Website Evaluations

1)  Name of Web Site: Math N Stuff

2)  Web Site Address: http://www.mathnstuff.com/

3)  Copyright date and/or last update: 12/13/11

4)  Author/organization credentials: Agnes (A²) Azzolino

5)  Web site design and ease of navigation: To be honest, the website design is not that appealing. It is apparent that an organization or foundation did not make this site. When you first go to the link, it doesn’t look like anything professional or anything that you would think would have a lot of good information. However, I am pleased to say that this website has a wealth of information to look at. There are many different math manipulatives that you can download and use. All you need is Excel, Word, Adobe, and other common computer software programs. There is also information for all different levels of learning. There are things for elementary students to use all the way up to Algebra and Pre-Calculus students.

Thankfully, the navigation on this website is much better than the look and design of it. The links are very descriptive of what you will find if you click on it. After you go to each of the possible links on the homepage, you will find many more links that you can click on that relate to that heading. Those links are also clearly marked on what you can find there.

I can’t get over just how much information there is on this website. There are so many different links to take you to all sorts of different information. It takes a while to look through everything, but it is definitely worth it to find all the different topics and information that can be accessed.

6)  Your response and recommendation for use: I particularly like the “Good Stuff” link on the homepage. There are fun games and activities for students to use. They are clearly split up into different levels (elementary, middle school, and high school). These would be fun to use on a “Fun Friday,” to give the kids a break from lecture, or to help reinforce a lesson.

There are also a couple of links on the homepage, “Lessons” and “Algebra Notes and Lessons” that would be particularly helpful to the teacher. There is even a link for his semester schedule. You can view his schedule and also enter in your personal information to send him an e-mail.

There is a link to an algebra and pre-calculus dictionary. I think this could be used in a math lesson by having the kids use the online dictionary to look up and define the particular terms that will be in that day’s lesson, or maybe even tomorrow’s lesson.

There is also a link on the homepage called “Term Tiles.” It provides a visual, auditory, symbolic, and kinesthetic approach to algebra. I think this is wonderful because everyone has different learning styles, and this provides a way to reach each one of those different styles. There are tutorials, quizzes, examples, vocabulary, and a few other things with each topic under this link. 

1)  Name of Web Site: Math Pages

2)  Web Site Address: http://www.mathpages.com/

3)  Copyright date and/or last update: There isn’t a copyright date or date of last update.

4)  Author/organization credentials: I cannot find an author.

5)  Web site design and ease of navigation: This website is very simply and not overly designed, which is nice. It makes it easy to ready and navigate. There are not a lot of colors or pictures to distract from the purpose of the web site. The design allows you to determine exactly what the web site provides. When you click on the topics from the homepage, the links on the following page are also easy to read. Those pages are also not overly designed or distracting with lots of colors or pictures. The only critique I have of the design of this site is the links on the bottom of the page are in picture format and it is a little difficult to read what exactly you’re clicking on. If you do end up clicking on it, you will find out that the pictures are actually the cover of mathematical and science books. When you click on the picture, it takes you to a website where you can order that specific book.

This website is very easy to navigate. When you select on any of the topics from the homepage it takes you to more links within that topic. For example, if you click on “Geometry” it takes you to a page with several links to subtopics within geometry, such as “Thinking Outside the Triangle” and “The Orbit of Triangles.” Once you click on these subtopics there is a lesson over it with examples.

6)  Your response and recommendation for use: For my classes specifically, I could use the links to “Geometry,” “Algebra,” “Calculus and Diff Eqs,” and “Probability and Statistics.” I think the information provided within these topics could be used to supplement my lectures and lessons. The students could be taken to the computer lab to read over the lesson and go over the examples. I could also put the lesson up on the projector from my laptop and go through the lesson and examples with the class.

I could also use this in the classroom by having the students read over the information if I happen to be gone. What I have noticed is that if I am gone and need a sub, it is difficult to provide the students with something new to learn. I know that I will just end up going over that same lesson again the next day. By having the students read over the lessons on days that I am gone, it will give them a head start on the lesson the following day. 

1)  Name of Web Site: Cool Math

2)  Web Site Address: http://www.coolmath.com/0-math-help-lessons.html

3)  Copyright date and/or last update: 1997-2013

4)  Author/organization credentials: Coolmath.com, Inc.

5)  Web site design and ease of navigation: When first accessing this website, the layout and brightness of the colors are a little overwhelming. There is so much information and links on one page that it’s hard to determine what to click on first. Luckily, I am already familiar with this website because my students already access it in my classroom. The design can be hard to get used to, but I can see how it would attract the attention of younger students because of the colors and fonts.

This web site provides math lessons, math practice, a math dictionary, math puzzles, and more math games than you can think of. There is even some finance and science information to access as well. This web site all provides a link specifically just for students, parents, and teachers.

