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Mike Wilson Site review September 18, 2009 Science Buddies Free Science Fair Project Ideas, Answers, & Tools for Serious Students Introduction This is a very detailed and comprehensive site to facilitate student science fair projects. It can be used by the casual science fair student though the stated target student is the serious science student. Detailed information is provided for students and teachers K-12. The site is supported by 30 major science and technology corporations and is run by a staff of 18 not including the Seagate IT people. Anything to do with a school science project, this is your stop. Google ranking is 6/10 with 321 backward links. Content Evaluation First Look The home page and site are by no means fancy. Simple and clear what the information is and where to go on the site. The depth of the site is extensive. As you start your information search you can easily select your target grade level. Information Providers The purpose of the site, sponsors and fact there are real scientists involved is clear. Information Currency Site is fully operational and current. No daily revision date is given but 2009 Copyright is in place. Extensive links to other sites from each specific science project page for additional information. Information Quality Content is extensive, selectable for grade level. Very well organized and effective science fair development and projects for students, teachers and parents. Massive resources on the site itself with additional links out as needed. Design Evaluation Speed Science Buddies is very well designed to be a quality information site. Fast loads. Very text oriented, limited and simple graphics with properly sized thumbnails to keep page loads quick. Home Page & Ease of Navigation 9 tabs across home page top or easily 9 home pages. Actual home page is 85% above the fold. Very easy and quick to move around the site. The 'Topic Selection Wizard' is very functional, grade, gender, subject

Website: http://science.discovery.com/ Content The science channel website has some good information in it. The audience of this website is obvious in the title and the material. It is for those people looking for science related material for basically any age. There are games for the kids and articles for the older crowd. There are a few N's on my evaluation, but there are no perfect websites. They keep the website current. Design The homepage is very appealing. There is very good contrast and images. The text is easy to read. The website cleary states what its intent is, is easily accessible and navigatable. The videos load and are connected to the websites material. I was able to open the website in safari, firefox and Internet explorer. There is a lot of material from articles to videos to games and even a tv manual to what is on the science channel. The website is logical and orderly. The website is current and there is no out dated material that I could find. There are links to other websites that are related to the science channel such as animal planet and military channel. Overview I found that the Science channel website was very resourceful. It is a science website so there is some bias because there are theories and not all material has been proven. I found that I was current and easy to use. The audience is very obvious and there are things to do for fun and learn at the same time. I really enjoyed looking at this website for its purpose and not just scanning over it not noticing how effect it really is. Joey Skalsky Itech 2360 Sec 4

Hannah Clucas October 10, 2012. Overview: neoK12 is an educational video website. The whole site is basically a giant database to help teachers with their lesson plans. The main purpose of the website is to offer educational videos that teachers can use in their class. But there are also quizzes on topics of choice, diagrams, pictures on topics of choice, and even an option to create a school presentation. The site is simple but useful, though it is probably more useful for science and history teachers rather than language arts or math teachers. Content: As I said above, neoK12 is a website that allows teachers to find videos to help with their lesson as well as quizzes, pictures, and diagrams. All of the videos are from Youtube and cover a wide variety of age groups. The content was amazing in some areas and not so great in other areas. In regards to the history and science sections for videos, they are amazing. Several of the science videos are from National Geographic and the history videos are well done and cover a wide variety of eras and cultures. Several of the language arts videos were not made very well. They would probably be more useful to teach with if a teacher cannot come to class. It is the same for the math videos. The quizzes are useful and relevant. The ability to create a school presentation is a great tool for students to write about what they have learned or for creating study guides. All of the videos and other functions of the website are relevant and useful. Design: The site is extremely easy to navigate and is well organized. The home page is the list of the main categories of videos and their subcategories. The design is very simple, nothing flashy or amazing. The site does not bombard you with ads or other websites, which is nice and helps insure that students will stay on the website.

This website shows many different links to science videos, games and lessons. This helps the teacher and the student in many ways. It gives the teacher a way to look at other lessons and other perspectives to help them teach the class in different ways. The students also get to look at other ways to learn something, and they get to play games and watch videos to learn content instead of reading. Content: The website has multiple different links that relate to sciences from earth and space science to physical science. Each link that is clicked then shows different activities for different grade levels.

