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http://science.nasa.gov/kids/ Reviewed by: Rhianna Kipper Overview: The intended purpose of this sight is very clear. It's name is the first clue that the content is meant for kids wanting to learn about the solar system. It lays out the solar system in a way that kids can understand and also offers games and other things to engage them. There is a table of contents that clearly defines all of the pages available which include almost every part of the Universe. This sight is informative and fun at the same time and would be great for older age elementary students to use. Content: The content of this webpage is both informative and fun. Its audience is clearly stated in the name and its purpose is also laid out clearly in the opening paragraph as well as the contents bar to the side. This bar makes it easy to quickly determine what is available on the website. The author is clearly identified and is credible because they are listed as a NASA official. The sponsor is obviously NASA and that is identified. The latest revision date is provided and is recent. I believe that the content is recent and all the links are working properly. All of the content is complete and the purpose is clearly stated. It is all very well organized and free of biased. I would consider this site one worth going back to. Design: The website downloads efficiently and there is immediately appeal to how organized it ia. You can tell where you are and that all the content is related to what you're looking for. The site sponsor is clearly identified. You can move around to each section without clicking too many times or going to unnecessary web pages. There is plenty of information and the same basic format is used throughout the website. The date it was last revised is available and seems to be recent.

Katie Hertel 1-24-2010 Overview: SFS Kids Fun with Music is a website designed to educate children and adolescents about the fundamentals of music. It also provides a great way for people of all ages to hear, learn and have fun with music. Overall it has the accurate information needed and has valuable resources but it doesn't show where it is directly coming from making the accuracy and authority questionable. These resources help if the website is not working correctly along with system requirements in order for it to work effectively and efficiently. Content: The content of this website is supported as one of the best educational music sites out there but it has faults due to the system requirements that it has. In order for it to work the way it's supposed to the required content includes Flash and audio players and Quicktime VR. Although downloading these takes time away from the learning it's quick and easy to do. It includes the kinds of instruments in an orchestra and a music lab full of fun facts and definitions of things related with music. Most of it was easily accessible and contained a lot of information but it didn't give credible information on where it was coming from. It also includes various symphonies that you can take children to enjoy great music and educate at the same time. All in all, the downsides of this included the required programs and not having credibility present. I also had trouble finding dates of publication which is definitely a disadvantage as well. Design: This site is somewhat visually attracting but it only takes up half of a webpage leaving the other side a solid yellow. It kind of takes away from the sites information that it can provide because of the little space used. While it has these faults, it also has good points to it visually due to no advertisements popping up randomly or on the side and is easy to navigate through. The headlines of the tabs easily show what that section is about and tidbits o

Katrina Knapic9/4/11 Overview Autism Speaks is a website that is meant to educate and help raise awareness about autism. Its intended audience is parents whose children have autism, as well as teachers who have autistic students. There are multiple links to other areas of the website with pertinent information.  It's overall design is not too complicated, but is does take some navigation to get to more information. Content The content that is presented on this website ranges from basic to more in depth. There are recent articles regarding autism and science, family services, and autism in the news. There are links to how to donate to Autism Speaks and where the next Walk for Autism will be located. The articles are up to date, and there are ways to contact the Board of Directors.  Design The overall design of the website is meant to be inviting and is laid out in an easy tab system.  The home page indicates that this is a website meant to be informative and to give out support. The color scheme is very easy on the eye and compliments the tab system that is used for the table of contents and links. The photos on the website relate back to content and add an air of hope and inspiration. 

Practice problems.

http://www.indianchild.com/know_the_solar_system.htm Revised by: Rhianna Kipper Overview: The intended purpose of this site can be assumed but it isn't clearly laid out exactly what it's meant to do. The audience isn't clearly laid out at all. The resources of the sight are limited to what is written and the author isn't clearly identified so there's no way to tell how credible it is. I didn't get a very good result from visiting this website and I wouldn't suggest it for anyone else. Content: The audience of this webpage isn't clearly identified at all and the basic content is partly outlined but not in a very effective way. The author is not clearly identified and no information about an author of any kind is available. The sponsor isn't available and a contact person or address isn't listed. There is not revision date. The links to other websites are working properly but they appear to be advertisements connected to random words. The purpose is clear and the content is somewhat organized but it isn't laid out in a productive way. It is free of bias but I wouldn't consider this a website to come back to. Design: This page seems to download fairly effectively. It doesn't have much eye appeal and seems very homemade with little effort. You can't really tell where you are and the content is somewhat clear but not as much as the NASA website. There is not site sponsor identified and there are no dates to show any upgrades or revisions. It's fairly easy to move around so directions wouldn't really be needed. Links to other pages are only advertisements which in most cases probably wouldn't be helpful in most cases. There is some sufficient information but it is very short.

