Evaluation of websites used
1. I chose the website: http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_5.asp as the main site for differentiating between the three types of plate boundaries. This site is very informative and uses a language that is easy for my 9th grade students to comprehend. If I had to choose only one site to use for my entire lesson on plate tectonics, this would be it. The site is very welcoming and easy to navigate around; it does not have any advertisements that would distract my students. The site is very organized and provides a lot of pictures to help my visual learners understand the concepts as well.
2. The second website I found very useful was: http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/plates3.html. The explanation for what a Divergent plate boundary is was clear and accurate. This one site could have been used to define and distinguish all three plate types if a student wanted to just visit one site and get all of the necessary information on this topic. It is very user friendly, this site was designed for students and even has a "teachers lounge" page built into it. The goal was clearly defined and there are no distracting elements to the site, I found this page to be exceptionally useful.
3. Another site I incorporated into my question page was: Go to: http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/pltec/diverge.html. Any Government site is going to be useful to my students, it is designed with the goal of learning and loads quickly to eliminate a student from getting distracted easily. It is very user friendly and incorporates a plethora of information that any earth science student would find valuable.
4. The fourth site I used was: http://science.yourdictionary.com/convergent-plate-boundary. This is definitely my least favorite site and I would not use it in my class, it contains advertisements and can easily distract my students. Any advertisement is a red flag for me, especially when they are not science related. One of the advertisements that popped up was about the pope while the other was about how to lose belly fat. I would not want my students on this site, especially since the information found here can be easily accessed through one of the three sites listed above.
5. I used the site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_boundary, which some teachers forbid the use of. This site is filled with information on almost everything you can possibly imagine. I understand that some say the content can be inaccurate as many people are able to edit this site but for my use all of the information was correct. There are no ads, and there are three great pictures used to help understand the processes that happen at a convergent plate boundary. The site is easy to navigate and loads quickly, I find nothing wrong with my students using this site as a research tool. The thing I like most about this site is how everything is categorized well and it is easy to find what you are looking for. Again, the first three sites listed are my top three choices and sites like Wikipedia are not necessary but can be used as a supplement to research.
6. The last site I used for this lesson was http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/student/nester1/sandreas.htm. The site is well organized and contains no ads, it is easy to navigate and gain the knowledge that students are looking for while visiting the site. There is a clear purpose and goal to this site, it allows a student to easily access the information they need and move forward with their assignment. This website was last updated in 2008 but the information does not change, this is a topic that has stayed constant since the beginning of time and will not change in the future. I would use this in my class, not my number one choice, but definitely a useful tool for any earth science student.
2. The second website I found very useful was: http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/plates3.html. The explanation for what a Divergent plate boundary is was clear and accurate. This one site could have been used to define and distinguish all three plate types if a student wanted to just visit one site and get all of the necessary information on this topic. It is very user friendly, this site was designed for students and even has a "teachers lounge" page built into it. The goal was clearly defined and there are no distracting elements to the site, I found this page to be exceptionally useful.
3. Another site I incorporated into my question page was: Go to: http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/pltec/diverge.html. Any Government site is going to be useful to my students, it is designed with the goal of learning and loads quickly to eliminate a student from getting distracted easily. It is very user friendly and incorporates a plethora of information that any earth science student would find valuable.
4. The fourth site I used was: http://science.yourdictionary.com/convergent-plate-boundary. This is definitely my least favorite site and I would not use it in my class, it contains advertisements and can easily distract my students. Any advertisement is a red flag for me, especially when they are not science related. One of the advertisements that popped up was about the pope while the other was about how to lose belly fat. I would not want my students on this site, especially since the information found here can be easily accessed through one of the three sites listed above.
5. I used the site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_boundary, which some teachers forbid the use of. This site is filled with information on almost everything you can possibly imagine. I understand that some say the content can be inaccurate as many people are able to edit this site but for my use all of the information was correct. There are no ads, and there are three great pictures used to help understand the processes that happen at a convergent plate boundary. The site is easy to navigate and loads quickly, I find nothing wrong with my students using this site as a research tool. The thing I like most about this site is how everything is categorized well and it is easy to find what you are looking for. Again, the first three sites listed are my top three choices and sites like Wikipedia are not necessary but can be used as a supplement to research.
6. The last site I used for this lesson was http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/student/nester1/sandreas.htm. The site is well organized and contains no ads, it is easy to navigate and gain the knowledge that students are looking for while visiting the site. There is a clear purpose and goal to this site, it allows a student to easily access the information they need and move forward with their assignment. This website was last updated in 2008 but the information does not change, this is a topic that has stayed constant since the beginning of time and will not change in the future. I would use this in my class, not my number one choice, but definitely a useful tool for any earth science student.