Education
on the Internet
Number
115: 7th April, 2004
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 48,085
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
News
and Articles
Thinking
Skills in Primary Schools: Since the explicit inclusion in the
National Curriculum, interest in the teaching of thinking skills has
burgeoned in the UK. Thinking skills approaches are emerging as a
powerful means of engaging teachers and pupils in improving the quality
of learning in classrooms. However, as programmes to enhance thinking
have grown in popularity, differences in understanding of the nature
of such 'skills' and the best way to tackle the underlying issues
in the classroom have both widened and deepened. The
aim of this website therefore is to provide information for classroom
teachers working in primary schools in the UK about thinking skills
programmes and approaches that are currently available.
Study
Support: This government website offers information on all aspects
of study support, such as guidance on establishing and managing study
support activities, good practice, and how study support can bring
real benefits in terms of improving attainment, behaviour and attendance
for those who participate. It is hoped it will act as an online resource
to support anyone with an interest or involved in out of school hours
learning - schools, teachers, Local Education Authorities (LEAs),
other study support providers, and parents.
Schemes
of Work: This DfES Schemes of Work website has a brand new look.
As well as updating the original design that had been in service since
1999, the DfES have reorganised the content and improved the way you
move around the units and supporting information. Three new sections
have been introduced as well: information on planning how to use the
schemes; examples of adaptations teachers have made to unit to better
suit their particular teaching needs; and information on combining
units practically.
History
Assassination
of President Kennedy: A detailed look at the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy. There are biographies of 212 people involved
in the case: Major Figures (26), Important Witnesses (42), Investigators
(74) and Possible Conspirators (70). Other sections include: Organization,
Issues and Reports (14) and Key Issues (6). The website also looks
at the possibility that different organizations such as the Mafia,
CIA, FBI, Secret Service, KGB and the John Birch Society might have
been involved in the planning of the assassination. Other possibilities
such as anti-Castro activists, Texas oil millionaires and the Warren
Commission's lone-gunman theory are also looked at. The website has
an activity section and a forum where students and teachers can enter
into debate with the author of the material, other investigators and
witnesses to the events of 1963.
The
Flying Scotsman: Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, was built at the
London and North Eastern Railway's Doncaster works, became the first
steam engine to achieve a speed of 100mph, and completed the first
non-stop journey from London to Edinburgh in 1928. It retired from
British Railways service in 1963 and later toured North America and
Australia, where it set a world record for a nonstop steam run by
hauling a train for 422 miles in New South Wales. The locomotive will
now have a permanent home at the National Railway Museum in York.
It will to move to York in time for Railfest at the end of May, a
celebration at the National Railway Museum of 200 years of rail travel.
It will then haul excursion trains from York to Scarborough.
Maths
Maths
is Fun: This website has been developed by a maths teacher from
the South West of England to encourage an interest in Mathematics.
The idea behind the site is to offer mathematics pages as well as
some fun bits. The main content of the site is aimed at Key Stage
3 and 4 (11-16 years old). The material is organized under the following
headings: Maths Menus (Number & Algebra, Shape, Space & Measures,
Handling Data), Maths Help (Discussion Forum and Online Form), Puzzles
& Quizzes, Calculators and Computer
Programs.
SchoolsNet
Maths: A collection of GCSE Maths lessons. This includes Algebraic
fractions: "Changing the subject of a formula", "Expanding
single and double brackets", "Harder percentages",
"Linear equations containing algebraic fractions", "Linear
equations containing brackets", "Quadratics 1: introduction
and factorising", "Quadratics 2: completing the square and
other methods", "Rational and irrational numbers",
"Significant figures", "Simple factorising", "Simultaneous
equations" and "Solving equations using trial and improvement".
Religious
Studies
Children
Talking: The National RE Festival in Autumn 1997 involved over
1,250,000 children and young people in around 14,000 schools along
with people from about 9,000 different faith community groups. The
purposes of the Festival included offering opportunities to children
and young people to explore and articulate their own beliefs and perspectives
on a range of religious and spiritual topics, and one way in which
the PCfRE sought to put this aim into action was by developing and
distributing a questionnaire for pupils to complete. About 500 pupil
records were selected, searchable by phase, age, gender, religious
affiliation and question. The online version of the database, launched
in May 2003, allows pupils to participate in the questionnaire, adding
their own ideas and views. All additions will be moderated before
being made available for public viewing.
