Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

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!

Kaci Philpot Overview: The intended purpose of this website is to provide elementary level students with fun and engaging games that build different skills and knowledge. Teachers can use some of the games for supplementing lessons such as; "volcano explorer", "chill the spill", and many more. Even games that don't seem like they would be educational are full of facts about various subjects and environmental awareness. Content Summary: For "First Look" I could not highlight the information because it was not in a text format, but the audience and basic content of the site are very clear. There were no specific authors listed for the games or information. The credibility of the authors is evident though because at the bottom near the copyright statement, it states that the company/sponsor is #1 in non-fiction media. It also has a very clear link for any questions about the site that works properly. I found it hard to find the latest revision date, most likely because the website mostly has games, but the content must be updated frequently because it has games that are up-to-date with the environmental issues today. All links to other sites work properly. In the "Information Quality" section of the evaluation, the website received all yeses. There are biases. However, they are clear when glancing through the content of the games. There was not any further information related to my purposes, but I did not really need any because I was only looking for games and activities to supplement lessons. Total yeses: 18 Total no's: 2 Total N/A: 1 Design Summary: The homepage uploaded very quickly and received all yeses. It has very strong eye appeal, it's clear what website you are visiting, and the copyright date is clearly stated at the bottom of the homepage along with the sponsor/provider. The navigation is easy and instructions for games and such are very clear and easy to follow. All internal and external links work properly. And internal links a

Overview: The Teaching Treasures website is a site created mainly for teachers. If you really wanted to, you could direct your students to this website and have them find an activity to do but the way the website is set up, I think it is targeting the teachers instead of the students. Content: On this website, you can find things such as educational games, broken up into age groups, teaching tools, as well as resources for teachers. They do provide a lot of information and activities for your classroom and seem to know the facts. There are several categories for activities, each broken up into age groups. There seems to be an activity for just about any subject and age group combination you can think of. Design: While this website provides tons of information, the way it is organized and laid out, it can prove to be quite tedious to navigate. There is so much information and categories to browse through; it seems pretty overwhelming at times. While it is difficult to navigate, I think that the layout is pretty basic and typical of a website, which isn't necessarily a good thing. I think that this website could do with a more welcoming and enticing layout to draw it's visitors in.

Kent McKee 1/31/11 Overview: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ is a website for literature and history education. There is a lot of information on this site. Having spent a good amount of time navigating this site I can say with confidence that while there is quite a lot of information on the site, it is fairly poorly organized and it's still somewhat hard to know the basic purpose of the site. Design: The design of the site has some definite positives and negatives. As I said before, the organization of the site is difficult to understand at first and it almost has too much information on it. Not to mention the fact that the black and red design and a spinning medieval helmet (that looks like a bad clip-art) make this site pretty ugly to look at. Content: It seems as though the content of this site is all over the place. It offers tons and tons of links to navigate to, which is good, but there seems to be little discernable connection between much of the information. There is no clear author of the site either. That said, there is a lot of useful information here, it's just that the makers of the site could do a much better job in presenting it.

Caitlin Pilch 8/31/11 Content: At first look, I was unable to identify what the content is on this site. The author of this site is not clearly identified, and there is no obvious sponsor. The revision for the content on this site is not relevant. The information on this site is organized by grade level and also activity subject. There are games and activities for the different grade levels. There is not a large amount of resources/games/activities on this site. The content on this site is adequate but compared to other sites is lacking. The links on this site are unrelated to what the site's content is. Design: The design of the site is lacking. The site downloads quickly but there is no appeal to any of the pages. It is hard to tell what page you are on. There are two separate indexes-one for different grade levels, one for different activities which is confusing and it doesn't clearly indicate where you should navigate to. The content presentation is not sufficient compared to other children's websites. Overview: The purpose of this site is for entertainment and education. The recommended target audience is kindergarten to fifth grade. This site offers different games and activities like number games, word games and interesting facts. I am not impressed with this site. It does not offer very many activities and the ones it does offer do not seem to suffice for the target population. This site is not visually stimulating and I don't think a child would find this site entertaining.