The Dynamic Earth Overview: This website is set up in a very operative way. The purpose is to inform its viewers about the earth and its components, the solar system, and how the earth came to be here today. The intended audience seems to be teachers for grades 4th through 12th; the teacher could design a lesson plan and incorporate this site into a class activity. Outside of the classroom this site could be targeting anyone interested in earth sciences. My impression of this site was positive; it has tons of information about the earth, solar system, gems/minerals and plate tectonics. Overall this is a well put together site for teachers to incorporate it into a lesson. Content: The overall layout of this website is adequate for any teacher to obtain information or use the site as a teaching tool. Right off the bat it gives you an option of multimedia or printable version, which could please a variety of people. When going through multimedia it provides four opportunities to discover what you want to know about the earth. The quality and abundance of information is set up in an organized fashion. From my knowledge the information is all up to date, but it can't really be outdated when it's about how the earth developed, the solar system etc. The only flaw about this site would be that nowhere to be found directly on the site is an author; it only refers to a National Museum that put the site together. There is also no revision dates. Design: Right from the start, the site loads up and provides the viewer with two options, one being multimedia. At every new screen there is a ton of information regarding earth sciences. The content is designed with a lot of pictures that look very real, allowing it to be interesting and engaging. The way the site is laid out makes it easy to navigate and find what you want, everything is just a click away. At the bottom it has the sponsor and creator, the creator being a National Museum, the link goes to the museum website

This is an open source course management tool based on PHP. It functions similarly to eCompanion but is free to users that can serve it on their own systems

Review of how to solve systems of equations by the graphing, sustitution, and elimination methods.

Two-step equations basketball game

Emily Pariseau The overall point of the website is clear from the opening page that details specifically that this site provides various creative resources for English teachers teaching to second language learners - specifically this site deals with teaching in Japan and the author of the site, Jeffrey, encourages people to share the site among Japanese teachers as well. The site is extremely simplified with just black Arial text on a white background with just one photo of the author at the top. He explains in the about page that he keeps the site simple so that it can be more internationally friendly across every web browser and on mobile websites of varying operating systems. The site is aimed at teaching English for grades 1-6 in Japan and each link to a grade level provides age appropriate in class activities and lesson plans for basic concepts like counting, animal naming, and holiday vocabulary. Every lesson is provided in word doc format and concise but detailed enough that one could use it in their own class, which the author encourages.

When looking for different techniques to use in a classroom setting, I came across a website called www.southernworlds2010.com. While viewing this web site, I first notice that there is not very much offered on the site and it has limited information. The target audience could be applied to as anyone that is involved in the Education system such as a student, parent, teacher etc. The basic concept behind this web page is to explain how virtual worlds can be used to reach children in their educational studies. Although this may sound like an interesting topic to read about, there is no Author given and therefore no information describing who wrote this. All that was provided was what the idea came form the Tasmanian Department of Education. There is also no sponsor given on this web page. This website was also only added a couple days prior to my finding.

Jamie Szallar Website Evaluation #1 9-1-2010 U.S. Department of Education www.ed.gov Overview The U.S. Department of Education website is extremely useful. I found the information to be current and correct. The site is easily explored and visually appealing. Overall I would highly recommend this site to anyone interested in education, teaching, or the United States public school systems. Content The content of this site is amazing. The information given covers a wide variety of topics related to the education field. Links to numerous educational sites, as well as other government sites, are easy to use and all beneficial to furthering the understanding of the site subject. The site is very well organized, subject headers make it easy to find what part of the site you are interested in exploring. Contact information is given for several government agencies, as well as other educational resources. Design The site has great eye appeal. A general theme follows the entire site, appropriate photos and emblems are add nicely. The home page does have a large amount of information on it, but is not cluttered to the point that it becomes difficult to navigate. This site is definitely worth visiting and would be valuable for a wide variety of visitors.

