Aaron Hamann & Jeremy Mueller

The Magellan Expedition is one quest from the Adventure Online web site. This adventure follows the Schurmann family over a three-year period as they follow the path of Ferdinand Magellan when he first sailed around the world. As they make different stops along the way, this family of six takes various day trips that relate to the life and culture of that area. The family then uploads pictures and writings about what they have seen and done onto the web site and keeps a journal of where they have been. This expedition is scheduled to run from November, 1997 to April, 2000. The family is currently located in the country of South Africa.

•"Live From the Field," updated almost daily

•Personal biography of the team members

•Photos and writings from each stop they have made

•Updated map showing where they have been and where they are headed

•Over 130 lesson plans and activities in areas of Science and Technology,

English/Language Arts, Social Science and Math

•Interactive Sport Quiz

•E-mail correspondence between students and team members

We feel as though this software is limited in its usefulness on its own in the classroom setting. Given the fact that all the students can do on the actual site is ask questions via e-mail and learn about where these people have been, the real usefulness of this program comes in the activities that are employed outside working with the web site. However, when registered as a teacher at this site, there is access to over 100 different activities that are presented in a lesson plan format that relate to what the family is doing at that time. These plans can be implemented into classrooms ranging from upper elementary to middle school aged students and in all subject areas. Projects include things such as research papers, conducting interviews with WWII veterans, doing web searches, and building a model house on stilts. All of these activities are aligned according to the education goals and learning standards that are set forth by Adventure. This makes the site a little more appealing and would encourage more teachers to implement it into their curriculum.

The overall structure of this site is very passive. The use of this site is very teacher controlled and the activities within this site would need to be primarily teacher centered and initiated. Behaviorist Theory says that teacher controlled lessons are the way to operate a classroom, while constructivists believe in the student having more control with more of a hands on aspect to their own education. This site appears to be more behaviorist in nature simply because of the lack of interactivity and lack of activities contained within the site.

This site is laid out in a very hierarchical fashion. There are very few links to other parts of the page other than going forward and backward within a specific link. Within each date of the trip, there contain photos and stories about the day’s events, yet you are unable to jump from date to date without regressing to the date pages that you previously came through or returning to a main menu page. This format is very limited due to the lack of non-linear links. Instead of the items being listed in sequential order, they are listed in topical order, which causes some confusion with browsing.

The overall appearance of the site is very favorable. It contains colorful relevant graphics and easily noticeable links. The site is easily navigable despite the lack of access to some portions. The site is laid out so that students and teachers alike can both easily find the information they are looking for. The photos are well done and mesh well with the information that the team gathers from day to day about different parts of the world. Overall, this site is very aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and very efficient in terms of layout.

We believe that this program falls under the position of informing in the Thomas and Boysen Taxonomy. This level is consistent with acquiring information, and using the web based information as a supplement to the textbook/ lecture as means of initial exposure to a subject (Thomas and Boysen, 1984). We feel that the exploration designed around the travels of Ferdinand Magellan could be incorporated into a lesson/ unit surrounding explorers or possibly navigation on the open sea.

This site was chosen by our team because of it’s wealth of first hand information about the world and it’s potential in the classroom. The site contains a great deal of information about interesting and classroom relevant topics which we feel could enhance any curriculum.

In terms of additions, we would like to see a better linking structure incorporated to ease navigability and more increased student centered activities. The interactivity of this site was very low and students were asked to primarily point and click. There are also a great number of links that were shown without actually having destinations. Overall grade: B- The site has the potential to make a great addition to any classroom, but too many problems to make it practical.

Subscription Price (Includes access to multiple expeditions):

$99 - 12 Month Classroom Subscription

$449 - 12 Month Building Subscription