Evalution of Merlot Materials

In looking for a lesson to review on Merlot I found that the site was very easy to navigate.  I would type in a topic and or subject area and it would find the related material and or lessons.  I found that it was very difficult to find lessons that I would be able to use in my classroom.  There were a lot of resources that I found that needed to be purchase and downloaded.  I also found that the searches I was doing did not bring up the materials that I expected.  After many different types of searches I still wasn't able to find exactly what I was looking for.  I did find one lesson on government.
Overall I wasn't too thrilled with Merlot.  I cannot see myself using this as a go to resource.
Quality of Content
This site presented accurate information and concepts that aligned with the social studies curriculum.  It gave accurate vocabulary that would be suitable for 2nd and 3rd grade students.  It also used age appropriate pictures to support the material.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Learning Tool
In evaluation the 2nd grade material I think that this is a valuable tool for a teacher.  This material would be good for the teacher to use to help teach government to second graders by using it as supplemental material.  The information is accurate but it might not draw the kids in very well.  There is nothing interactive in the materials it is all pretty straight forward, it presents the material in a power point fashion.  There was a page that you could click on that would allow you to print off games and coloring pages but nothing real valuable that supports the content.
Ease of Use
The site was very easy to navigate around.  I would see the benefit of having a student use this page.  Great info for a teacher who was just starting out and wanted some kid friendly terms!