Scott Chanthongthip on January 23, 2010 Overview: National Library of Virtual Manipulatives is a free website offered online to help teachers us visual aids to teach mathematics. The content is from the Utah State University and is edited by the university. Content is easy to navigate and understand because it focuses on students from K-12. Content: The National Teachers Council of Mathematics five content standards are listed vertically in a grid, while the grades for each of the standards are listed across the top of the grid. Navigation based on the content standard and grade level appropriateness is accessible because of this organization. Teachers just need to find the content standard and line it up with the appropriate grade level. Although the site has a version that it offers to schools many of the virtual manipulatives are easy to use as long as one's computer has JAVA capabilities. There are four different language options for the different virtual manipulatives, so it makes it easy to use in bilingual settings (English, Spanish, French, and Chinese). The main reason for this website is to offer teachers with computer technology to teach manipulation of different math areas when the physical manipulatives are not available. Teachers can also use the site to help explain concept clarity of hard to understand math functions. Design: The initial web page offers a grid of math standards and grade levels from K-12. Teachers can click on the appropriate link and it will lead them to more options on different subjects in the content areas. None of the links are broken for the virtual manipulatives. Design of the website is updated often by the USU. NLVM also allows users to select from four different languages.

Kaci Philpot Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide teachers and students with fun, interactive Math manipulatives online, because manipulatives help students to see visual relationships in Math and help to actively engage students. The website has the following standards for math education; numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis & probability. Each standard has four different age groups to choose from: pre-k through 2, 3 through 5, 6 through 8, and 9 through 12. This website is one of the very few educational websites I have found that is free and clear or useless information and clutter. Content Summary: This website content quality is very high; it has an index chart on the homepage with grade levels and math standards. Each box on the chart is linked to a page of full of various virtual Math manipulatives. If you navigate to the credits page you can see who is in charge of creating what, however it does not provide information about or credibility of those individuals. It also does not have revision dates. But the site is well organized and has very rich content. The manipulatives are an excellent way to get students excited about learning math. Total yeses: 19 Total no's: 2 Total N/A: 3 Design Summary: The homepage of this site is very easy to navigate and understand, but it does not have very strong eye appeal at all. But the manipulatives are very useful and all have clear directions if necessary and all internal and external links work properly. It does not appear to have any outdated content, if Mathematics can even be outdated. My favorite link on this website is the link to the Spanish page. This would be very useful for teachers with ESL students; it helps to ease the language barrier. Total yeses: 22 Total no's: 2 Total N/A: 0

Chelsey Lynch 1/31/11 * Overview: This website is for the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. The intended audience of this site is teachers, and students of all ages. The available resources are a wide array of virtual math manipulatives. This website is extremely useful to teachers because it provides children with a firm grasp on concepts by letting them learn directly through physical objects that enable students to visualize relationships and applications. * Design: This website is attractive and very easy to navigate. The main page of the website contains a large grid system which serves as a menu for the math content area and grade level. All information to contact the sites provider is given, and all the information is current. The instructions for the manipulatives are very easy to follow and the site even provides examples when necessary. This site has adequate graphics, though the music and sounds in games is a little dated and sometimes annoying. * Content: The authors of this site appear to be highly education and experts in this field. The purpose of this site is very clear and the content achieves the intended purpose effectively. This site is extremely interactive, well organized, and easy to navigate. I have personally used this site numerous times and love it. The only things I wish this site contained more of are links to websites that are similar to this or had further information.

Content Summary: The content for this site was decent and the user would be able to determine the basic content of the site right away. The sponsor and the latest revision date are posted on the bottom of the page. All of the links to other sites were currently working properly and were useful extra information that was helpful for the topic. The purpose of the site was clear right when you first looked at it that it has to do with the solar system. There is no grammar or spelling errors throughout all the information on the site. The content appears to be complete and organized. Design Summary: The site is full of information that was organized and easy to navigate around within the site. The home page had a lot of moving objects in the pictures and was a lot to take in when you first get to the site. The moving displays are very useful for the site because it helped show how the planets and other things in space move. The site and the links on the page downloaded efficiently. They had great graphics that fit the idea of the page and topic. There are available working sites for further information on each page if someone wanted to further their knowledge. Overview: This site that provides information about astronomy. The site contained great visual aids for the kids and was entertaining. It also is designed for the audience to be young students. The site was very well designed, easy to use, and contained useful information. The site had the basic important information about astronomy. It also presents its information in a way students can understand.

