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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.

John Ripley 9/12/11 Web Rangers Overview: This site is produced by the National Park Service (Department of the Interior) and I found it through the Yellowstone National Park website. It is listed under the heading "for kids" on the YNP homepage. The intended audience is kids, and not necessarily kids who have been to YNP or any other park. Content is varied and covers several different fields pertaining to history and natural science mostly. Content: The basic content of the site is not immediately clear, but once you navigate into the site a table of contents appears. While I could not find a date for the most recent revision, all the links of the site worked properly and I have no reason to think that anything on the site is out of date. The information is accurate as far as I can tell and fairly diverse. There are several different games under each subject heading. Design: This website looks like it was designed by the National Park Service with the logo in the top right corner of each page and the colors of the NPS on all the pages. The home page is not especially catchy and if I were not doing this assignment I would not go wandering around this site. However, once you get into the site to the contents and the games it gets a little more interesting. It's still not what I'd call exciting though.

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.

Brienna Gregor 10/11/12 Overview: This site would work best for students from late elementary to high school levels (5-12). This website is intended to help students and other educators understand the underlying factors of predicting volcanic eruptions. Available resources provided include: Melting Rock, Dynamic Earth, Judging Hazards, Forecasting, Coping with Risk, and more. Initially I predicted that this website wasn't going to do well in the content standards because the design standards were a little bit lacking compared to other sites however, I have come to find that this website is a very handy tool and does well in both content and design standards. Content: This website is very good in that its information is always up to date, the information quality is great, and it provides more information. Some sites lack in giving the viewer options to leave the site and look at links that are provided. This website does lead viewers to learn out of their site in a constructive way while instilling learning on their site as well. Design: This website isn't the most appealing to the eye after following the introductory page. Despite this fact, it is fast, easy to navigate, and uses videos as a media source. It gets the job done in fulfilling its purpose by instilling the idea that natural disasters, such as volcanoes, can be predicted (not stopped) and then can lead to less of a disaster through preparation. Information is what is most important in educational websites and I believe this website is great due to that aspect.

Overview Garbology is an interactive online game that is designed for educators to use with their kids to learn about waste. I think this game would be best used with kids that are in upper elementary or middle school but you could expand that age range. It is intended to increase awareness of garbage, recycling, composting, and nature conservancy. This website is well designed and easy to operate. It is clear that they have a lot of resources put into this site.

Ryan Mikesell ITEC Web Review 1/23/10 Overview: Lincolnelectric.com or the Lincoln Electric homepage is a promotional website for the Lincoln Electric company but also contains information about Lincoln welding products and links to information regarding welding technology. The site is directed towards people in the welding profession, in regards to potential customers, or anyone in need of products or looking into joining the welding profession. Overall this is a good website to search products and gain information about the welding profession. Content: Lincoln Electrics main page contains a lot of advertisements and product reviews but that's because this is the nature of the website, to sell Lincoln products. However this is not the only available resource this page offers it also contains some very viable information. Within this website there are links to informational sites, career opportunity pages, educational and informational articles as well as educational products such as welding instruction videos and handbooks. Each article included on the website has authors and references. Lincoln electric also provides all copyright information on each page. There are links to talk to professionals and how to contact the company itself. A very useful site to someone in need of Lincoln products or information about becoming a welder and the necessary equipment needed, as well as the opportunities in the welding profession. Design: The design of this webpage is very typical for a corporate, product selling website; it's obvious its intentions are to sell Lincoln products and to persuade people to join the welding profession. Its links and toolbars are easily navigated and clearly defined. All revision dates and references are provided. The page also includes an abundance of images and links to other sites.

Content Summary: The site at first is a little hard to determine the basic content of the site unless you knew about the program before visiting the site. The sponsors for the site are clearly identified on the site and each one had a separate link for them. The site did no have posted anything on the information currency. However, the information on the site is talking about the program therefore; the information does not need to be updated as much. The site met all the information quality standards for the evaluation. The site was well organized and the purpose of the site was clear and easy to understand. Design Summary: The Growing Up Wild web site is very neat and fresh looking. The site and the links on the page downloaded efficiently. All of the text was well organized and easy to read. Navigating around on this site and moving form topic to topic was easy. The few graphics they displayed made a contribution to the site and was the right amount to attract the eye but not take away from the information. There was also availability of further information provided for those who want it. Overview: Growing Up Wild is a site that explains an early childhood education program. This site is for teachers or other educators. This program focuses on having students explore wildlife, nature and the world around them. It also has great activities for students to participate in and learn useful information. The site was very well designed, easy to use, and contained useful information.

