educate Purdue students and others about all kinds of references and sources to help make the writing process easier. They have everything from avoiding plagiarism and APA formatting style guide to exercises that might help you with your writing. This site is a great site to use for students as young as junior high, up on through graduate school. It does a great job of making difficult information accessible. Content This site has a full arsenal of information that it has to offer writers with many different kinds of goals. It also does a great job of organizing the information so that it is easily accessible to those who need it. It also keeps the references us up to date as possible. It keeps the most current style guides and even frequently produces podcasts to those who subscribe. It does not always show all of its references on the home page, but as you dig into information, then it becomes more available. The content that this site provides is one that can be applicable for many different writers.

Adam Matson 9-14-2011 Website Evaluations: 1) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ - Purdue Online Writing Lab Overview- This site is intended for the use by students (grades 7-12+) and teachers alike in regards to English writing styles, citations, etc. The site is developed by Purdue University and even allows students to turn written works in to be reviewed by university students and teachers to help correct and guide the writing process. It has a very complete overview of how to write well-rounded essays, letters, etc. and is easy to read and navigate. It covers areas such as MLA and APA formats along with how to cite sources both in-text and bibliographical forms. I would recommend it for anyone who has a question about a writing assignment. Content- The content of this site is extraordinarily helpful and easy to navigate. From the homepage you can easily discern that the main focus is education in English writing. All areas are labeled clearly and cover many sides of whatever subject you are on. It explains clearly every aspect, such as citing sources, and shows many examples, reviewing almost all instances the writer might run in to. Design- The design is fairly basic, as many educational sites are. It is not very interactive (meaning videos, sounds, games, etc.), but it very easy to navigate. Tabs and links are obvious and lead to such places as Contact Information. Links to other parts of the site are always colored differently and easy to discern. All links are easy to read and very specific, letting the user narrow down their intended search quickly and efficiently.

Kids.gov Michelle Petty, January 22, 2011 Overview: This website is aimed at students, ages K-8, and educators. For educators, it offers a wide range of information on topics from science, math, social studies, and health. It then access sites that are relevant to the topic selected and gives links to other sites on a variety of topics within each broad category. For students, it offers them a similar experience. They can go to social studies, and then pick current events, maps, natural history, U.S. studies and world studies depending on what they're studying. This site is great because it offers a variety of information under every category. It is easy to navigate and has very reliable and dependable sources to back its information. Content: The site is very easy to navigate; the top has tabs for students' breaking it down for grades k-5, grades 6-8, and educators. At the bottom of the homepage there is a link to an about us which gives information on the site, who maintains it and who provides the information. The Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) out of Pueblo, Colorado, maintains this site and if that weren't enough information it gives a link to the Pueblo site. This site is mainly links to other educational pages, but it is easy to understand and use. It is aimed at all educational branches, and provides educational sites as well as fun game sites. I would use this site in a classroom setting, because it is educational and easy to use. Design: The design of this website is pretty straightforward. It is basic which makes it easy for all ages to use, and all of the links lead to the site promised without advertisements popping up. There isn't a table of content, but it is broken down into such specific categories, that a table of contents is not necessary. The date of last revision is found on the about us tab and is clearly labeled along with who maintains the site and how to contact them. A simple, yet effective site that

Overview: This site offers all kinds of learning for kids from reading.math,writing to health and fun games to help you learn. You learn about art, music and even money. It is a great learning tool for all kids to have access to. Content: The site has many different links that you can visit but organizes them in groups so it is easier to navigate. This site provides all kinds of useful information for kids and educators. Kids can play fun and interactive games for fun learning on all kinds of topics. They can also learn about everday matters like healthy habits. The author is well recognized on the site as well as sponsor. The information is shown in a way that kids can comphrend the material. Design: The homepage is colorful and has pictures. It keeps you interested in learning with its fun graphics. Every link was well laid out and could be found easily for kids. It is frequently revised so the information is up to date.