This website shows many different links to science videos, games and lessons. This helps the teacher and the student in many ways. It gives the teacher a way to look at other lessons and other perspectives to help them teach the class in different ways. The students also get to look at other ways to learn something, and they get to play games and watch videos to learn content instead of reading. Content: The website has multiple different links that relate to sciences from earth and space science to physical science. Each link that is clicked then shows different activities for different grade levels.

Content: This website's purpose is easily determined. As I am interested in being a science teacher, it is a great and valuable educational website for the teaching of photosyntesis. The author is actually an educational company titled Andrew Rader Studios. It is a company that displays alot of different scientific information, and there are various emails that are availalble to ask questions regarding content and or program use. The last time this website was revised was this past year 2009, the content diplays current knowledge regarding many different science topics. There are links to several other websites that all open and are available to further education if needed. It is a strictley educational website for the use of teaching science topics and providing visuals to assist in learning. There is previous knowledge form multiple sources and it is a great website for teachers to utilize as it is grade appropriate for several kids. This website is very valuable for me as a science teacher! It has so many interactive qualitites and if I had a smart board this website would be a great interactive learning tool. Design: The web page was easily accessible and it downloaded very quickly. The homepage displays all of the content in the other tabs, it is very clear and directive for the user as well as efficient in locating the science subject that one would like to teach.It is up to date and compatable on interenet explorere mozilla firefox and safri. All of the multimedia qualities are appropriate and not obnocious, and there are web links that help with the relativity to the age group. There is lots of visual descriptions, which in teaching science is a great way to teach the content. Attribution: My overall impression of this website is a positive one. The audience is for studetns, and also teachers. it is very clear as far as what links lead you where and so forth. It would be a valuable website for any teachers that are in science because the media is both inte

Overview: The overall purpose for this website is to have lessons and activity examples that teachers can use for different grades in science. As a teacher this is a great website to seek activities to use in your classroom for different science terms and lessons. This website has activities for science grades varying from kindergarten to 12th grade. This website also has workbooks that teachers can order to give their students to work out of. Overall, this website is very helpful.  Content:  The content of this website is for teachers and there are many activities to do with students that explain science terms and lessons such as science biology of animals, weather, and volcanoes. There are many more lessons available to teachers on this website as well. There is also a way to find certain standards for science that teachers need to meet, which is nice to have so that they can teach the appropriate material. The content on this website is a helpful and fun way for teachers to teach.  Design:The design of this website is pretty simple to navigate through. There are tabs on the top to click on to lead to the other pages. There are quite a few advertisements on this page for different businesses. The color scheme is pretty simple just white and some greens and blues. There are no obnoxious links all over the page or spelling errors either. The design of this website is professional and accurate. 

Posted by Kelsey Potter on January 24, 2010 Content: The content of the page is clear but the audience is unclear for this webpage. The author is unknown and there is no information on the contact anyone for this site, the sponsor of the site is clear at the top of the page. There is no revision date on the page although the information seems to be kept up to date. The purpose of the page is clear and understandable. The content is well organized and easy to understand. There are a lot of ideas throughout the page and is sufficient to the reader. It is free of bias and consistent throughout the webpage. Design: The webpage opened promptly and was interesting at first site. There is a clear title and captions on the page and the index is clear to directing the reader in the right directions. The sponsor of the site is provided although information on the sponsor is not given. Copyright date is available. There are no directions in the site but they may be needed to guide the reader to what they are looking for. There was only advertisement graphics which did not benefit the webpage's content. The basic format was different throughout the webpage making it hard to browse through and ding information. The links are well organized and easy to use. Summary: This webpage is not a very reliable source although it is only science projects so it does not necessarily need to be. There are several good ideas for science projects for teachers to use in the classroom or for students to perform outside of the classroom. Although clicking onto the homepage is a little overwhelming with different resources for science projects to use as well. There is different ways of searching for science projects and that makes it easier for the reader to find what they are specifically looking for. Overall this web site serves its purpose by exposing fun and interesting science projects to its readers.

