The website CoolMath.com is a great resource for teachers, students, and even parents. The site addresses many different levels ranging from prealgebra through calculus. The site was designed for just about anyone. The sites claims to be designed for "math geeks," students just looking to get through a class, and even those that claim to hate math. the creator, Karen, created the site looking to help anybody that seeks help in the math world. It seems that the majority of funding stems from donations and also ad space. There are ads on the sides of just about every page, but there are no pop up ads and the ads take up very little space. Most importantly, the ads do not take away from the functionality of the site. There is a clear link to the donations or ad space information if anyone is interesting in supporting the site.
Upon entering the site, it is quite clear that it is meant to be edgy. There is neon colored font on a black background. This layout and design does not hinder the navigation of the site; as a matter of fact, it seems to enhance it. Everything is clearly labeled and takes you directly where it says it will take you.
At the top of the home page, you will notice tabs that will take you to a spin off of the CoolMath site that take you to special sites for teachers, students, parents, finance, etc. The site seems to be best utilized as a source to help solidify your understanding of a concept (from a student's perspective). It does not necessarily teach a concept, rather than let you explore it. This is mostly done through completely interactive games. However, using the teacher resources, there is access to many lesson plans, activity templates, and many other things that can be used as a teacher in the classroom. The amount of resources for both the teacher and the student is astounding. There are suggestions, examples, and templates for lessons and other resources such as eportfoios or web quests. One of the only drawbacks of using this site is that each student will need access to the internet and a computer in order to use the site properly.
Overall, this seems to be a great resource for anyone experiencing any sort of math from any perspective. The site is very user friendly and easily navigated. I was personally impressed with the amount of resources acquired since its creation in 1997. Check it out!
Dear Travis,
ReplyDeleteI went to the website, and I must say that the advertisement is very distracting for me. As a person who is easily distracted (and I am sure that you have students who are subjected to the same setback as me), those ads and text/figures on the side of the screen make it very difficult for me to focus on the center of the screen. The actual content of the webpage is great, but if I was a student going to this website, I would accomplish a questionable amount of work. Also, all of the vibrant colors makes it hard for me to read, thus navigating through the website also becomes harder. I do like the website, and I think that this is great (for some students). But for somebody like me, the website could offer me more if it just tried to be less cool.
-Michael
I agree with you Michael about the colors. They are a bit much. However, I think the colors allow you to focus on the material rather than the ads because the ads stand out so much, it is clear that they are not part of the material. I dont necessarily dislike the black background and colored font, but it is unnecessary for the font to be NEON and practically glowing.
Delete