Education
on the Internet
Number
101: 17th December, 2003
Introduction
Education
on the Internet
is published by Spartacus
Educational every week. The newsletter includes news, reviews
of websites and articles on using ICT in the classroom. Members of
the mailing list are invited to submit information for inclusion in
future newsletters. In this way we hope to create a community of people
involved in using the Internet in education. Currently there are 42,415
subscribers to the newsletter.
All
reviews are added to our web
directory. There are sections on Internet
Services,
Online
Seminars,
Primary
Education,
English,
Mathematics, Science,
Modern Languages, History,
Geography, Design
& Technology, Business
Studies, Special
Needs,
Media Studies, ICT,
Sociology, Music,
Politics, Economics,
Photography,
Art & Design, Theatre
Studies, Physical Education and
Religious Studies.
John Simkin
spartacus@pavilion.co.uk
Online
Seminars
Learning
Styles: All teachers are aware of the fact that students learn
in a variety of different ways, and that even the same information
given to a class by the teacher is received by the students in a number
of different ways. Therefore all teachers need to ensure that they
develop their lessons to tap into the varied learning styles of their
students. This seminar sets out a number of approaches for doing this
and explains how to ensure that the lessons you prepare are fit for
the students in your school. Many different methods of ensuring success
in planning are suggested such as the use of work scrutinies to find
out what type of learning students are having success with, interviews
with pupils to find out what teaching and learning styles work for
them, departmental discussions with colleagues as the planning process
continues to share ideas. The seminar is aimed at those at the start
of their teaching careers looking for a way to tackle this crucial
and complex challenge, as well as at more experienced teachers looking
for ideas or inspiration on how to plan to meet the needs of the full
range of their students by using a diversity of teaching and learning
styles. If you have views on this subject,
register
with the History Forum and join the debate.
News
and Articles
eLearning
News: A central resource for eLearning news, product reviews,
case studies, conferences, exhibitions, employment opportunities and
lots more; submitted by eLearning companies and specialists around
the world. eLearning News will preserve your most valuable asset -
time! Trawling the web for the latest information on eLearning can
take hours - even with a helping hand from Google! eLearning News
allows companies and specialists to submit their news, reviews and
information to its central library free of charge. Visitors can browse
or search this wealth of information to quickly find what they are
looking for.
Comenius:
Schools are currently looking for partners in the following topics:
Emigration and Tolerance (Spain), Europe Through the Year: Festivals,
Fairs, Holidays (Lithuania), Science Project (Italy), Curriculum Development
in Vocational Colleges (Germany), Prevent Violence at School (Germany),
How Migration Has Shaped our European Culture (Germany), Tourism and
Agriculture (Portugal) Europe in the Wings of History (Portugal),
Arts and Traditions (Netherlands), Environment Protection (Romania)
and School Development, Tomorrow's School Today (Lithuania).
Searchlight:
The Guardian newspaper reports today that the home secretary, David
Blunkett, is under pressure to shut down an extreme rightwing website
that has a secret hit-list of targets - including teachers, social
workers, journalists and politicians. Many of those featured on the
this website have already suffered threats, intimidation and physical
assaults. A spokesman for the anti-fascist organization, Searchlight,
said: "This email network is a very sinister development. There
are explicit threats against people who have stood up to the far right
and this is nothing more than political intimidation and classic fascism."
History
Martin
Luther King Jr: Few have had as much impact upon the American
consciousness as the late civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. In recognition and support of his ideals of quality and fairness
for all, The Seattle Times created a Web site in 1995 that celebrates
this important historical figure. Since then, educators from throughout
the United States and the world have used the site as a teaching tool.
The site includes stories culled from The Seattle Times over the past
decade, as well as archival information such as a photo gallery and
audio clips of King's speeches. There's also a quiz and civil rights
timeline. One of the most fascinating features of the site is its
message board, which contains heartfelt tributes to King from people
of all ages all over the world.
The
American Experience: This beautifully designed website provides
the most comprehensive account of the Vietnam War on the Internet.
The website was produced by the US Public Broadcasting Service to
accompany their award-winning television series: Vietnam: A Television
History. The website includes an interactive timeline of the war,
basic statistics, maps, a glossary of terms and acronyms, texts of
key U.S. government war documents, weapons used during the war and
forty-two biographical portraits of key personalities in the war,
including six from North Vietnam and a bibliography for further study.
The website also contains Reflections on War, a collection of twelve
first-hand accounts of the conflict and transcripts of all the television
programmes.
English
Future
of the Book: RMIT University's International Centre for Graphic
Technology is organizing the Second International Conference on the
Future of the Book in Beijing, China, 29-31 August 2004. Following
the success of our 2003 conference, held in Cairns, Australia, the
Book Conference 2004 will provide a forum for participants academics,
educators, librarians, researchers and teachers from around the world
to discuss the future of the book. It will also provide a window to
the past and the future of the book in China. The
conference will include a mix of keynote address, paper, workshop
and colloquium sessions, with speakers discussing topics as varied
as: the effects of print on demand and ebooks; written text in the
context in the new communications environment; the future of the book
from a library perspective; computers in education and e-learning;
reading, books and the Internet; teaching and learning literacy in
school and at home; and trends in the publishing industry.
