Teaching History Online
Number 6: May, 2001
Contents
Introduction
1. Virtual
Medieval Town
2. United
States National Portrait Gallery
3. Association
of Teachers' Websites
4. Bridges
and Tunnels Project
5. Russian
History Project
6. US
Air Force Museum
7. Cybrary
of the Holocaust
8. United
States Political Figures and Organizations
Introduction
Spartacus
Educational will be publishing Teaching
History Online every month.
The newsletter will include news, reviews of websites and articles
on using ICT in the history classroom. Members of the mailing list
are invited to submit information for inclusion in future editions
of Teaching
History Online. In this way we hope create
a community of people involved in using the internet to teach history.
John Simkin
spartacus@pavilion.co.uk
Virtual
Medieval Town
Russel Tarr, owner of the Active
History website is currently working on an exciting new project
in which students journey around a virtual medieval town and village
searching for the missing pieces of their damaged time machine. Richly
illustrated and including numerous sound effects, the simulation comes
complete with teacher notes and pupil worksheets, and provides an
original way of studying the topic. Russel would be very grateful
for any constructive feedback about the game which colleagues could
offer (russeltarr@activehistory.co.uk).
The game can be found (along with many other recent additions to the
site) on the "What's New?" page of Active
History.
United
States National Portrait Gallery
The United States National Portrait Gallery contains over 100,000
pictures. At the moment only a small percentage of these portraits
appear on the website. Organised under several different headings,
these paintings are accompanied by a brief biography of the featured
individual. The 'Hall of Presidents' is not as impressive as Grolier's
'The American Presidency' but other sections, such as 'Native Americans'
and 'The Age of Revolution' include very useful information on less
well-documented individuals from the past. A new addition is a collection
of paintings that relate to the 'Amistad Case'.
Association
of Teachers' Websites
The
Association of Teachers' Websites (ATW) is a new organisation that
attempts to showcase the huge range of quality online teaching materials
available free in the UK at websites created by and run by teachers.
It will also offer a powerful collective voice for teachers on the
internet and will help develop and encourage best practice in the
classroom.
Website owners can apply to become a member as long
as they fulfil the following criteria and are voted on by a majority
of the member sites in the relevant curriculum area: (i) They supply
high quality teaching resources and materials; (ii) They are built
and maintained by teachers or ex-teachers; (iii) They are free to
use; (iv) They are comprehensive and user friendly. So far there are
six history websites in the ATW.
During eSchola
week the ATW will be producing a cross-curricular project on Bridges
and Tunnels Project and a history website on the Russian
History Project (see below).
Bridges
and Tunnels Project
The Bridges & Tunnels Project is
a joint venture between the European
Virtual School History Department and the Association
of Teachers' Websites. It
is a cross-curricular project for students aged 13-14 during eSchola
week (7th-11th May). As well as several
history lessons featuring the Humber Bridge, the Channel Tunnel and
the Malmo-Copenhagen Bridge there is also material for students studying
Science, Design & Technology, English, Economics and Music.
Russian
History Project
Members of the history department of the recently formed British
Teachers' Virtual School have contributed the Russian
History Project to eSchola
week (7th-11th May). The project provides
online teaching materials that enables students to study the history
of Russia between 1860 and 1930. The project includes
online lessons, an in-depth simulation, a webcast, online games and
the opportunity for students to work together with people in other
countries.
US
Air Force Museum
The US Air Force Museum based in Dayton, Ohio, has
produced an excellent resource for anyone interested in the history
of flight. The website has been organised in a similar way to the
museum. Eight galleries display samples of aircraft from flight's
earliest days to the latest jet fighters. Each exhibit displayed includes
a photograph, a history of its development and technical details.
There are also other galleries on topics such as 'Engines', 'Weapons'
and 'Equipment'. Video clips are available in some of the galleries.
Cybrary
of the Holocaust
The authors of the Cybrary of
the Holocaust website point out in their introduction that they use
"art, discussion groups, photos, poems, and a wealth of facts
to preserve powerful memories and to educate scholars and newcomers
alike about the Holocaust." Sections include: 'The Camps', 'Witnesses',
'Children of Survivors', 'Historical Perspectives', 'Virtual Tour
of Auschwitz' and 'Bookstore'. The Holocaust Quilt enables visitors
to leave a memory of a victim or survivor of the Holocaust. Part of
the site is for educators and includes a 'Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust'.