At first, navigation can be a little difficult. Like I said before, once you become familiar with the web site it is easy to get to where you want. The good thing about the navigation on this site is that the links state specifically what it is; it is short and sweet and to the point. For example, some of the links on the homepage are “Math Lessons,” “Math Practice,” “Algebra,” “Pre-Algebra,” etc.. It’s not hard to get to where you want to go once you find it.

6)  Your response and recommendation for use: I could use this with any of my math classes, including pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, pre-calculus, and calculus. My geometry and pre-algebra classes use this more than any of my other classes. I let them access this website when they have finished all their work and have free time at the end of class.

You could also use this in a classroom by letting the students play the games on “Fun Fridays” or if they have free time at the end of class. You could set up a rule that once they finished a certain lesson they could play a corresponding math game. Any time the students can get on the computers whether to play games, do research, or complete lessons they are usually pretty excited about it.

Another way this website could be used is in a way I stated for the web site before this one. On any day that I may be gone or out of the classroom the students could be taken to the computer lab to work on lessons that we will be starting soon that way they will have some background information once we get to that topic.

1)  Name of Web Site: AAA Math

2)  Web Site Address: http://www.aaamath.com/

3)  Copyright date and/or last update: 2011

4)  Author/organization credentials: J. Banfill

5)  Web site design and ease of navigation: When first accessing this website you notice that it is very simply designed, almost dated, and easy to navigate. The colors are not distracting and don’t take away from the font, therefore everything is easy to read. The topics are laid out in a column to the left of the page, clearly stating what you will learn about in each link.

When navigating the site, in the column to the left of the page, you notice there are link with information outside that of math, such as “Spelling” and “World Nations” that take you to other AAA websites. For example, if you click on “Spelling” it takes you to http://www.aaaspell.com. Or, if you click on “World Nations” it takes you to http://www.aaawhere.com.

Navigating the site is very easy to do. There is a row of links at the top of the page that allows you to find information by grade, including Kindergarten through 8^th grade. There is also a column of links at the left of the page that allows you to find information by subject topic, such as “Addition,” “Algebra,” “Comparing,” etc..

There is also a Spanish version of this website. You can also find the links for math resources for students, parents, teachers, and home schooling.

6)  Your response and recommendation for use: As of right now, I could only use this for my 8^th grade class, but I am also certified to teach 7^th grade, so maybe I could use this website for that class in the future.

I think it would be great to use this website to help reinforce any lessons the students may be struggling with. I could take the students to the computer lab and have them each work individually on the computers. The lessons provide examples and practice. They could work through the lessons and then do the practice problems. Or I could project it on the screen in the classroom and have them do it as a class together. It may work better individually because the practice questions can be turned into a game. You can play the game of how many can I get right in 60 seconds, or you can play by being rewarded extra time for each right answer, or you can play how quickly can you get 20 right answers.

I think this would also work really well to help struggling students. If any students have to come in for tutoring they could work on this website. I believe it would be motivating to them to allow them to play the games after the lesson. It would give them a reason to not have a bad attitude towards tutoring.

1)  Name of Web Site: The Math Forum: People Learning Math Together

2) Web Site Address: http://mathforum.org/’

3)  Copyright date and/or last update: 2013

4)  Author/organization credentials: Drexel University School of Education

5)  Web site design and ease of navigation: The design and navigation of this website are great. The design is very professional looking. The layout is easy to follow and the colors and fonts make it very easy to look at and read.

Navigating the site is very simple. This website is helpful for researchers, teachers, students, and parents. There are links to help you find professional development, math tools, financial education in the math classroom, and also ask Dr. Math. The website provides math help, math resources, a forum to talk about math, and also problems and puzzles to get extra practice.

This website also has a store. At their online shop you can order resources for educators, teacher courses, ask Dr. Math books, memberships for students, and other items. If you become a member of the website then you have access to more problems and puzzles and more help topics.

I love the fact that this website has a discussion forum and an ask Dr. Math page. Some students struggle no matter how much help they receive in the classroom and these two things allow students to receive help from someone else, who may be able to explain it in a different or better way than I could. That could help them to learn that topic better or receive a better understanding of it.

6)  Your response and recommendation for use: I could use this website for any of my classes. Students could access this from school or from home.

I would recommend my students to access the discussion forum for help and advice. They could do this from anywhere, home or at school. For example, I am currently on maternity leave and this website would actually be really helpful for my students to use now that they have a different teacher. They could use the website to find help if they are struggling with the new teacher. They could also use after I come back. It always helps to see a different perspective and different point of view.

I don’t think there would be a whole lot of use of this during the class period unless the students had extra time at the end of class. I would suggest making use of this web site outside of the classroom.