Teacher #1
Build-It-Yourself.com is an amazing website that focuses on robotics for students at all age and skill levels. The Build-It-Blocks section includes video and photo step-by-step instructions for building different actions that can be incorporated into a project. The project and project ware sections include projects that classes have completed and project ideas for students to try. Upcoming workshops are announced in the Workshop section, and there is also a Build-It-Yourself stockroom where robots and accessories can be purchased. An entire section focusing on lesson plans makes this site not only robot-fanatic happy, but teacher happy, too.

I really like Build-It-Yourself.com because everything about the site is set up in an easy-to-follow way. As a very novice robot builder, I was able to fly around the site with ease. Instructions were written at my level, and photos enhanced my understanding of whatever was being explained. As a teacher, I really appreciated the Hall of Fame section where students could showcase their best projects.

The Build-It-Blocks section was of particular interest to me and was the section that I found to be most useful for several reasons. From a student's point-of-view, I really appreciated the animated and simplistic instructions for building different actions. The site came in especially handy when we were working on our midterm project. Because I didn't experience the excitement of Legos as a child, I really struggled with the whole concept of gears and how they work. The Build-It-Blocks section of the website really dummy-proofed the idea for me, and I was able to help put together a project that I'm proud of.

From a mother's point-of-view, the Build-It-Blocks section has given me so many ideas of projects that I can work on with my children. I'm really looking forward to the "Lego age" when I can show off my skills as a robot-builder and play with my little boys. The whole mid-term project has surprisingly made me even "cooler" in the eyes of my four-year-old. Who knew that robots were so hip? I've also come to realize that my husband is a Lego fan as well. I'm looking forward to using the site when we work on Lego projects as a family!!

From a teacher's point-of-view, especially an ELL teacher, the Build-It-Blocks section was so appropriate for my non-English speakers. I have found over the past few years that the most sure-fire way to motivate my students to learn another language is to incorporate technology into the class. Under most circumstances, technology refers to computers. The idea of robotics is so new to my students that they will be just captivated by the whole idea. Even more importantly, the Build-It-Blocks section of the website has been designed in a way to foster the needs of language learners. Robotics is extremely hands-on-the first thing needed in a language classroom-and the pictures and videos included provide students with enough instruction on how to assemble their projects, even though they are non-English speakers. Apart from that, the site includes a "Hall of Fame" section, so students can potentially show-off their work. Throw in the project section where super motivated students can venture off on their own, and you've got yourself an A+ website.

Teacher #2
Summary
The Website that I have chosen to evaluate is www.build-it-yourself.com. This website was created for a number of reasons. First, the student section gives a variety of project ideas that can be used by students that use a variety of different materials. For some of the projects, art-type materials (crayons, glue, pipe cleaners, etc.) are required, and for other projects, Lego-type blocks can be used. In addition, the student section includes a variety of pictures and a "Hall of Fame" that students can refer to in order to see examples of good projects. The Build-It-Blocks part of the site (which is the part of the site that most relates to this class) offers a wide variety of step-by-step directions to build various contraptions categorized by their uses, actions, and level of difficulty. There is also a teacher section that offers various lesson plans and teacher tools in the form of short PowerPoint presentations to help a teacher who is just beginning to venture into robotics in their classroom.

Reflection
I chose this website to look at for a few reasons. First, the name of the website really caught my eye. I thought that this might be a site that would offer project ideas as well as instructions as to how to put together various Lego's to create specific movements (this could help both my students and myself). I also was looking for a site that I thought would be user friendly and easy for my students to navigate through, which it is. Finally, I wanted to look at a site that took a multidisciplinary approach to creating robots. As a whole, I really like what this website has to offer. I especially liked the step-by-step instructions that were offered in the Build-It-Blocks portion of the site because of the pictures that were offered to help a novice who is just starting out (I will probably end up using this site to help me with my mid-term). I think that the directions were very easy to follow, and most of my sixth graders could complete the constructions that were included. Since the different instructions were cross-referenced, the students would be less likely to miss something just because they clicked on the wrong link. I also like that the site has a difficulty category for the instructions. This allows students who are novices through experts to use this site effectively. In addition, I didn't feel like this site was strictly dedicated to robotics. Along with some robotic design, it included Art, Language Arts, and Math. By including and emphasizing other subject areas, this site shows the students that to make a complete project, there must be other components besides creating a working robot. In addition, by including various subject areas, it encourages students who may not excel at mechanical tasks (such as myself) to be excited and participate with a group in a different, but appropriate, way. I also like the lesson plans and other teacher materials a great deal. For someone who is just starting to think about using robotics in their classroom, the lesson plans give the teacher a great starting point. The short PowerPoint presentations are also very nice because the can be used as is or simply modified to meet the needs of a particular class (this is a big time saver).

Teacher #3
I believe that this site is great for children of all ages, parents, and educators. Children can look at what others build or even try to build their own, parents can view testimonials or find summer camps to send their children to, and educators can take an online workshop or practicing building their own as well. This is a family-friendly site that provides enjoyment and entertainment for all!

Teacher #4
I chose to write about this website because it was obviously more interactive than an article. I found that most of the articles just talked about the benefits of using robotics in the classroom, and basically I think we all understand those. We all know that it increases a student's problem solving abilities, critical thinking skills, and teamwork skills. The articles use a lot of other language to get those points across.

While this website did state those facts under their overview section, they did not dwell on them. Instead their main focus is to engage students. That quality is what really interested me in this website. Not knowing a lot about building robots, I think this website would be very helpful to me as both an educator and a parent.