Brian Peterson9/6/11Overview K5learning.com is a website targeted at parents who want their children to do really well in math or reading at a young age. Many resources are available to learn about the website before becoming a member. In my opinion this is a very good website for parents who want to actively be involved with their children's learning.Content As a nonmember of the site only a few things are accessible. These things help tell you what the site has to offer and even allow you sample the lessons available on the website. This makes it very nice to see if it is in fact something you would like your child to learn from. Design The design of the website is very simple but has enough flashiness to bring you into it. With a simple way to navigate the pages most anyone can figure out how to get around it quite easily. This makes it very nice for parents and their kids to be able to utilize this website more effectively.

Mary Goetz 9/10/11 Overview: ¿? Don Quijote is a great resource to Spanish teachers. The site has games, dictionaries, lessons, and other Spanish language tools. The site is also affiliated with a company for Study Abroad trips, which students can utilize. Students can also use this site, and its resources, such as the word of the day, games, and interesting facts, to expand their knowledge of Spanish. Content: The content available on this site is relevant to teaching and practicing Spanish. The content is also presented in a professional manner that meets the needs and purposes of the content available on the site. There are many internal links to a variety of resources. Interesting facts such as the word of the day and jokes in Spanish are great tools to engage students in learning Spanish. There are also external links, one of them is to a Spanish dictionary, that are helpful to both students and teachers. Although the latest revision date is not provided on the site the site does appear up to date and updated frequently. The content of this site is well organized with a side tool bar and a site map to help make navigation easy. There is a wealth of information and resources on this site that is useful to both teachers and students. Design: The design of this site is attractive and works efficiently. The side tool bar on the site is a clear and fast navigation tool. It is easy to go through the site and find the resources needed. There is sufficient information that is clearly labeled. The internal and external links used are also functional and relevant. The use of graphics and media enhances the site and its content. The overall design of this site is attractive and functional.

Overview: Even though the URL, on this site appears to be of a significant source, it is not. The site goes into detail what cyber bulling is, but it doesn't present any facts or statistics about cyberbulling, or states where it had obtained its information from. It also tends to take a more emotional view on the issues, instead of presenting information. Content: While it is easy to identify the basic content that is presented, and identify who the audience is, it doesn't provide specific material as to whom the author is in this site, as well as where they obtained their information from. The sponsor is not clearly identified as well, and it also doesn't state how current the information is. There is also a significant amount of bias presented in this article, and there are no obvious links at first glance. Website Design: Overall, I wasn't impressed with the design of this website. Even the the homepage, has a strong eye appeal, and makes the purpose of the website well know, it doesn't provide a clear method of organization such as an index or table of context. This site also doesn't clearly identify the sponsor of the site, how to contact them, as well as the copyright date. This site does use a significant amount of multimedia, and has browser compatibility, but the way the content is presented, is lacking. The information is not easy to navigate through, and the list of links are not easy to use. It also doesn't date when the site was last updated, or provide you with other links.

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

Megan Switzer September 11, 2011 Overview: ESL Lesson Plans and Resources is a website that does just that provides hyper-links to ESL lesson plans as well as other ESL resources which include activities for ESL learners. The targeted audience for this web site is mainly for teachers, although it could possibly be used by secondary education students in the completion of activities. The whole purpose of this web site is to provide links to web sites with available resources for web sites and pretty much anything else that teacher's may need for ESL. If one needs help with ideas for lesson plans or activities or even games for an ESL classroom, this web site is highly beneficial. Content: The overall content of this web site was helpful in the sense that it provided helpful links to ESL lesson plans, activities, ideas etc. However, the information provider was quite difficult to determine due to the fact that there was no one specific site, it was simply a web site full of other sites. The information currency was also a little difficult to determine as there was no date of when it was last revised. This may be an exception for the website, itself, did not have updates or an author but the links to the other websites may have contained the separate information. Overall the content of the site was well organized and easy to follow, all of the hyperlinks seemed to be in working order and beneficial to the search I had done. Design: The overall design of this website was not the greatest, yet it was still usable. The home page did not have an appeal to my eye upon first glance, however with each hyper link contained a description of what it was. The whole web site had the purpose of giving links to other useful websites which could possibly be why there was no currency information and or information in which to contact the web site developer. Although it is easy to navigate and headers clearly define what each link is used for, there is always room to improv