United
States Political Figures and Organizations
United States Political Figures and Organizations
is the latest
of the Spartacus Educational
Encyclopaedias. Each entry contains a narrative, illustrations
and primary sources. The text within each entry is hypertexted
to other relevant pages in the encyclopedia. In this way it is possible
to research individual people and events in great detail. The sources
are also hypertexted so the student is able to find out about the
writer, artist, newspaper, organization, etc., that produced the material.
Political Figures: 1840-1900:
John Quincy Adams, John Altgeld, James Birney, John Breckenridge,
Martin Van Buren, Benjamin Butler, Salmon P. Chase, John Calhoun,
Lewis Cass, Henry Clay, Grover Cleveland, Richard Croker, Henry Winter
Davis, Jefferson Davis, Stephen Douglas, John Downey, Joshua Giddings,
William Goebel, William Grace, Ulysses Grant, Horace Greeley, Benjamin
Harrison, Rutherford Hayes, Andrew Johnson, Samuel Jones, William
Kelley, John M. Langston, William Lathrop, Abraham Lincoln, William
McKinley, Richard Olney, Robert Dale Owen, Hazen Pingree, James Polk,
Theodore Roosevelt, Carl Schurz, William Seward, Horatio Seymour,
Gerrit Smith, Edwin Stanton, Frank Steunenberg, Thaddeus Stevens,
Charles Sumner, Zachary Taylor, William S. Taylor, Samuel Tilden,
Benjamin Wade, Daniel Webster (48)
Political Figures: 1900-1945:
Newton Baker, Victor Berger, William J. Bryan, Anton Cermak, Braxton
Comer, Calvin Coolidge, James Curley, Eugene V. Debs, Martin Dies,
Leonidas Dyer, Robert Farley, John Francis Fitzgerald, Warren Harding,
Daniel Hoan, Herbert Hoover, Harry Hopkins, Edward House, Charles
Hughes, Cordell Hull, Harold Ickes, Hiram Johnson, Hugh Johnson, Patrick
Joseph Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy, Alfred Landon, Robert LaFollette,
Fiorello LaGuardia, Robert Lansing, Henry Cabot Lodge, Seth Low, Vito
Marcantonio, Andrew Mellon, Henry Morgenthau, Frank Murphy, George
Norris, A. M. Palmer, Caleb Powers, John Rankin, Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Elihu Root, Emil Seidel, William Spry, Alfred Smith, George Sutherland,
William Taft, Norman Thomas, William Thompson, Rex Tugwell, Robert
Wagner, Jimmy Walker, Henry Wallace, Augustus Willson, Woodrow Wilson,
Brand Whitlock (54)
Political Figures: 1945-80:
Dean Acheson, Spiro Agnew, William Benton, Theodore Bilbo, Robert
Byrd, Jimmy Carter, Emanuel Celler, Thomas E. Dewey, John Foster Dulles,
James Eastland, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Orval Faubus, Gerald Ford, Barry
Goldwater, Edward J. Hart, Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon B. Johnson, George
Kennan, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Daniel Hoan, John Lewis,
Vito Marcantonio, Joseph McCarthy, Patrick McCarran, Eugene McCarthy,
James Meredith, George McGovern, Walter Mondale, Karl Mundt, Richard
Nixon, John Rankin, Ronald Reagan, John Stennis, Adlai Stevenson,
J. P. Thomas, Storm Thurmond, Harry S. Truman, Harold Velde, George
Wallace, Francis E. Walter, Wendell Willkie, John Wood, Frank Zeidler
(44)
Political Parties:
Free-Soil Party, Republican Party, Whig Party, Liberal Party, Democratic
Party, Progressive Party, Socialist Party, Communist Party (8)
Pressure Groups:
Anti-Slavery Society, Woman Suffrage Association, Ku Klux Klan, American
Women Suffrage Association, American Civil Rights Union, National
American Woman Suffrage Association, National Association for the
Advancement of Coloured People, National Consumers League, Women's
Trade Union League, Women's Peace League, Constitutional Union Women
Suffrage, American Federation of Labor, Industrial Workers of the
World, Anti-Saloon League, Women's Temperance Union (16)
Please email John Simkin at spartacus@pavilion.co.uk
if you have information you want included in next month's edition
of Teaching
History Online.
