When first looking at the title, I anticipated the webpage having an in-depth perspective about Punnett Square (having the word "advanced" in the title). The webpage was geared for beginner levels looking for another approach to Punnett Square besides using alleles of independent genes. As a visual learner, the interactive charts and animations were very helpful. I was able to clearly see a brief overview of the process of crossing over and why it occurs more often with some genes than others. Having highlighted sections of paragraphs kept my focus throughout the entire webpage.
Although, similar to the other MathBench Punnett Square teaching site (Mice with Fangs: Intro to Punnett Squares), the language of the site was very informal and could be confusing at times. This was especially true with the last example when they attempted to put multiple concepts together. The example had too much dialogue which overshadowed the biology concepts. In addition, they added the procedure of chi-square which was never explained in previous pages.
Summary: I find that this resource is difficult and confusing to use and does only an adequate job of explaining concepts. Its main positive attribute is that it frequently quizzes the student and has them fill in answers rather than choosing among multiple choices.
The pros: This resource frequently quizzes the student. When the student answers wrong, often (though not always) a box will pop up explaining why the answer was incorrect. Furthermore, most questions involve recall rather than recognition, which will help students internalize the information more efficiently.
The cons: Questions are sometimes worded ambiguously and can be confusing if you have not done previous units on the site. The user interface is clumsy and confusing to navigate. For example, when inputting answers, it looks like all the answers are right (because the text is green) until you click "check answers." This might confuse students and give them the impression that their wrong answers are right. Navigation is also a bit clumsy. You have to click on an unlabeled ">" to get to the next section, which is easy to miss. The material is weak in some areas as well. In particular the details of meiosis are not well done. The animated GIFs are confusing, difficult to follow, and don't contain much information. If anything, they give the wrong impression of how meiosis occurs. The author even admits to not knowing much about how meiosis works, so shortcuts the explanation there, potentially confusing students.
Wendy Jo Levenson @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
When first looking at the title, I anticipated the webpage having an in-depth perspective about Punnett Square (having the word "advanced" in the title). The webpage was geared for beginner levels looking for another approach to Punnett Square besides using alleles of independent genes. As a visual learner, the interactive charts and animations were very helpful. I was able to clearly see a brief overview of the process of crossing over and why it occurs more often with some genes than others. Having highlighted sections of paragraphs kept my focus throughout the entire webpage.
Although, similar to the other MathBench Punnett Square teaching site (Mice with Fangs: Intro to Punnett Squares), the language of the site was very informal and could be confusing at times. This was especially true with the last example when they attempted to put multiple concepts together. The example had too much dialogue which overshadowed the biology concepts. In addition, they added the procedure of chi-square which was never explained in previous pages.
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Lisa Limeri @ on
2.0 out of 5 stars
Summary: I find that this resource is difficult and confusing to use and does only an adequate job of explaining concepts. Its main positive attribute is that it frequently quizzes the student and has them fill in answers rather than choosing among multiple choices.
The pros: This resource frequently quizzes the student. When the student answers wrong, often (though not always) a box will pop up explaining why the answer was incorrect. Furthermore, most questions involve recall rather than recognition, which will help students internalize the information more efficiently.
The cons: Questions are sometimes worded ambiguously and can be confusing if you have not done previous units on the site. The user interface is clumsy and confusing to navigate. For example, when inputting answers, it looks like all the answers are right (because the text is green) until you click "check answers." This might confuse students and give them the impression that their wrong answers are right. Navigation is also a bit clumsy. You have to click on an unlabeled ">" to get to the next section, which is easy to miss. The material is weak in some areas as well. In particular the details of meiosis are not well done. The animated GIFs are confusing, difficult to follow, and don't contain much information. If anything, they give the wrong impression of how meiosis occurs. The author even admits to not knowing much about how meiosis works, so shortcuts the explanation there, potentially confusing students.
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