Overview: This site is geared towards all age groups, from young children who can explore the web to parents and teachers who can read about how to teach the correct ways to handle money and how to budget and sort of money in any given case. The site is well organized and easy to maneuver through. The sponsor and author appear to be the same entity, and their logo appears on every page that comes up. Content: Of the content on the site, all facts displayed seem to be correct and the source supplying the information is credible. The sponsor and author are the same, which says the foundation knows what they are talking about. The activities available for children are helpful and informative, and range from savings, investing and compounding. For teenagers, the information is roughly the same and is equally important. The topics range from earning, saving, spending, owing, tracking, giving, investing, safeguarding and then some interactive activities. For parents, the topics range from investing in a child's future and retirement savings. Design: The site overall is eye catching and is not distracting. The colors are linked with the specific age range. The title of the site is decorative, and all the colors work well. Any pictures on the site relate to the subject and aren't overly exaggerated.

9/14/11 This is a great website for students k-12 learning social studies. There are plenty of games, trivia, and useful facts for all ages. The website is very well organized and is easy to maneuver.

Clayton Christensen 9/20/2009 This website is intended for math students needing help and practice in their subject matter. The site intends to provide help in any way. The site provides homework help, calculators, tutorials and many other helpful links. Content: The content of the site is laid out in a very organized way it has links listed under certain subjects that will help students. The website contains anything from basic math to calculus and even help with test anxiety and standardized test help. There is no revised date but it seems that the website is very informative and on top of math help. When clicking on links it provides more links to more specific areas of study. I like the fact that it has a wide range of subject so that it is not specific to one age group. Design: The design of the website is both attractive yet simple to navigate. The links are well laid out and easy to find the exact subject that a person is looking for. I like that the website is not loaded with animations but that it is simple. It would be easy for students to find there way around the website and do it in a timely fashion. The faster students can get through homework problems the more interested they will stay and this website does a good job of allowing students to navigate easily.

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

The intended purpose of this website is to provide teachers with background information and resources when teaching about energy resources to all different age levels. On the website there are different lesson plans and activities to incorporate into the classroom for all grades. The website overall is easy to navigate and understandable. The purpose of this site is clear: to inform. The author is not clearly identified, but the website is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the information is consistent with similar information and appears to be accurate based on my prior knowledge. It gives many facts not only just about energy and lesson plans/activities, but information specifically about the federal government energy department. Links to other sites are current and working properly. Overall, the website is friendly. The author and when it was recently updated is not provided, but the information appears to be accurate. It is easy to navigate and offers sufficient information. Also, the links are up to date on the website.

The intended purpose of this website is to provide teachers with fun science lesson plans and activities for grades K-12. Lesson plans with the needed materials is provided, videos, images, quizzes, games and facts are also provided. The author is provided, along with how to contact him and a background information. Although the latest revision is not provided, the material that is shown seems accurate and up to date, based upon my knowledge. The content on this site is well organized, grammatically correct, and easy to understand. There are links that are on the website that are current and fit for the intended audience (teachers).