Emily Hastings Reviewed 2/5/12 Kids.gov Purpose: The purpose of this website is to provide students with links to other educational and governmental websites for kids. Intended Audience: This site is intended for Kindergarten through eighth grade. Available Resources: This site has many resources available. That is what the purpose of this site is, to link you to other useful and educational websites. Overall Review: This website is easy to use, making it worthwhile. The information is presented clearly and simply making it easy to navigate from one link to the other. It also includes a navigation bar and a site map which are both very useful. The links have great information and do not take long to get to. There are no dead ends, and they bring you to what they say they will. This website is a great resource for finding educational sites. Overview: This site has a link for k-5, 6-8, and teachers with endless links to educational sites. It is extremely organized and very helpful when looking for sites. Content: The content of this site is for students in need of educational websites. It is a great resource for that purpose. When clicked on, the link opens quickly and the information is accurate and educational. It has many links for websites of all different subjects. Design: The design of this website isn't very eye catching, but is welcoming because it is so simple to use. You don't need directions on how to use the site. It is very organized and makes looking for these links easy. It provides you with a site map which is a list of everything in the site, which is very useful as well.

DAR.org Michelle Petty, January 22, 2011 Overview: The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) website is aimed at educating others about the American Revolution, genealogy of members and scholarships for those who meet the criteria. It is not necessarily aimed at students or teachers, but it is a very informative and useful website for American Revolution projects. The site it set up with clear tabs leading to specific sites and searches. The most important link on this site is its online library catalog, which allows individuals to search for specific battles, commanders, cities and other items related to the American Revolution. Content: This website is aimed at informing the public about the DAR and the American Revolution. It is for an older audience, middle school and high school, and would be most helpful in research projects. It is a very nice, official looking site with a clearly identified author and copyright date along with contact information to the site. The site is organized in a very user friendly way with links on the left hand side of the page, and special featured items on the right and DAR related sites across the top of the page. All links lead to educational sites, or journals that are written by experts in the field. Design: The design of this website is very official, with clearly identified authors and easy to use links. It is easy to navigate, and has links to journals, pictures, and videos that are relevant to the American Revolution. All links work and take the viewer to the correct site, and the information provided at the site is educational and useful. This site is great for American Revolution information and is one that I would use as a teacher, however it is probably too complex and advanced for younger audiences.

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.

This Web site is great because it allows you to create custom worksheets for several different subjects including math, science, social studies, foreign languages, and handwriting. You can also choose the grade level you wish to customize for--everything from pre-K through middle school.

Softschools.com provides free math worksheets and games and phonics worksheets and phonics games which includes counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division algebra, science, social studies, phonics, grammar for 1st grade, second grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade and 6th grade.

Solve basic probability problems.

Aylin Márquez 14 September 2011 Overview: Stattrek.com provides a variety of statistics tools designed for mainly middle and high school students. One of the most useful tools is the probability calculator. It can only calculate the three basic rules of probability. However, this online calculator can still be a very useful tool for students who do not own a scientific calculator. The site also provides the explanation of probability notations that are used to calculate the probability of one event. Content: The basic content of the site can be determined easily. The purpose of this site is to be able to help students calculate their basic probability problems. The online calculator is easy to operate. The site provides an explanation of the rules of probability under the summary report title. The site also includes links to other sites that are designed to improve students' learning. There is no revision date on the site. However, the information seems current, and the calculator works properly. Design: The homepage downloads efficiently and is appealing. The user can navigate around the site easily. The directions on how to use the calculator are clear. If the user puts wrong data on the calculator and clicks on the calculate button, the site has an explanation to guide the user on how to correct his/her data input. The site has advertisements that appear to be appropriate and related to students' needs.

Kathryn Slothower September 11, 2011 Overview: The purpose of this website is to provide the knowledge and practice to students in math. The website breaks the skills into different sections which is very helpful however the information that they provide within each topic is not very detailed. The website is more designed for a brush up on the skill rather than learning the math skill. The website has numerous topics in math that students can use. The website has also broke the math subjects into the grade levels for students to explore the website through the grade that they choose. My overall impression of the website was okay. Content: At first look of this website the purpose and content are very obvious. There is information right away that tells what the viewer will find within this website. There was no information on the authors so although the information seems correct from my pervious knowledge I do not know if the author is credited. The content on the website is organized fairly well. The content is easy to find. The topics in math are separated however the website also separated the topics by grade level. It felt like this website was very helpful however it would be a website that was used for a brush up of knowledge because the information on the topics does not explain it very well. One of the better parts of the website is the practice that is available to use on each topic. Design: The design of this website is very interesting. On the homepage there is a paragraph about the purpose of the website and instructions on how to navigate through the website. Although this information is very useful it is the first thing that the viewer sees so the website is not very attractive. There are not a lot of other things on the homepage, which makes the homepage not very busy. There is an index on the left hand side of the page along with the top of the page. Even though there are aspects of the design that I do not like, I think that overall the