Evonne Raymond September 16th 2009 Content: This website is made to show new things happening in the science world. The audience is definitely for Elementary school students. The authors are dependent upon the article that you access and choose to read, and the site is Society for Science and the PUblic, its a great interactive community that believes in utilizing educational tools to teach more efficiently. It is revised daily as new events are happening in society everyday.Grammar and spelling is appropriate and suprisingly there is a lack of bias in the articles, as many of the new discoveries are not controversial subjects. The site is appropriate for kids. There are several links to other sites, as many articles are located on other sites, the site is current and has great content for teaching science in todays exciting society. Design:The webpage downloads quickly. It is easy to immediatley understand what the website is for as well as to see what link will direct you to what new scientific findeing. There are tons of grpahics and multimedia that do not deter from the web pages but make the links a little more user freindly and interactive.It is compatable with several different servers, so i would definitely utilize this website in my classroom. It is updated daily for new content, and there are some articles that are from years ago, but most are relevant to a recent scientific finding. This website is excellent for kids and adults to use inorder to teach science. Attribution: The purpose of this site is to educate kids about scientific events going on in the world today, real live science in action. This website is interesting in design as wella s in content and I think it is a great way to create some enthusiasm in kids who would be otherwise uninterested in science.

c. Overview: This site was interesting but I felt that for an elementary setting it wasn't the best. It would probably be usable in a fourth grade classroom and up just because there is a lot of reading and if I wanted to read all the article to my second or third grade classroom, it could be fun for them to see the different types of sciences that are out there. There are some really interesting experiments and videos recorded on this site so it could be really useful for students working on projects.

Content: The content for this site consists of science related articles found in magazines as well as made specifically for this site. I chose to look at this site because it could be very useful for students to see that science is not just something that we see in a lab but something that happens all around us. The content is all recent and updated frequently. The authors are those found in the field of science and give detailed accounts of experiments and what scientists are doing in a way that a child could understand. There are a lot of links to sites such as that of NASA and other recognizable science corporations. Some of these links take a longer time to download but there were few that I found that didn't work. The content of this site is also designed for an older audience so about 3rd grade and up. Large words are used and there is a lot of reading for each page. Design: This site was much different in design than that of the other two that I looked at. This sited has a lot more actual photos compared to drawings and all of them were very intriguing. Each picture brought forth curiosity about what the article might be about and a majority of the articles also had videos to go along with them. The site was also fairly easy to move around on. It did require some prior knowledge about what each main topic category was about, but even if I didn't understand them, I could figure it out from the pictures that went along with it. Everything in each category was related to the other as well and so were the links to other pages. This site is set up more for an older classroom setting though due to the large words as well as some of the photos being of complex experiments. When entering the site it looks a lot like that of a website for a newspaper or magazine, which it more or less is.

Posted by Lyndsey Neelands on 9/19/2009 Cool Science is an education website branched from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The purpose of this website is to inform the community about science. Content: This site clearly identifies its material and the authors. This website is authored and updated by a medical institute so its information is up to date and accurate. The information is also for many different ages and skill levels. Also, there are resources for teachers available at this site. The links to other sites are relevant and working properly. This website would be helpful to any elementary or secondary science teacher looking for up to date research. Design: This website is very easy to navigate and very appealing. The website is organized and all of the graphics add to the purpose of the site. The links are appropriate and contribute to the value of the website. The sponsor is clearly identified and is easy to get information on. This Cool Science website is an extension of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute so a lot of the links go to other resources from Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This is significant because the design of the pages is consistent, even when using a link to navigate from the homepage of Cool Science.

Colter Huhn 1-25-10 The purpose of this site is to watch informational videos and read articles on science programs from PBS. The intended audience is all ages that can understand the material which looks to be about middle school age up. The site has many different science based categories with videos and interactive articles. Overall the content is very useful for exploring science television programming further with articles and online video on certain science based programming. The design is very professional and well layed out. The content is very good on this site, with a few minor flaws. Upon first look its fairly easy to tell the content for the site and from it know who the audience is. The information providers seem clear with the sponsor (PBS) being clearly identified and the makers of all videos. The currency seems very good with new material being added constantly and all links working properly. The quality of information is great with a clear educational purpose which is well executed. Every archived program is well organized into categories with easily understandable links and information. Many programs can be watched online with teacher links making the content very interactive. All information seems relevant and correct. The only flaws I found were no direct authors were shown or their contact information, but you can contact PBS. Also, I couldn't seem to find a date of revision, but all program dates are shown. The website design itself is also very professional. The speed is great and the site is compatible with both Firefox and Internet Explorer. The homepage is very attractive, clear, organized and all sponsor and copyright information is easily found. The navigation is simple with good organization of programs into categories and links. All videos are fantastic and relevant and the pictures represent these. The content is perfect for getting involved in science topics through documentaries and videos. There are plenty of links from eac

A great site for Science videos and documentaries. Includes links for teachers to utilize these as well.