Jennifer Durn January 24, 2010 Pioneer Drama Service, Inc. - http://www.pioneerdrama.com/ OVERVIEW While this site was more of a commercial nature than the others that I reviewed for this assignment, the Pioneer Drama Service website appears to be a valuable resource for the director of a children's theater program or a school drama advisor. The company provides a useful search feature to locate the appropriate play or musical and utilizes a shopping cart, as do many other e-commerce sites. I plan to bookmark this site and use it in my career when I have the opportunity to be a drama or theater advisor in a school setting. CONTENT The intended audience is readily apparent when one first navigates to the Pioneer Drama Service site - the "educational and amateur market." The site is well organized and information is logically presented. The site is updated regularly with the most recent update having occurred on the day I viewed the site. Given the abundance of copyrighted material on the website, playwrights and authors are cited consistently. DESIGN The "Ask the Playwright" feature and blogs are two tools that I had not expected to see on the site. The "Ask the Playwright" button allows the user to send a message through the Pioneer Drama Service to inquire about the particular work. The blog section provides postings from staff as well as news feeds from other relevant websites. Many of the plays and musicals featured on the site also contain production photos and production notes, a useful tool when deciding which theatrical works will be featured in the upcoming season. The site performed without incident using Mozilla Firefox and presented information in a simple and user friendly fashion - search features at the top of the site and a toolbar with drop down menus on the left.

Nathan Hissong 1/23/10 Content: The Worlds Smallest Political Quiz provides five questions concerning personal political issues and five questions about economic issues. Each question is followed my a matrix which includes whether you agree, are not sure, or disagree with the question. When you are finished with the quiz which literally take two minutes you are presented with a chart that shows where you lie on the "political map." Below the chart the site tells you where you are. For instance, mine is Liberal. Under that heading it explains what that political ideology means. The site also out lines the other political ideologies below yours Design: The design is rather modest in aesthetic appeal. However, in my opinion is appealing in the content it provides. The site that provides the quiz also has quotes from The Washington Post and USA Today hailing its legitimacy as a tool to understand the political system. In conclusion its content makes up for bland visuals. Overview: In my opinion, this site is very educational. I plan to use in my classroom. American High School students often have no idea where they stand on the political map. This quiz not only gives you questions to decide where you lie it shows you the other sides and shows you why you lie where you do. It is a good exercise to show how different the ideologies are and how extreme they are in nature. It is a valid teaching tool and is simple enough for complete naves to understand.

A website full of interactive games for math, english, science, etc.

Overview: This site is all about interactive and fun games to help enhance learning for elementary school-aged children. You can sing songs, play games in math, language arts and vocab. It is child friendly so you can easily find what it is you want to play. Content: The author is not very clear but at the bottom lest side of the page shows the sponsor which is Time4Learning, a online home educational program for homeschooling, afterschool and summer learning. There are links to all the different activities the site has to offer from fun interactive learning games to free worksheets to online learning. The content is mainly the focus for elementary aged kids. It provides the needs to teach and help children learn new concepts and refresh old ones. The information is consistent and updated frequently. Design: The design is fun and appealing for kids. There are pictures to go along with the links which make it easy to navigate and know exactly were to go. Everything loaded fine and had extra places to visit for extra help.

Overview: This website provides games for young learners to explore even before they reach classroom age and throughout the early elementary years. The website covers several subject areas including but not limited to Health, Spelling, Animals, Science, Math, Art, Geography, and Literature. The games are fun and challenging. Content: There are games for young learners that are both challenging and entertaining in a wide variety of topics. Each topic has sub topics and then a multitude of game options for that sub topic. There are illustrations of cartoons throughout the site. The author is not clearly identified but the sponsor is. The website links to other young children's websites and cartoon television shows. Design: The amount of subjects and then sub-subjects is outstanding. The entire website is geared towards young children which is not only seen through the illustrations but also through the advertisements. The games are easy to get into the first time but after you have gone into one of them it is difficult to get back out to the website's main menu. While it has links for the subjects it doesn't have links such as home, about, contacts that may be helpful additions. A copyright is not readily available. The directions for the games are clear and concise.

