Wonderopolis is a good, free website for curious students to learn about a broad variety of subjects in a child-friendly way. Each day a new wonder is explained covering topics such as tsunamis, sleep, taste buds, art and technology. Each wonder includes a video, several paragraphs of explanation, and links to related wonders from the archives. Students can toggle over unfamiliar words on the side to see the definitions. Although this site can be interesting to a broad range of ages and interests, it is probably best suited for scientifically curious upper elementary and middle school students to use independently. These students may need adult support to understand the information and clarify their thinking, but they can still learn plenty about a variety of topics. The site is visually busy, and students might want to listen rather than read the articles, but the audio voice is robotic. In addition to the Daily Wonders, the site has an Explore Wonders option to search topics correlated to Common Core Standards and a Try it Out section that links to related websites and suggestions for activities. Overall, Wonderopolis can be a great site to engage curious students on a daily basis, but it is likely to require adult support for effective understanding.

• Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
• Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
• Presents educational concepts accurately
• Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
• Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
• Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
• Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

• Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
• Subject matter and problems are relevant, interesting and authentic to students
• Visually appealing to children in the target age range
• Provides virtual rewards or incentives after meeting specified goals or objectives
• Provides a "break activity" between academic problem sets
• Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
• Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

• Has a free or trial version
• Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
• Provides an age-appropriate tutorial/first time users can work independently
• Student should be able to use independently after first use
• Has a multi-player option to foster in-person collaboration or cooperation
• Multiple users can save a profile
• Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
• Can play without sound and not distract others
• Students can save work between sessions
• Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
• Requires registration before using the first time
• Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
• Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
• Overall - Easy to use

• Abstract Reasoning
• Students might need support with navigation
• Reading Basics
• Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
• Reading Comprehension
• Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
• Reading Fluency
• Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
• Visual Discrimination
• Words used during activity can be too small or difficult to read
• Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
• Students might need support with navigation
• Vocabulary
• Assumes specific knowledge or vocabulary without "look-up" options