RE
Today is wholly owned by the charity Christian Education, and
is committed to the teaching of the major world faiths in Religious
Education, and to an accurate and fair representation of their beliefs,
values and practices in all its teaching materials. It carries forward
the work of the former Christian Education Movement (CEM). It also
provides teaching materials and background papers, together with the
termly magazine REtoday and the British Journal of Religious Education.
Science
Biology:
This is a new multimedia and interactive website for A level biology.
You can access selected services for free, or subscribe for the full
range. A total of 218 different topics cover the entire curriculum
of all UK A level boards. Topics come with a range of learning features,
from text book data to videoclips. Each topic can be reached in three
easy ways: via the topic contents list, through the A level specifications
of the exam boards or using the search engine.
The
Deep: Hull is home to Britain's leading aquarium and includes
a huge tank containing 2.5m litres of water. The Deep is an environmental
and educational charity dedicated to understanding and protecting
the world's oceans. Its Learning Centre has a collection of teaching
resources for Biology, Science, Maths, Design & Technology, Art
& Design and English. The Discovery Zone includes games and a
Fish Library.
Modern
Languages
Zompist
Phrasebook: Mark Rosenfelder has created a funny website that
includes translations of sentences that you are unlikely to find in
a typical phrasebook. This includes phrases in French, Spanish, German,
Russian, Italian, Danish, Dutch and Chinese. The website shows you
how to say: "How much is that in real money?", "I'm
a personal friend of the Ambassador", "Where can I find
the dissidents?", "Can I have fries with that?", "Officer,
this is an outrage" and "Have you ever considered that we
might be insulted because you haven't learned English?"
French
Revision: This site is primarily aimed at students (aged 11 to
18), but there is a lot of material available for teachers too. It
contains a large number of interactive French exercises. There are
listening, reading and writing exercises. The exercises mark themselves
and a score is given! You will need the RealAudio player for the listening
exercises. Parts of this site make use of Flash and Java. You will
need a Java-enabled browser to access these areas. The flash plug-in
should automatically install itself, if not you can download it from
the downloads section of the site.
Internet
Services
Gmail:
As part of Google's mission to organize the world's information and
make it universally accessible and useful, it is testing an email
service called Gmail. Gmail is a free, search-based webmail service
that includes 1,000 megabytes (1 gigabyte) of storage. The backbone
of Gmail is a powerful Google search engine that quickly recalls any
message an account owner has ever sent or received. That means there's
no need to file messages in order to find them again. When
Gmail displays an email, it automatically shows all the replies to
that email as well, so users can view a message in the context of
a conversation. There are no pop-ups or banner ads in Gmail, which
places relevant text ads and links to related web pages adjacent to
email messages.
Vivisimo
ToolBar: Vivisimo was last year's Search Engine Watch winner for
Best Meta Search Engine. You can now download the Vivísimo
toolbar to get organized search results from many of the top search
engines. It's simple to install, it's free to use, and the on-the-fly
categories will make your life easier. The Vivísimo Toolbar
is dynamically upgradeable - whenever new features are available they
will be automatically added as options to your search bar. One useful
feature is that it blocks annoying popup ads.
Book
Section
Who's
Who in the JFK Assassination: An A-to-Z Encyclopedia: This book
presents vital information on each of more than 1,400 individuals
related in any noteworthy way to the murders of President John F.
Kennedy, Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit and alleged assassination
Lee Harvey Oswald on 22nd and 24th November, 1963. It is the complete
resource for anyone who wants to know more about the key players involved
in one of the most infamous chapters in American history. This all-new
who's who will prove an essential companion to the many best-selling
books, documentaries and feature films about the JFK assassination.
(Michael Benson, Cital Press, ISBN 0 8065 1444 2, £12.50)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
