I believe that this site did a great job of presenting real-world problems into the classroom.  The problems and measurements that Globe proposes are examples of the same type of sampling that would happen in cities and towns all over the world.  I think that several students could learn a great deal about what the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, does. For students that are not environmentally conscious, I think they would have trouble becoming engaged in this type of activity.  To engage all students, I would suggest approaching this from some area of their life that is more relatable to them.  One area that this may be possible is to discuss the amount of money it would cost to clean this up and how this money could be used elsewhere.  I think if the students see that the money used to clean up the area could go to their new park or their favorite hang outs then it might engage the students.
    When a student first clicks on the link to go to this site it opens up a whole world of adventure.  The first thing that a student would see upon looking at this site is colorful pictures and bulletins to attract their attention.  I think the wording of the titles of the bulletins make this site attractive and exciting.  Students would enjoy this site because of its wonderful ease of navigation.
    The Globe Project does a wonderful job of providing scaffolds and tools to enhance learning.  I think the tool kit was the best item out of the whole site.  The site could have been a little bit easier to follow by putting the material in a different order.  I thought the order in which information was presented was a little odd.  The new material chapters and the new material chapters did not appear to have a coherent flow.  I believe there was not a coherent flow, or organized relation between the chapters.  The chapters go back and forth between soil, water, and atmosphere.  I would group them into subjects and then place the subjects in a top down or a bottom up approach.  It does not make sense to jump from the atmosphere to the soil and then talk about water.  How do these connect?  I think that the Globe Project could make a connection between the atmosphere and the water cycle, and then the water cycle and the soil. I personally would like to know which chapter is suggested to be taught first.  Teachers need guidance, too.  I think that there is a moderate level of feedback and reflection, but not much revision allowed by this site.
    Using a message board would help improve the lack of feedback allowed by this site. I believe that allowing the students to post and receive feedback from other students and teachers would greatly influence the thoughts of the student.  After a student receives feedback, then the student would be allowed time to revise their information and respond in reflection to the comments of peers and teachers.
    The chat and message boards appear to be more concentrated for those that are already scientists.  One of the most noticeable opportunities for reflections, is the area for ‘Student Investigations.’ In the area of student investigations, several students post their work.  Collaborative efforts between schools also allows for a great deal of feedback.  Collaboration is a very good classroom enhancer and it is great to have the influence of other peers.  I would like to see more chat areas for the students and a bulletin to post notes to each other.  I think it would be good to have chat areas and message boards for each type of relationship, including students and teachers, and teachers to teachers.  There are several opportunities for this type of interaction allowed on the site, but I think more of this type of opportunity would enhance the effectiveness of this site.  Feedback, reflection and revision allow for a great deal of potential in projects and work.
    Overall, I think the site is a good tool despite the lack of a bunch of feedback. The Globe Project is highly concentrated on trying to build a local and global community that includes teachers, administrators, students, parents, practicing scientists, and other interested people.  Globe has a little bit of something for everyone.  There is an educators’ corner and a teachers’ guide.  The teachers’ guide includes lesson plans, experiments, and a tool kit.  I thought the tool kit was really cool.  Inside of the toolkit are a bunch of experiments.  There were experiments on pH, water conductivity, soil sampling, and phenology in the toolkit.  A section on measurements is included on the site and it allows the students to view the correct way to take measurements.  I found this section to be most appealing for my special education students and for those students who are visual learners.  I think that this sight left out several of the intelligences.  Some students learn by hearing and there were no real sound experiences on this site.  The kinesthetic students are able to measure and use data.  Math minded students would love the calculations and measurements and there are plenty of visual experiences.  I think some articles could be more history related and allow for a more bibliographic/historical intelligence.  Students that are writers would be thrilled with this site because there are several places to write and experiment.  Mainly, students that throw themselves into their science would be greatly served by this site because of its environmental science perspective.
    The Globe site allows for students to post their own investigations for others to view.  I think the opportunity for students to post investigations allows them to be empowered over their own education.  I think that a student who is empowered will have a greater self-esteem and will take their assignments to its full level of possibilities.  Students who are empowered often allow themselves to use more critical thinking skills and obtain a higher level of achievement in the classroom.  Tests often assess a greater level of achievement for students who feel like they have some say in their own education.
    Mainly investigational posts are for practicing scientists, but students can be considered practicing scientists.  There is a section that allows schools to collaborate with students at schools across the world.  I think that collaboration gives the students an opportunity to really have a global community.  Scientists also have a place to be able to create a community.  There is a corner designated for scientists, and it allows them to have chats and to keep up on the latest research. I loved the place for the scientists to introduce themselves and the variety of chat and message boards over the various areas.  I think that most students will already know how to use chat rooms, but several students may need additional training to get them set up into the chat rooms.  The Globe Project site does not have training that helps facilitate chats.  I think that some additional instruction may be needed for some students, and it could be provided by an interactive training session.  Globe should place an interactive training session link in each of its chat rooms.  I think that http://www.nsglobalonline.com is a great example of the usage of interactive training in various online systems of learning.  For my students, I would suggest that they go through a training session like nsglobalonline prior to using this site. There were chat and message boards for hydrology, phenology, soil, and atmosphere/climate.  There were several opportunities for teacher learning throughout this site.  Conferences appear to be one of the more popular forms of engaging teachers in the learning process.  When the site first opens up, there is an offer to sign up to go to a Globe Teachers Conference in San Antonio. Thirty-seven teacher workshops are being offered around the United States. The workshops are being offered at various times, dates, and locations. It appears that the Globe Project includes a great deal of learning for the teachers.