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A previously reported botanical data retrieval application has been improved to make it better suited for use in middle-and high-school science classes. This search interface is ring-structured and treats multi-faceted metadata intuitively, enabling students not only to search for plant names but also to learn about the morphological features and taxonomy of plants. A usability test with 20 middle- and high-school science teachers was performed to identify any problems with using this application in the classroom. Four problems were thereby identified, and the application interface was improved by changing how candidates are arranged and displayed, deleting the double-tap operation, and adding a bookmarking function. The effectiveness of the improved application was then evaluated by having 50 middle-and high-school students use it in group work. The results showed that they could more easily find plant names by simply rotating the search rings and could more easily analyze the information by quickly recognizing the features of retrieved plants. The improved application also better helped the students learn about plants on their own during the search process.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose an effective educational system to help students assess Web site risk by providing an environment in which students can better understand a Web site's features and determine the risks of accessing the Web site for themselves. Design/methodology/approach: The authors have enhanced a prototype visualization system for helping students assess Web site features and use them to identify risky Web sites. The system was implemented with our graphical search interface for multi-attribute metadata called "Concentric Ring View" and was tested using 13,386 actual and dummy Web sites and 11 Web site attributes. Findings: The testing revealed several distinguishing attributes of risky Web sites, including being related to "play", having monotone colors, having many images, having many links and having many pages with much text in smaller font size. A usability test with 12 teenaged female students demonstrated that they could learn to identify some features of risky Web sites. Originality/value: As students cannot live in a safe cyberspace environment forever, they should be taught how to identify risky Web sites. We proposed an educational system to help students assess Web site features and identify high-risk Web site and verified the effectiveness of this system.