Education on the Internet
Number 112: 17th March, 2004
Introduction
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 46,845 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
Online Debates
Teaching History in France: Daniel Letouzey teaches history in a French Lycee, in Vire, a quiet small town in Normandy. He is also the man behind the Internet Chronicle, a website published since 1997 by Historiens & Géographes, a professional magazine for history teachers. In this seminar he is discussing the French curriculum, the exam system, history textbooks, history and ICT in France, historiography and Anglo-French history? If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
News and Articles
Learn Premium: One single yearly subscription to Learn Premium, the website for schools from the Guardian newspaper, allows access to a mass of whiteboard activities, interactive lessons, lesson ideas, handouts and tests. The content is written by teachers and covers reception through to AS level. It is very easy to use and can be accessed with a simple password from any computer (in school or at home) that has an internet connection. Learn Premium can be paid for with e-learning credits.
Parents Online: Parents have always had a role to play in their children's education. As ICT becomes increasingly important in all aspects of education, it is vital that parents stay involved in their children's learning and don't get left behind in the technology race. This Department for Education and Skills website helps to show parents how they can get involved in their children's education with great learning sites collected from all over the world. The site also explains the safety issues and shows parents that they are the people most able to keep their children safe online.
Digital Dialogues: In the age of broadband communications and mobile phones there have never been more mechanisms for dialogue between people. Despite this, the potential for learners and teachers to exploit these technologies is only now beginning to emerge as an important aspect of our education system. This conference provides a route map to explore new learning opportunities through three key areas: dialogues in learning; dialogues between sites of learning; and dialogues in design. Debate topics will range across fostering dialogues between teachers and learners; between learning peers; between designers and users; and between schools and the communities around them. The conference takes place in Sheffield on 24-25 March 2004.
English and Drama
Stagework: Sponsored by the National Theatre in London, this website is in an early stage of development. However, it promises to become an invaluable resource for students of drama. Over the next few months Stagework will be providing a range of teaching materials for Key Stages 3 and 4 (11-16) in Citizenship, English and Drama based upon the drama productions from the National Theatre, and regional partners. This will include lesson plans, teacher’s notes, worksheets, and video featuring key scenes from the plays, interviews with the cast and creative teams, and education workshops.
Society of British Theatre Designers: Founded in 1971, the Society of British Theatre Designers aims to enhance the standing of British theatre design at home and abroad. The gallery section provides a large number of images from professional productions. Sometimes this includes a explanation for the design that was eventually decided upon for the production. There is also information about costume and lighting designs.
ICT
ICT in Schools: The ICT in Schools Grant has been updated to reflect developments over the past year. Funding will be available from April for a new classroom-based training programme intended to spread good ICT practice within networks of schools. The hands-on support scheme will provide primary, secondary and special school teachers with individualised support from their peers in their own work environment. ICT in Schools Division has produced guidance to help schools and LEAs manage the grant and details are available from this website.
ZAP: Available in eight languages, this website is part of a European Commission funded project for a safer Internet Children can only join the online community after their teacher teacher has registered and invited them into the password-protected discussion areas. After registration pupils can work with others of a similar age across Europe. The latest addition to the website is an Internet safety game for children to play with their parents.
Geography
Soil Association: The organization was founded in 1946 by a group of farmers, scientists and nutritionists who were concerned about the way our food was produced. Over 50 years on we have grown in complexity and scope but at our core remains the fundamental link between healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people. The website contains a wealth of information including materials on soil, plants, animals, food, people and the environment. The Soil Association has also created a range of educational activities based around organic farming. The activities link to the national curriculum and provide resources for both teachers and pupils.
Wicken Fen has been designated as a National Nature Reserve. Wicken Fen is unique in landscape terms. A remnant of the once massive Cambridgeshire Fens, it preserves a true sense of wetland wilderness. Standing in the middle of the reserve, nothing is visible other than wild habitats of fen, water and woodland. Outside the boundary is an expanse of carrot fields and intensive farmland, but within is an ancient landscape of great diversity and aesthetic appeal. The Fen has a prodigious list of rare species. It was established as a nature reserve because of its invertebrate interest. Nearly 5,000 species have so far been identified on the Fen. The website contains a variety of worksheets for students aged from 5 to 14.
Politics
Working For Change is an online journal of progressive news and opinion published by Working Assets. Visit the website on a daily basis to read the latest dispatches from nationally syndicated reporters and columnists including Molly Ivins, Robert Scheer, Bill Berkowitz, Farai Chideya, Joe Conason, Laura Flanders, Arianna Huffington, Byron Williams, Paul Loeb, Cynthia Tucker, Ellen Goodman, Michael Kieschnick, Jim Hightower and Greg Palast.
Advocates for Self-Government is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to helping individuals encounter, evaluate and embrace the ideas of liberty. Its supporters include Clint Eastwood, Kurt Russell, Tom Selleck, Thomas Szasz, Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. It is also the providers of the World's Smallest Political Quiz. It is a good way to introduce your students to the political map. Online and downloadable versions of the quiz are available, in addition to several print versions.
Art & Design
The Renaissance Connection: Eduweb collaborated with Allentown museum staff to take Web visitors back in time to explore Renaissance visual arts and innovations and their role in the making of the modern world. Applying research into learning styles and user engagement, we developed a suite of online activities and resources for middle school students and teachers. Be a patron of the arts. Design your own innovation. Investigate Renaissance artworks in depth. Discover how past innovations inform life today. And more, all enhanced with quirky visuals, irreverent humor, and engaging interactivity that reveal the ways that Renaissance life and culture resemble our own.
Girl with a Pearl Earring: This painting is universally recognized as one of Johannes Vermeer's absolute masterworks. After more than a century of study, the work still poses significant questions. Who was the sitter and was the painting even intended as a portrait? Why had it remained in complete obscurity until it was rediscovered in 1882 and sold for the price of a reproduction? Was it a part of a pendant? Did Vermeer sell the painting during his lifetime? Why was the original background a deep transparent green rather than the black we see today? Was the pearl a real one? What significance did the turban have? Which painting procedures did Vermeer employ? Which pigments did he use? This excellent website by Jonathan Janson provides most of the answers to these questions.
Special Needs
Teachernet: This area of the site aims to provide a wide range of advice and materials for teachers, parents and others interested in or working with children with special educational needs in England. Teachernet have created three distinct areas of the site tailored to parents and carers, schools & SEN governors and teachers, professionals and learning assistants.
Educate your Dyslexic Child at Home: This website has been set up to provide parents with a comprehensive and up-to-date guide to educating dyslexic children at home. The site includes plenty of practical advice, useful not just for the parents of dyslexic children but for any parent whose children, schooled or otherwise, need help with the basics of the three Rs. The site has extensive guidance on teaching reading, important and surprising research information, full referencing and a compendious resource section.
Book Section
Blood, Money & Power: The plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy has been shrouded in secrecy and deceit, leading most Americans to doubt the veracity of the Warren Commission's findings. Now, after forty years, Barr McClellan exposes the secret, high-level conspiracy in Texas that led to Kennedy's death and LBJ's succession as President. In this book, McClellan, a lawyer who represented Lyndon Johnson from 1966 to 1971, uses inside information and recently released documents to shed new light on one of history's greatest unsolved mysteries. (Barr McClellan, Hannover House, ISBN 0 9637846 25, £12.30)