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.

9/8/11 For teachers, if you are interested in teaching anything about nature or animals, this is a really useful website!

Adrianne Lauman September 02, 2011 Overview The purpose of this free website is to provide knowledge and awareness of North American bird species and their habitat. The site encourages people to make connections to science and nature through bird watching. The information is directed toward people of all ages who have an interest or curiosity to learn more regarding ornithology. Video clips, audio clips, colorful photos, range maps and life histories are available for investigating bird species. The site provides expert knowledge on the subject of birds in a clear and visually pleasing manner. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology developed this website and the National Science Foundation supports it. Content The site appears well organized with a visible heading to initiate a search for information on bird species. The search feature has an automatic fill in based on the first letters typed to allow the user to locate the bird of interest. Interactive selections allow a person to listen to bird sounds, as well as watch video footage of the bird. The site provides opportunities to "ask an expert" about topics concerning ornithology and information on how to participate in bird projects. One project named Feeder Watch allows people to send in their own data based on their bird watching experiences. Design The website has clear headings to locate topics and information. The copyright information and developer of the site are displayed at the bottom of each page. The photos of the birds are eye-catching and appealing. The information provided by the site is abundant and well worth viewing.

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.

Katharine Johnson September 19, 2009 National FFA Organization Introduction: The National FFA Organization website is a great insight to what is going on in the organization. It gives you events that are going on throughout the nation. Not only that but it has separate lings that can help you find careers associated with the organization. For FFA members it can help them find scholarships and learn about the many opportunities associated with the organization. Content Evaluation: First Look: The homepage is inviting. All the main components are bold and the site is easy to navigate through. It is obvious that the intended audience is for sure high school FFA members and also can be used by Agriculture teachers. Information Providers: The authors of the materials are not clearly identified. However knowing the FFA organization I know that the National FFA officer team has a lot to do with the sight along with the advisors and the employees of the organization. The site sponsors are sighted with a ling on the left hand side. Information Currency: It does not say exactly when the site was last updated. Even though the site does not say when it was last updated it is obvious that it frequently gets updated in order to keep up with all the events. All the links to other sites are current and in working order. Information Quality: The purpose of this site is informational in nature. The content of this site is effective in doing this. It informs the audience of all the news and updates that are happening. The site is also well organized. The main ideas are bold and eye catching while the information and links are all under titles. Design Evaluation: Speed: All pages and graphics load very quickly. Home Page: The homepage is attractive and eye appealing. All the information is clear and organized. Ease of Navigation: The site is easy to navigate. All the information is clear and organized and helps you find what you are looking for easily.

http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/ Reviewed by Angela Eiden 8/31/2010 Overview This site was created by Crayola, the crayon maker. It is designed for kids and teachers alike. There are literally thousands of coloring pages for teachers and children to choose through. This site also includes features such as craft ideas and games for the youngsters. The site is fairly easy to sort through, once the desired page is found simply print and color. There are also hundreds of craft ideas to sort through. There are step by step instructions for each and every craft idea. The game page is loaded with fun and interesting games and ideas for those of all ages. This site is fairly easy to navigate through and it is very age appropriate. Content The only sponsor listed on this site is Crayola due to the fact that this site was designed and created by Crayola. This site does have a copyright listed through Crayola LLC. Furthermore, there are several logos that are copyrighted within the site. There are no outside links to other sites due to the extent of the Crayola content throughout the site. The site is quite useful in the educational information for the younger elementary students. And the content is extremely age appropriate for the intended audience. Design This site has a solid design for the intended audience. It is extremely colorful due to the nature of the creators, Crayola. Furthermore, the background theme plays off of the original theme of the Crayola box.

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.

Cells are expert recyclers. They disassemble large molecules into simpler building blocks and then use those building blocks to create the new components they require. The breaking down of complex organic molecules occurs via catabolic pathways and usually involves the release of energy.