Scott Chanthongthip on January 23, 2010 Overview: The National Science Foundation (NSF) website offers diverse areas of science studies. Many of the research articles are conducted by educational institutions, which the NSF provides grants or funding to. The homepage offers an update on the most recent research released in the press. NSF website can be useful for students that may want to look into topics of interests. I would recommend this more for teachers to grasp a subject matter better, so teachers may choose age-appropriate science knowledge for students. Content: The website was last updated on November 5th, 2009, but it has updated press releases related to science from the past few days. The NSF funded research studies posted on the web site. The search tool bar at the top right of the home page offers an easy way to look for a scientific topic of interest. Each search renders multiple links that relate to the search query, and none of the links is broken. The pages on the website have a lot of content and to many people that use it, the conglomeration of links and words can be overwhelming. The purpose of this site is clear, because it states it at the bottom, "Celebrating 60 Years of Discovery." The NSF research posts are credible because most of the information is tested through research from higher educational institutions. Teachers for K-12 can click on the link "classroom resources", under "site features" on the right side of the home page. I found this part to be helpful in finding interesting ways to teach science in the classroom. When teachers choose "classroom resources" links, site re-direction may proceed to help teach subjects of interest. There are also educational grants and science funding for teachers for K-12 and for classrooms from K-12. Design: The design of the website has so much information and links that it may be intimidating to try to navigate. Once one spends a little time at the site they

Ross Lindstrom - September 21, 2009 Website Evaluation #1: The American Political Science Association (APSA) The American Political Science Association's website is an aesthetically attractive website that also contains a wealth of information and additional resources. The Association brings together 15,000 members to form a community of political science study, fostering a healthy discourse and exchange of information. APSA organizes conferences, seminars, and produces publications for both students and teachers for the purpose of promoting the scholarly research of political science. My first impression of the website is a complete trust in the legitimacy of the information presented. Any student would find this website invaluable when looking for resources to do anything from simply understanding what political science is to writing a graduate dissertation or finding an internship in Washington. The website displayed efficient organization of the various areas of the site, a challenge when so much information is contained within. It had enough visual appeal to not become redundant while browsing and yet still retain the professionalism that should be inherent in such a field of study. However, a high school age student may find the website a bit dry and the content a little too advanced. Most of the publications of the website aren't available in a direct .html format, but download speeds are quick. There is significant information overlap among the publications, but in a field of study where slight opinion difference is a cornerstone of the conversation, this can only be a credit to its legitimacy. The first glance at the APSA website yields both an understanding of its purpose and a desire to explore the website's resource. The content is clearly organized based on subject matter as well as practical application. Proper credits to authors are prevalent, new content is regularly added, and old content is constantly maintained. One of the

Overview: Science for Kids is a website that covers a wide variety of subjects that relate to Earth Science; everything from weather and climate to things that deal with soil and water. This website gears towards agriculture research for kids as well and investigates topics about air, animals, minerals, and what is in the air that we breathe. Content: This website contains a lot of information regarding science that is applicable to anyone that is interested in Agriculture. On the homepage you are able to navigate to other links that allow you to travel to links that offer information regarding topics that are in the spotlight and also offers links to science projects and information for teachers to access. I also find it very cool that one of the websites main links offers you to cool Science careers. Design: I find this website to be very interesting and filled with information that children would love. The interactive home screen allows users to be part of its experience; there are sounds as well as animated images that capture your attention. I can see myself using this website in my classroom because it offers daily information that seems interesting to a young audience I definitely see myself as this being a great website for my future students to use in my classroom. The information is relevant and very well organized and the user interface was very easy to use; perfect for kids. Plus it was filled with information that anyone can learn.