English
Teaching Staffroom: This important website allows you to share
ideas, ask questions, air your views ... anything really, as long
as it's to do with English, Drama or Media teaching, abides by our
terms and conditions and isn't libellous or illegal! To read and/or
reply to a message thread, simply click on the topic. If you are looking
for something particular, like a video, you need to add your email
address to your message text for colleagues to contact you directly.
Recent subjects discussed in the English Teaching Staffroom includes
SATs Marking, Behaviour Strategies for Set 13 Boys, Christmas Reading
for Teachers, Media Studies A Level (WJEC), Videos for School Library,
Media Studies GCSE, Poems from Different Cultures, Griffin Pirate
Reading Scheme, Using Interactive Whiteboards in English, Novels with
a Sports Theme, Reading Passports and Launching a School Magazine.
Geography
GeoInteractive:
A new website for Geography teachers has just been created. It is
called GeoInteractive and as the name suggests, it is a focus for
interactive teaching materials in Geography. It contains two main
sections: The first section is designed for teachers to contribute
a minimum of two resources (Powerpoint presentation, Word worksheet,
etc.) and then they get a password to access all the resources that
other teachers have sent in. This collection will evolve and grow
over time. There will be a minimum 50 resources available when the
website officially goes live on January 1st 2004. The second section
is available by low-cost subscription only and contains resources
produced by the author David Rayner, a Head of Geography working in
Kent. This section contains Powerpoint presentations, drag and drop
exercises, flash animations, worksheets with hyperlinks, quizzes and
puzzles, etc. plus a large photo gallery and tutorials on producing
your own interactive resources.
Pupilvision
is a 600 page website full of resources for pupils and teachers of
geography. Built by Keith Phipps who is Head of geography and Head
of Year at King Edward VI Camp Hill school for Boys in Birmingham,
the site was originally built to support his pupils. Over the two
years of development the site has become a major resource. It was
given a Royal Geographical Association Award in December 2000. Keith
Phipps uses the site in all his lessons and the integration of Internet
into his teaching has led to him winning the national award of 'Teacher
of the Year' for the most creative use of ICT. The
website is easy to navigate and is well designed. It enables pupils
to view lesson plans, homework and syllabuses; support revision; provide
guidance from pupils on how to improve grades; access geography careers
advice; submit homework and e-mail questions relating to homework;
access a plethora of geography websites by links.
Science
Alberto
Santos-Dumont: It is 100 years ago today that the Wright brothers
made history at Kitty Hawk. However, some people have claimed that
this is just another example of Yankee imperialism and that the first
person to fly machine through the air by its own means of propulsion
was Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian who made this record breaking
flight in Paris. It is claimed that he committed suicide in 1932 because
he was wracked with guilt by being involved in creating a machine
for military purposes.
EuroTurtle:
Europe's first website devoted to the conservation of European Sea
Turtles. The website is divided into two sections - one for Education
and the other for Conservation. The Education section has masses of
excellent games and projects, many linked directly to the National
Curriculum (Keys stage2/3/4 and A level). It aims to create awareness
about some of the main threats to sea turtles, especially in the Mediterranean.
The website also creates awareness about wider issues of sustainability.
The website has won a number of important awards and is constantly
being updated and new areas added.
Design
and Technology
Bridge
Builder: This is a freeware program that allows you to design,
build and test bridge structures. You can download it from Andy Jones'
excellent Design and Technology website. Then check out the sequel.
You can download the demo which has loads of levels. The sequel allows
you to choose different materials, such as cable and steel frames.
You can even ride a train across the bridge as it crumbles around
you! Both programs are very easy to use. Don't panic if you don't
have broadband, the program files are tiny.
Design
Technology Department: An experienced British teacher has created
the Design Technology Department in order to provide free educational
materials for schools and colleges. The site is continually growing
and will eventually offer teachers and pupils, materials for all of
the Key Stages. The website contains quizzes, GCSE and A level revision
materials, handouts, GCSE Resistant Materials, AS and A level materials,
schemes of work, packaging, famous kite designers, structures, examples
of pupils work, furniture design, inventions, department policies
and links to educational and commercial websites.
Modern
Languages
Language
Plus: Francois
Debargue teaches French in Australia. His website provides a full
set of interactive activities for French teachers and learners, featuring
more than 150 exercises. Activities are classified by topic, there
are 18 topics, then for each topic students can choose between reading,
writing and listening tasks. There are also some basic grammar tasks.
student's results are stored in a database and consequently students
can compete against each other all around the world.
Virtual
French Literature: An excellent resource for all teachers and
students of French literature. Virtual French Literature is a large
database of out of copyright classics in French. Writers featured
include Appollinaire, Balzac, Colette, Maupassant, Racine, Rambaud,
Fanon, Flaubert, Gide, Zola, Hugo, Rousseau, Stendhal, Verne and Voltaire.
The website also contains a comprehensive collection of biographies
of French writers.
Book
Section
Forgotten
Voices: In 1972
a team of academics and archivists from the Imperial War Museum set
about the momentous task of tracing ordinary men and women who had
lived through one of the most harrowing periods of modern history,
the First World War. Veterans from Britain, Germany, America, Australia
and Canada were interviewed in detail about their day-to-day experiences
on and off the front. The archive has grown to be one of the most
important of its kind in the world and provides a unique account of
life during the Great War. (Max Arthur, Edbury Press, ISBN 0 009 188
887 5, £7.99)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