Website for Wequest

Website for Webquest

Katie Hertel 1-23-2010 Overview: PBS educational games, videos and activities is an educational website for younger early childhood children. It teaches through many of the popular kids education television shows such as Barney, Author, Sesame Street, Dragon Tales, etc. There are available resources to parents and teachers to make sure this website is teaching their children in an effective way. Overall, my impression of this website was that it is an easy effective way to entertain your children through educational ways that are fun and entertaining. Content: As I explored on the website I found that it was easy to navigate. There are links formed as circles that have a picture of the educational animated television shows that kids today are familiar with. When clicking on these links it pulls up that shows official website which has clippings of the show, fun activities, and games related to that specific show that help younger children grow familiar with what they are learning outside of just the game. The information that is taught can be a reliable way to help teach children. Along with reliable material it has supported detail of the sites publication information. Design: This site is well designed and easy to understand how to access what kind of educational experience you want. It is very appealing, especially to a child's eye. Not very many irrelevant advertisement interruptions appear to be a problem. Although a lot of sources on this website prove to be a safe and reliable way of helping children learn, it is also obvious that it is for money purposes as well.

This website is an educational game site for kids. It is mainly based on PBS kids television series but it provides games in all different subject areas and has links for parents and teachers on "how to raise spectacular children". There are not a lot of outside links on this site to access other information, but the authors or the Public Broadcasting Systems seem like reliable authors and the content is great! I don't think a lack of outside sources takes away from the site at all. The content of this site is very educational and informational for students and would be easy to incorporate into lesson plans for an interactive way for students to test their knowledge. One thing that may be a set back is that the games are mainly based off of PBS kids TV series so it may be distracting to the students to have their favorite episodes one click away. The site is sponsered by PBS though so no extra ads or additional distractions are present! The site also has the terms of use and privacy conditions easily accessible and provide log-ins for students so that they can save their work and progress for later which is great! Each game also provides easy step by step instructions as well that can be read or heard so students can get the most out of their gaming experiences. The design of the website is great as well. The home page not only includes interactive links that move when you hold your mouse over the top of them, but it also has audio as well to bring students in. The games are very interactive and there are so many that every student should be able to find something that they enjoy doing! The colors are bright and the navigation is incredibly easy which makes students want to come back for more. Any questions that they may have are answered within the games which also helps subdue any frustrations that may arise. Overall, a great site for kids that would be easy to incorporate into lessons!

Posted by Kelsey Potter on January 24, 2010 This website was designed for teachers and schools. Content: Entering into School World it was evident who the audience and what the content was intended for. The content of the website accomplishes the purpose clearly. There was no specific author for the website although the group that published the site was reliable and easy contact information was access able. The website was created in 2010 so it is still a fairly new site. All of the links and content are working appropriately and appear to be complete. The links and information on each of the links are easy to understand and sufficient to the content. There is a plenty of information for each of the links and for background on the website. The website is not biased but rather informative about schools using a content management system and a center for communication and education for the teachers. Design: The website loaded promptly and the homepage was an appealing to the eye. It was clear as to what the purpose of the website is and the different index tabs were descriptive to direct the reader in the right direction. The site sponsor was clear and background about the sponsor was also clear. Contact information has easy access and a 1 800 number was clearly identified at the top of each page. Copy right was easy to find at the bottom of each page. Directions for using the website were not provided but rather self explanatory to use. Each label had more specific labels underneath. The animations were for more of a decoration than a purpose. The website as equal access through different browsers. The organized information on the website was apparent and made the website very resourceful. The same goal is visible throughout the website although nothing was repeated. Summary: Overall this website is a very resourceful place to come for a teacher or a school. School World gives valuable information for the needs of diverse schools and teachers. Teachers

CONTINUED: Teachers have access to a website with content and design for the in the classroom and outside the classroom. School World is build by three elements including: "applying Web technology best practices, proactively listening to district and school personnel, and staying abreast of the education industry's trends and happenings." The website has accomplished many different awards in the limit time it has been offered. This is a very reliable, useful and beneficial website.