Overview: The site focused primarily on science information that focused on an elementary school audience. The site contained a lot of information on a large amount of different topics that would make it easy for a student to find information on just about any topic related to science. Different tabs included for the student are experiments, games, facts, quizzes, projects, videos and images. Students can use much of this information on their studies regarding science. Since there is a .nz at the end of the web address, the teacher can see the website was created in New Zealand. The site can also take you to other subjects like English and math although they seem to be done by same creator of this site. Content: There are a large amount of different topics that would make it easy for a student to find information. Topics include earth science, animals, chemistry, scientists, water, and weather. Each includes information on the topic and also in the site they can do activities and games. A lot of the information appears to be correct but the only problem is it is hard to tell where a lot of the information was retrieved from. It also shows that last updated date being January 9th, 2013 so all the information is fairly recent. Design: The main thing I noticed about the website's design was the color that popped out. The different sections of the site were listed with red, blue, orange, brown and other colors for the different topics. Many pictures were included on the site that makes it more interesting and entertaining for the students to look at while they are learning.

Content- This site covers just about every topic a child could think of from animals, to weather, volcanoes, to teeth. This site has everything. The home page of this site gives the different pages that information and activities can be found based on what sort of information is being looked for. There are pages for facts, science topics, experiments, lessons, videos, quizzes, pictures, and then other sorts of fun random science things. This site can be used for all age levels because there are so many different things to learn about and use on here. All the information is up to date and recent as well and the author is highly qualified to do so and updates the page frequently. The content is written in simplistic terms so that all ages can find and understand it. The site doesn't have any links to different websites but much of the information needed is all in one place. Design- When you come to the homepage of this site it is very well put together and students will know that this site will give them information about all sorts of science topics. The site is not too overwhelming because it does not have large words written across the screen, but words that students can easily read and know exactly what is being taught. The site is appealing to the eye and all pages are set up in the same manner. Pictures and videos are all relevant to the topics as are the games. The games and videos also add an interactive aspect which is important for small children to have because it helps them retain the information better Overview: Overall I really enjoyed this site. It is really easy to read and understand and students don't need a very high level of reading to do so. It is colorful which makes it appealing, especially for younger students. It also has a lot of interactive aspects such as the games, the quizzes, and the videos to help the students learn more about the topic. It is easy to get around and that will make it more enjoyable for the students as well. Also, I

Enjoy learning about science with a wide range of fun experiments, facts, games, activities, quizzes, videos and projects that are perfect for kids.

Levi Jensen September 2, 2010 Website Review http://www.nclark.net/Biology Overview The Amazing Biology Teacher Resource website was created to provide science teachers a place to reference when teaching their classes. I assume that this site was created by a present or past science teacher. The main focus of this site is in assisting in making lesson plans for teachers and to give helpful ideas for science activities. This site covers both biology and chemistry subjects and also offers many links related to science education. Overall, I found this site to be rather elementary in design, and also had some difficulty using some of the drop-down menus. Content At first look it is quite easy to understand that the intended audience is for science teachers. One drawback that this site has is that information about the author is vaguely apparent. There are no sponsors given, and the only way to contact the author is through a management email to which there is no name given to write to. It seems as though content is updated quite often due to the links posted but there is no revision date provided. As far as information quality I believe that this site does a nice job and the content is readily available and easy to read. Design I had some problems using some of the dropdown menus on this site. Upon trying them a second time they worked just fine for me. The visual appeal to me looked as if a child had designed it. This is supposed to be a professional website that is used by professionals. Also the home page is just a list of topics that could be broken down into groups in order to create a more orderly page. Finally this site needs to have citations behind the information that they are providing so that the reader is able to look the information up to confer the information.

