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 Ratings
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| Reviewed: |
Jul 21, 2003 by Biology Editorial Board |
| Overview: |
The Konza Website provides information focused on research, education, and
conservation of the prairie ecosystem that once dominated much of the United States. This tallgrass prairie ecosystem in Manhattan, Kansas is part of Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) supported by the National Science Foundation. The main site provides links for visiting scientist information, an education program, searchable databases, maps, publications, on-going projects, weather, an image gallery, and other aspects of the Konza Prairie Project. The Konza Environmental Education Program (KEEP) may be especially useful for teaching since it provides trail maps, children's activities, pictures of plants, butterflies and grasshoppers, and a unique shockwave application called the prairie bison adventure that can be used for exploring the prairie. |
| Learning Goals: |
Users will learn about research, education, and conservation of the Konza tallgrass prairie. |
| Target Student Population: |
Elementary, high school, undergraduate, and to some extent, graduate students will acquire new knowledge from the information at this Website. |
| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
Some previous knowledge about ecology and/or environmental science will help users understand concepts. |
| Type of Material: |
Collection / Database |
| Recommended Uses: |
Material may have limited use in the classroom but would serve well as independent study and special assignments for individual students. |
| Technical Requirements: |
Most material is hypertext, although there is at least one shockwave application that requires use of the downloadable program. |
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| Strengths: |
Quality of Content: 4.5, 4.8 = 4.7
- High quality images
- Provides access to actual research data
- Material includes lots of information on the Konza prairie and continues to expand
- Includes biodiversity as well as abiotic factors (weather, fire, etc.)
- Accurate
- Can be used for general and/or detailed study of this tallgrass prairie, depending on the extent to which users navigate through Website
- Some maps are interactive
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| Concerns: |
- Images of insects, reptiles, and other specimens are limited but continue to expand
- This is a work in progress and covers all activities at the site. There are areas not addressed due to resource restrictions
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
Rating:    |
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| Strengths: |
Potential Effectiveness: 4.6, 5.0 = 4.8
- Main Website is simply informative, although the Konza KEEP link provides excellent resources for learning about tallgrass prairie
- Contains a section with suggestions on how to use with classroom activities
- The wide range of materials provided with this Website can be adapted to many situations both in the classroom and as out-of-class assignments / explorations
- New and useful information is presented
- The shockwave application, "Prairie Bison Adventure" is an excellent learning tool
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| Concerns: |
- Since the site is not designed as an educational resource, use of the site will require assignments with explicit instructions to help students extract information beyond the descriptions of habitats and organisms. This is especially true for use of research data.
- An indication of the intended age and/or class level for information in different ?lessons? supplied would facilitate use.
- The search component should be moved to a more obvious location
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
Rating:   |
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| Strengths: |
Ease of Use: 4.7, 4.0 = 4.4
- Appropriately searchable, although the search component needs to be moved to the main page
- Easy to navigate and organized well from a research standpoint
- Provides section of Guidelines for teachers
- No missing links found
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| Concerns: |
- Site functions are easy to use but do not lead easily to educational use by students without direction
- One link (STLER Cross-Site Workshop) requires a password
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| Other Issues and Comments: |
This is a great Website for learning about one of the tallgrass prairie reserves. It is a good model for others to follow. |
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