AAA Math features a comprehensive set of interactive arithmetic lessons. Unlimited practice is available on each topic which allows thorough mastery of the concepts.

This site is intended for Kindergarten through eighth grade, but is useful for both students and teachers. There is unlimited amounts of practice for various content for the students, but there is also lessons for the teachers. This website is very well designed. It's appealing to the eye and very easy to navigate for yourself. There is also a clear table of contents on the side which makes it easy to switch back and forth from different grade level or curriculum. This website offers a variety of tools for example games, practice problems, quizzes etc. There was also a clear author and sponsor for the site. The only thing I wasn't able to find was a revision date, but the type of math that was covered shouldn't have to be constantly revised. I think this website is very useful and if I end up teaching at the middle school level I will definitely introduce this website to my students and have them use it for practice.

Overview: This site is really geared toward students and not so much for teachers but I liked it because it has a couple games that create real-life scenarios. In these games students had to do calculations that applied high school math. I think the website would appeal to secondary education students in more advanced math classes. It also has link that show students about jobs in the financial field and they can hear from people who currently work in this area, which I think can help students find the area more interesting and they may be able to connect better with the subject that way. Content: Most of the content is definitely for older more advanced students. The games are slightly challenging must are intriguing at the same time. The website has many links to various areas of finance that can help students find jobs in the future if they are thinking about this field. It also shows them that there are people their age running billion dollar companies. Design: The design of the website is geared toward high school students, showing money, nice cars and vacation spots. The links are also very organized and easy to see where stuff is at. The games are set up in an easy to follow manner with guided steps of how to start.

Allison Lindgren September 21, 2009 Website Review http://www.bestedsites.com/ "Best Educational Sites" is a collection of educational games for all areas of learning. Its fun layout with bright colors and bouncing graphics make it most appealing to young children. I think it would be very useful for teachers looking to integrate learning games into their curriculum. There is also basic information on everything from astronomy to engineering. Content Summary: This website has a lot of information in it, but there are no citations. Most of the links work well, but a few are dead ends. The website tells when it was last updated, which was recently, and who it was updated by. The purpose of the site is clear, though. The fun graphics and bright colors would appeal to children, and all the links are geared towards elementary to middle school aged children. There are no obvious spelling or grammatical errors. Design Summary: There are no problems downloading the pages except for the few broken links. The homepage is attractive to young children but the bright colors could be an eyesore if looked at for an extended period of time. The person who last updated the site gives a contact email. The information is well organized into several links provided on the home page and every page has a link to the home page, which makes this site very easy to navigate. The graphics and animations make the site fun and appealing for children, and each page displays a theme common to the information being presented.

Shea Mangold August 31, 2010 This website is used to connect you to different websites like a map or navigation page and it's great for that. This is also aimed for more of a elementary teacher audience it seems like. The owner is Janice Berthiaume, MEd and she has a MEd so I would guess she is qualified and the information is good, but she doesn't have any background information except there is a place with her email to contact her. There are also a bunch of different sponsors and even a place to make donations. It is very well updated, it was last updated August 26, 2010. All of the links worked pretty well except it took forever to load and some led me to a internet is not working page, and took along time loading after that. But when I got to the pages I was very pleased, there's so much information and lessons to choose from. The content was great but in saying that, the design is awful. On the hope page it looks as though someone just threw it together in a hurry, tried to be cute, and then added some cheesy clip art pictures and then threw in some very annoying bouncing books to distract you the entire time. Also, at the bottom of the page all of the sponsors, donations, author information is very bunched together; it does not look very professional. The other pages it links too are pretty simple, bright colored background with links in a different bright color. Everything is on it that needs to be just not great looking. I would have to give this an A for content but a C or D for design