Objective:

The purpose of this activity is to search through many different websites related to your chosen topic (net ionic equations) and determine if these websites would be valuable tools for teachers by assisting them in teaching specific topics both in the classroom and at home for your students.

Introduction:

As educators today, we need to realize that the internet provides many tools to help us as educators. Since we only get to spend limited amounts of time on each topic the students don’t get as much chance to practice on that specific topic in the classroom. Students are always asking me if there is somewhere were they can get extra practice on a topic. Students have the number of different reference books that we can provide in school. A lot of students realize the extra practice that they are seeking is on the internet. The one thing I always warn my students about when looking for extra practice is be very careful of the websites that you are choosing. I have not previously checked most of those sites and I don’t know if the information they are providing is accurate. I have students show me problems that they found on the internet and either the work or the answer was completely wrong. This is a problem because if the student does not show me what they were working on they are completely learning the wrong information. I needed a way to help solve this problem.

The website analysis project is a perfect way to help with this problem. I chose a topic that I feel a lot of students ask for extra problems. I then went onto the internet and searched many different websites that were related to my topic. I chose five websites on net ionic equations. I created a rating table to analyze each website on the same criteria. If the website obtains an overall good rating from my criteria next academic year when students ask for places on the internet to find extra problems, I can compile a list from the websites that I have rated.

Criteria:

Score:

 4- The material is superior in all parameters

3- The material is good in all parameters

2- The material is average in all parameters

1- The material is below average in all parameters

0- The material is useless in all parameters

Parameters:

Age and Level Appropriateness

-  Relevant for high-school students

-  Topics not over the student’s heads

-  Topics not to basic for the students

 Presentation of Material

-  Clarity

-  Aesthetics

-  Relevance

-  Conciseness

 Content

-  Information provided correctly

-  Depth of information

-  Is there explanation of content material

-  Are sample exercises provided

-  Is all of the information provided relevant

 Navigation

-  Is the website easy to navigate

-  Does the page load completely

-  Do the images load

-  Do the links work

 Supplemental Exercises

-  Are supplemental exercises provided

-  Are there examples for students to follow

-  Are answers provided for the exercises

-  If answers are provided are they correct

-  Are the problems relevant to the material

 
Analysis of Websites:

 
First Website:

http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/chem30/modules/module2/lesson6/netionic.htm

 

Age & Level Appropriateness	Presentation of material	Content	Navigation	Supplemental Exercises	Overall Average Score
4	4	4	4	2	3.6

This website has been reviewed to determine if it provides supplemental material for both instructors and students on net ionic equations. Overall, this website followed all of the parameters that I have outlined. The only problem with this website is that it provides supplemental problems which correspond to the material but it does not provide an answer key to the exercises. If students wanted to check their own work without the answer key it would be difficult. If the students wanted to practice the problems and review their answers with an instructor then this would be a very good website. The website does a good job in explaining the material. Showing all the steps involved in solving net ionic equations and shows very good examples as it explains each step. It has provides a few practice problems and answers to those problem. It is just lacking the answers to the supplemental problems but this would be a good website for students to use for additional practice.

 
Second Website:

http://genchem.chem.wisc.edu/sstutorial/Text11/NetIonic/NetIonicIndex.htm

 

Age & Level Appropriateness	Presentation of material	Content	Navigation	Supplemental Exercises	Overall Average Score
3	4	4	2	4	3.4

This website has been reviewed to determine if it provides supplemental material for both instructors and students on net ionic equations. This website goes above and beyond its methods of explaining the material. It has diagrams showing the reactions and answer buttons which when clicked tell you if you are correct and incorrect. It also gives you an explanation to why the answer is correct and incorrect. It provides the student with text explaining net ionic equations and examples on how to solve for net ionic equations. This website is level appropriate but it does have some content that might be too much for a general chemistry class but would be good for an honors or AP class. The material is presented properly but it is slightly scattered throughout the presentation. The student needs to know exactly what information they are looking for. This leads into the navigation of the website. It can become confusing to navigate around the website. Once you practice getting around the website all of the information is presented in excellent detail with practice problems to help the students. Overall, with a little time and effort the student can find everything they need on this website.

 
Third Website:

http://www.chem.vt.edu/RVGS/ACT/notes/Notes_on_Net_ionic_rxns.html

 

Age & Level Appropriateness	Presentation of material	Content	Navigation	Supplemental Exercises	Overall Average Score
3	2	3	4	4	3.2

This website has been reviewed to determine if it provides supplemental material for both instructors and students on net ionic equations. This website would be excellent for supplemental problems only. It is very weak in content and presentation of material. If only gives a brief explanation about net ionic equations and how to solve for them. If a student clearly understood net ionic and just needed practice problems this would be a great website. Also, the content material would be difficult for a general chemistry class but would be excellent for an honors or AP chemistry class. The practice problems are a little more complicated then a general chemistry student would see. Once you get to the practice problems they are excellent. It gives a problem and asks you to provide an answer. Once the answer is provided the student can then check if their answer is right or wrong. This would be a good supplemental exercise website but it would be limited to the type of student who could complete the exercises.

 
Fourth Website:

http://student.ccbcmd.edu/~cyau1/HowtoWriteIonicEqns.htm

 

Age & Level Appropriateness	Presentation of material	Content	Navigation	Supplemental Exercises	Overall Average Score
3	4	4	4	4	3.8

This website has been reviewed to determine if it provides supplemental material for both instructors and students on net ionic equations. This website provides everything a student would need on net ionic equations. It has a great navigation bar on the top so if they were looking for a specific concept they could navigate right to that concept. It explains extremely well all about net ionic equations and breaks everything down step by step. It gives practice problems with each single step and provides the answers at the end of the page. It even explains in words what net ionic equations are and how to solve them with examples and practice problems right below the text. If a student is not strong in writing formulas it even provides a link for practice on writing formulas as a supplement to net ionic equations. The website even color codes different points making it easy for the student to separate each piece of material. This would be great for general chemistry but it does provide some details which might be better for an honors or AP chemistry class. As long as the students know what material is relevant for them, this is an amazing supplemental website. This would be an excellent website to show students in class along with your regular lesson. Everything is laid out perfect and students could take away a lot from this site. 

Fifth Website:

http://www.occc.edu/KMBailey/Chem1115Tutorials/Net_Ionic_Eqns.htm

 

Age & Level Appropriateness	Presentation of material	Content	Navigation	Supplemental Exercises	Overall Average Score
4	4	4	4	4	4

This website has been reviewed to determine if it provides supplemental material for both instructors and students on net ionic equations. This website is very simple and very complete. This site goes through every single step of net ionic equations in detail. It provides both word explains and example problems as it move through the material. The website uses colors in each step making it easy for students to follow the material and see what aspects are being changed. This website’s material is perfect for any level of high-school chemistry. After explaining each step of the process and showing examples, at the end it provides practice problems which cover all of the material presented. Once the students complete the practice problems there is a link provided for them to check their answers. This website is complete with everything a student would need as supplemental practice for net ionic equations. It has explanations of the material, example problems, and practice problems for the students and answers for those practice problems. This is an excellent website for anybody trying to learn net ionic equations or just brush up their skills on net ionic equations.

 
Conclusion:

After reviewing all five websites they would all be excellent supplemental material for an instructor to provide their students. Some websites provide different levels of material and different amounts of instruction on the material. If the instructor quickly searches each site they can make recommendations to their students based on their student’s needs. Overall each site provides good explanations, examples and problems for a student to learn and practice. All involved will be very pleased with the five websites.