Caroline Wittman (Virginia) January 31, 2011 Overview Worksheets4teachers.com aims to provide educational resources for children in kindergarten through high school and their teachers. I focused on the sections of the site dedicated to elementary school science. It quickly became apparent that worksheets4teachers.com has a large number of links to other websites and ads. Unfortunately, the other websites rarely contained any useful information, and they were more often than not entirely unrelated to science. The website did appear to contain significantly better resources for other subject areas, such as math and reading. In addition, the science activities for the upper grades were of higher quality than the ones for elementary school. Content The activities available on the website itself seemed like they would be unchallenging and uninspiring for elementary school children. The word searches, coloring pages, and craft ideas are ill-suited to reinforcing important scientific knowledge or skills. In fact, they were so trite that it's hard to imagine them having a place in any decent science curriculum. Contact information was not readily available, but it was clear the website is updated frequently with new worksheets and lesson plans. Design The layout of this website is confusing, and the design is monotonous, bland, and unprofessional. Many of the links that ostensibly contain information about different science topics or lesson planning resources are really links to for-profit companies offering online degrees, tutoring, or shopping. A significant proportion of these links did not work, and the pop ups are very distracting. Information is difficult to locate, and the format of the site is somewhat inconsistent. The one positive characteristic of the site is that it loaded quickly!

Elise Verley September 9, 2011 http://artofsciencelearning.org/ Overview: The site is a resource for using art to help students understand science. Its intended audience is teachers and is developed by The Learning Worlds Institute. It is a great idea but they don't have any ideas available for how to combine science and art. There are several conferences listed to attend, this is their primary focus currently. This may be a young site and there will be more information available on the site soon. Content: They have articles of research available that proves that using hands-on artistic approaches to teach science attract and retain students in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. They have related websites and articles listed so there are more sources to find out more information on the topic. Design: It is a basic website, that is easy to navigate the information available on the site. There is not a search function but the information on the site is easy enough to find that it may not yet be necessary. There is an RSS feed that has their most recent postings as well as profiles on social networking sites. There is a forum for teachers to interact and share ideas.

Tyler Rogers February 4, 2012 Overview:  The purpose of this site is to provide users with concise and easy-to-read space science materials, and to help educators guide their lessons involving space science. This site is geared towards educators looking to solidify understanding, or develop new ideas for lessons. Though the site does not specifically provide lesson plans, it does provide the knowledge from which teachers could derive their own. There are links to other educational space science sites, as well a handful of interactive activities. I feel that this site is a valuable resource, contains high quality content, and could be well utilized by educators seeking to teach space science. Content: This site's overall content is clear from the homepage, though no specific authors are listed. All of the site's content is well organized in categories. Once a reader finds their desired section of the site, the content is coherent. The material is strictly factual and contains no bias, and none of the links are broken.  It is important to note that this site fails to provide any revision dates, rendering the currency of the site unknown.  Design: Amazing Space is easy to navigate and is compatible with many web browsers. There are two viewing options a user can pick from. Not both options present the same information, but it is all organized the same. A sidebar to the left of the screen organizes all of the site's content. Users can easily find lists of clearly labeled fact sheets and activities.  The site makes use of multimedia, especially photos and pictures. The pictures contribute to the visual appeal of the site, but do not serve a greater purpose. The site's organizational downfall is that users often have to click through many links to find the desired material.

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.

Tyler Rogers February 4, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this site is to assist educators in finding the best possible space science resources available anywhere on the web. The intended audience is educators, or anybody teaching any level of space science K-12. From this site, viewers can find hundreds of links and files for useful information on space science topics. I feel like this site provides high quality information, but it is not presented well. I would only recommend this site for its content, and not its design. Content: Users will be able to identify the content of the site quickly, but may not realize that it is purely for educators. Information about each of the authors and site creators can be found easily. This site has no visible revision dates, so it cannot be determined if the information is current or updated regularly. The actual content that the directory takes users to (external web sites and PDF files) is high quality work. Most of the sources reviewed by a committee and deemed valid and appropriate. They are generally very factual and unbiased. Some of the many links on this site are broken.  Design: The homepage is not visually appealing. It is bland and boring. The lack of a table of contents, clear title, and copyright date may lead viewers to believe that the site lacks quality.  Pictures only contribute to the background, and no other multimedia is used. Once users find the directory search options, some may be frustrated that their search must be quite narrow. However, the results list is easily readable and gives a thorough description of the resource. It is impossible to tell the currency of some of these sources, and a small handful of the source links are broken. 

National Geographic is a reputable and world-renowned organization with an extremely experienced and knowledgeable staff of explorers and writers. National Geographic has been around for many years. There is a degree of seeking profits for the organization; however, National Geographic provides an extremely significant amount of data and information in science, even Earth Science.