Ecology.com is a wonderful website that has a lot of information
and is easy for students to use. I would recommend using this site with
students in middle schools and high schools. It has sections that would be more
acceptable for elementary school students; however I have not observed much
success with that age range and having the necessary computer skills to perform
some of the actions. Those skills can be taught but would take time away from
teaching. This website has numerous sections devoted to a wide variety of
topics seen in ecology such as earth, air, and water ecology as well as
sections devoted to green energy, human impact, and species. Each section has
wonderful articles to provide students with general content knowledge but also
allow them to see how scientists are researching these topics in real world
scenarios. This website also has wonderful videos in a section called Ecology
TV. I would use this website as an additional source of information for my
students. Many have expressed interests in many of these topics, and while I
would love to cover them we just do not have the time right now, and this would
be a wonderful site for them to conduct research on their own time. Perhaps
this could be used for the class required enrichment assignments.
One negative I saw on the website is that it includes a
forum page. Typically I do not mind websites with forum pages, but for an
educational website it may lead to some misunderstandings if students read
those posts as opposed to reading the content on the pages and in the articles.
This website is also free! However, it also has a site store in which they sell
various products that promote living an ecologically friendly lifestyle as well
as some random gadgets. Overall, this is a wonderful website that can really
expose students to wonderful articles about real life science research in ecology.
I agree that open forums are definitely an unknown and not always appropriate on an educational site. If one is going to include an open forum then it should be moderated and regularly checked by the teacher or other responsible party. However, if we are using someone else's then check it right before using it to anticipate any questions or misinformation.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you and Darlene about forums. Forums can present biased or incorrect information. But instead of just ignoring or not using the forum. What if in the classroom you used the forum's answers as conversation starters. You could then discuss correct and incorrect answers and why they were so.
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ReplyDeleteI looked at the website and I really loved how visually appealing the layout and pictures are. I was drawn to certain articles just due to the brief title and unique picture. I actually read about the Stoat, which looks like a reddish colored ferret.
ReplyDeleteI also saw the application of science in real world contexts in the article, which may have been just as interesting as the discussion of the science theories. I typically only see articles about the correctness of theories and less about how the investigation is done.
It really is a great website.