Vertebrates (N. C. Borg) - For Teachers and Parents

Let's Discover the World of Vertebrates is an Internet-based software. This software is not available on CD-ROM, and it makes full use of Internet technology, which nowadays offers quite a satisfying gamut of multimedia tools. The advantages gained are various:

Schools will not need to have one CD-ROM for every computer to run the project;
The technology is already present through Internet browsers and related plugins and there is no need of installing any extras to run the project. Any missing plugins can be downloaded on the fly, usually automatically without the user having to do anything except follow online instructions;
Updating can be done online, and so the project is always kept up-to-date: doing this with a CD-ROM-based software would be ridiculously expensive;
Creating such a web-based project is very simple with the available web creation tools. Tools such as FrontPage are now well within financial reach of schools, and educators can create their own projects to put up on the school server or even upload on the Internet for other schools to share;
Communication facilities within the Internet, such as e-mail, will give the opportunity to children to actually establish a two-way contact with the authors;
Further information on a topic is readily available just a click away through Internet links with other websites.

There are two main highlights in this website: the tour of discovery found in What are Vertebrates? and the set of information cards available in the Animal Index. Both can be used for different functions in the classroom.

More information on both these two sections is available from the menu on the left.

Classroom Resources contains a set of printable worksheets based on the information available in the two previous sections. The material here is copyright-free and can be photocopied and duplicated for use in the classroom.

The Help section is intended to give a brief overview of the site’s navigation system and any help with plugins.

Site Download enables you to download the whole site onto your computer.

The Links section will help you identify good websites on the Internet which can complement the material presented on this site.