How do children learn about the Chesapeake Bay? With books, with music, even with direct experiences, from boating to swimming to playing. But “Bayville”, a Web site started by Maryland Public Television in 2007, attempts to harness the power of the Internet to connect kids with the bay.

But how successful is it? That’s what I set out to discover.

Though “Bayville” makes it clear that it welcomes everyone interested in learning more about the Chesapeake, the site targets Maryland middle school students. It provides teacher’s guides, curriculum charts, and an optional log-in feature that allows users to save their work and progress, making the site easy to incorporate into the classroom.

The textual sections work mainly toward this purpose so that teachers have a wealth of material to utilize. For example, the section of frequently asked questions about the Chesapeake gives an understandable if somewhat simple breakdown of the science, environment, culture and history of the bay, clearly keeping its preteen audience in mind. But without direction from a teacher, most kids would not stay long enough to sift through all the questions and answers, which lack any images or color to spice up their presentation.

Much more effective are the seven interactive activities that make up the heart of “Bayville.” As I know from experience with my fifth-grade sister (and from my own short attention span), anything that includes visual stimulation and/or the chance for “winning” automatically becomes 100 times more exciting. Though not cutting-edge technology, especially now, after the site’s third birthday, “Bayville” definitely holds more appeal than a textbook.

I think one interactive in particular did the best job of getting its point across while remaining fun throughout. “H2Oh No!” teaches about the water cycle and how humans affect it with run-off, using a series of games as well as actual pictures of the bay to demonstrate the lessons and problems.

Another ambitious section, “Bayquest,” takes you on a virtual tour through various bay habitats to find different animals and plants. I enjoyed “traveling” to the different locations with different forms of bay transport, from kayaks to skipjacks, though I wished I could learn why the vehicles changed from habitat to habitat.

A bigger problem rested in the animal descriptions, which could overload readers with information and seem too dry for its middle-school audience. Relating the topics more to the students – how their actions could impact the animals and ecosystems – might work better. But in “Bayquest,” at least, the thrill of the hunt tided me over any particularly boring bits.

No matter the smaller issues, “Bayville” provides an informative – and usually fun – primer on the Chesapeake Bay, both for kids and kids at heart.