Emily E. KrabbenhoftJanuary 22, 2011Overview: This website, created by Discovery Communications, is an excellent resource for parents, students, and teachers. For parents it provides ways to help motivate their children and ways to help with homework. For students it all gives homework help and other ways for students to further their knowledge or to practice what they already know. For teachers there is interactive projects, lesson plans, and puzzle makers. Content: The content of this website, the information providers, and the quality is well presented to users. While the information is provided by a company to further their products, it offers a lot of free resources for everyone. It also does not push its products on the user, for example no pop-ups or constant nagging to purchase things.Design: This website has a great design. You do not get lost when you are navigating the website because it has great descriptions and titles of the pages. All of the links work properly and direct you to the appropriate websites or links. 

Hannah Clucas. October 10, 2012. Overview: This website is a giant database for schools. It has something for administrators, teachers, students, and even parents. There are a lot of available resources. The website is amazing and helpful for all facets of learning. Content: For administrators, there are curriculum options, helpful assessments of resources schools are currently using, and a host of other useful things. For teachers there are lesson plans, puzzle makers, additional resources, and even information on student travel. For parents there is a section on ways they can motivate their students and give them help in homework. The student section has a homework help section as well as links to contests they can join and clipart. There are also videos that parents, teachers, and administrators can use. The website is probably more helpful to teachers and administrators. Lesson plans are divided into two grade level groups, k-8 and 9-12, making it easy to find lesson plans for intended grade levels. Some of the links on the website are not useful, such as the link to downloading Google Chrome. But none of the links are inappropriate. Design: The design of the website is logical and flows well. There is a section for administrators, teachers, parents, and students at the top and bottom of the home page. It is colorful and fun to get your attention, but not to the point that it is overwhelming. Its use of media is appropriate and helpful.

Lorena Garcia Evaluation date: 10/13/14 The site I chose to evaluate was Discovery Education located at www.dicoveryeducation.com. The purpose of this site is to provide free education resources. The intended audience of this site is teachers, students, and Parents. This site provides some downloadable lessons. It offers lessons plans for the various school grades. I feel this site could be a great resource for new and veteran educators. I found that this page is quickly to determine the content because there are links about who they are, what they offer, also they have links for students, parents, and Teachers who are the intended audience. In fact there is contact information for anybody who has questions or verify information about it. Anybody can contact them by phone, (1 800 ), Twetter, and Face book, and e-mail. It is clear that this page is to provide Educational information with the different options of downloadable lesson plans. It is worth visiting this page, specially Educators. They can find a lot information and great ideas for lessons. The information is clearly labeled and organized school year. These links are very well organized and easy to find. I did have some trouble finding my way back to the original page. However, overall I would most definitely recommend and use this website.

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.

Ericka Chorniak October 9, 2012 Overview: This site is a guide for writing a lab report for students in a science setting. It provides the students with definitions and expectations of each section of the lab report. It could also be a very good resource for other science teachers looking for a guide for their students to follow while writing a report for their class. The provider of the site appears to be qualified, but it would be wise to check other sources' materials and other guides before settling with this one specifically. This site doesn't have a lot of interactivity for the students to remain engaged in the content, but for the purposes of a guideline for lab report writing, it is worth bookmarking for future references. Content: At first glance, the content of the site is easily determined, as well as the intended audience. The author of the site is clearly identified; in fact his name is in the link itself. The author did not provide any additional information, or give any contact information, but he does appear qualified because it appears to be a teacher. The latest revision date is present, which was October 29, 2010. This date is appropriate for the content of the site because it does not need to be updated frequently, and the links provided are current and work properly. The purpose of this site is very clear, it is a lab report guide (informational), and the content achieves this purpose effectively. The content of this site is complete, easy to understand, is appropriate to my needs/purposes, is free of bias, appears to be accurate, was proofread so that all grammar and spelling is correct, and is consistent with other sources materials. The site does not provide interactivity to increase its value. The links provided are also worthwhile, appropriate, and relevant to my needs and purposes as a student and pre-service teacher. Design: This website has a semi-attractive homepage that downloads efficiently. It is easy to tell where the user is