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 15,837
subscribers to the newsletter.
Ten
Ages of Christmas: The celebrations we associate with Christmas
began way before Christianity developed, but by medieval times certain
traditions of feasting and drinking had been established. Despite
the Puritan ban on Christmas, 'holyday' pleasures survived. But it
was during Queen Victoria's reign that customs - such as sending cards,
decorating fir trees and mythologising Father Christmas - really took
off. This excellent BBC website provides details of how Christmas
was celebrated in ten different historical periods: Medieval, Elizabethan,
Restoration, Georgian, Early Victorian, Mid Victorian, Late Victorian,
Early 20th Century, World War Two and Post-War.
The
Christmas Tree: The origin of the first Christmas tree dates back
to the Middle Ages in Western Germany. The people during this time
period participated in and watched dramatic plays called miracle and
mystery plays. These plays were performed to teach the common people
about religious truths that were contained in the bible. There were
no printed books available, and pictures were scarce during this period
of time. During the Christmas season, the Paradise play was presented.
This play depicted Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. On stage was
an evergreen tree, covered in apples, which showed Adam and Eve's
sin and later banishment from the garden. The tree received particular
attention because it was the only prop on the stage. See this website
for a full history of the Christmas tree.
Many
Faces of Santa: The history of Santa Claus began with Saint Nicholas,
the Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey. Saint Nicholas
was know for his charity and wisdom. Legends tell of him coming from
a wealthy family and giving all his money to the poor. In Europe during
the 12th century Saint Nicholas Day became a day of gift giving and
charity. In Germany, France and Holland celebrated December 6th as
a religious holiday and gave gifts to children and the poor. See this
website to find out how Christmas is celebrated throughout the world.
Christmas
Cookbook: This website provides a collection of recipes from all
over the world that are associated with the winter holiday. This includes
Cranberry Sauce with Walnuts, Mint Cookies, Mushroom Rice, Crunchy
Almond-Caramel Brittle, Blueberry Salad, Sweet Kugel, Peachy Bread
Pudding, Noodles and Mashed Potatoes and Mailseet Corn Soup.
Christmas
Commercialism: The Association for Media Literacy (AML) is a voluntary,
non-profit organization, made up of teachers, librarians, consultants,
media professionals, parents and cultural workers concerned about
the impact of the mass media and popular culture on young people.
This lesson on Christmas Commercialism originally appeared in the
Media Literary Resource Guide published by the Ontario Ministry of
Education.
Educational
Web Directories
WWW
Virtual Library: The WWW Virtual Library is the oldest directory
on the web and is still one of the best for finding educational material
on the Internet. Started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the web
itself, it is run by a collection of volunteers who compile pages
of key links for particular areas in which they have expertise. A
small number of people at Stanford University administer the main
catalogue pages and provide the links to the individual indexes on
different servers all over the world. As the directories are being
maintained by expert enthusiasts lists tend to be comprehensive and
provide links to high quality educational materials.
Education
World: The Education
World is jointly sponsored by the US National Education Association
and the National Vocational Industrial Clubs of America. Education
World is an attempt to provide the "educational community with
the resources needed to effectively integrate the Internet into American
schools". Although the emphasis is on material produced in the
United States, Education World does provide a service that could be
productively used by teachers in countries.
Learning
Websites: David
Levin, the Director of the Library Media Centre at Rich Central High
School, Olympia Fields, Illinois, has created one of the most useful
websites for students and educators on the Internet. The material
is organized by departments. As well as the traditional school subject
areas there are also categories such as Social Workers' Office, Library
Media, Guidance/Counselling, Vocational Technologies, Multicultural
Resources, Field Trips and Professional Development. Websites are
reviewed and awarded symbols that illustrate the quality and quantity
of the educational content.
Needle
in a CyberStack:
The Needle in a CyberStack
is an interesting directory website produced by John Albee, a teacher
from Davenport, Iowa. The listed websites cover a wide range of subjects
and has been designed to help people find their way around the net.
Although most of the websites included on Needle in a CyberStack are
based in the United States, Albee attempts to maintain a worldwide
perspective and includes many links to useful resources for British
students and educators.
Politics
Political
Sciences Resources: Richard Kimber of Keele University has produced
a magnificent website for all teachers and students of Politics. He
has successfully achieved his ambition of offering a gateway to the
most significant resources relevant to political science on the Internet.
Kimber has organized his material in several different ways. Area
Studies gives access to information on individual countries. You can
also find information by looking at the topics section such as constitutions,
elections or political parties.
British
Politics: This site is designed for those studying British politics
to an Advanced level. Topics studied in depth include the British
electoral system; proportional representation; pressure groups in
the UK, the concept and various forms of democracy; political parties;
devolution (theory of) and Wales and Scotland; citizenship; politics
and rights; party systems; referendums; the reform of the House of
Lords; arguments for and against the Euro; constitutional reform.
Marketplace
of Political Ideas: Pamela Talene Hale, librarian at the University
of Houston, has created this useful directory website for people interested
in politics in the US. Political resources have been organized under
the following headings: Democratic Party, Republican Party, Libertarian
Party, On the Left, On the Right, On the Fringes. There are also sections
on Political Theory, International Politics and Political Science
Research.
Thomas
Paine: The Thomas Paine National Historical Association's website
commemorates the life of the man they call "America's greatest
revolutionary and journalist". He was also Britain's greatest
revolutionary but his ideas were so dangerous he was forced to flee
for his life. Although his support for universal suffrage, a free
press, child benefit, retirement pensions, etc. don't seem so revolutionary
now, his work still has relevance to anyone interested in politics.
The website includes an archive of Thomas Paine's work including Common
Sense, The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason.
Geography
Cool
Planet is Oxfam's award-winning and newly redesigned site for
teachers and children. As part of Oxfam's Development Education Programme,
Cool Planet offers information and resources to encourage young people's
development as global citizens. Visit the site and find exciting and
interactive educational pages with global themes for pupils to explore,
teachers' pages packed with ideas, information, and useful links to
help bring a global perspective to your classroom. There is also an
easy-to-follow curriculum information for planning global citizenship
activities using our highly regarded 'Teachers Guide to a Curriculum
for Global Citizenship'.
Tornado
Project: Tornado
Project Online is a company that gathers, compiles, and makes tornado
information available to weather enthusiasts, the meteorological community
and emergency management officials. The company is using its website
to share some of this information with the general public. This material
appears under several headings including: 'Recent Tornadoes', 'Tornadoes
in the Past', 'Storm Chasing', ''Top Tens About Tornadoes', 'Tornado
Oddities', 'Tornado Stories', 'Tornado Safety' and 'Myths about Tornado'.
Music
Resources
Naxos
Learning Zone: The website includes a very comprehensive Glossary
of Musical Terms. Other sections include An Introduction to Classical
Music, Composers' Biographies, Chinese Music, and Classical Music
in Films. As one would expect, the website includes details of the
CDs published by Naxos.
Encyclopaedia
of Percussion: An
encyclopaedia of percussion instruments from all over the world. If
you want to find out what a angklung is, this is the place to visit
(its an Indonesian instrument consisting of tuned bamboo tubes hung
from a frame). The instruments are listed alphabetically and contains
descriptions, photographs and links to other relevant websites.
Sony
Music: This website has been produced to promote the Sony Music
company. However, it includes a wealth of information for anyone teaching
or studying music. Visitors will find a complete list of Sony Music
artist websites where they can obtain the latest news, sample audio
and video clips and communicate with other fans. They can also find
information about the recent releases, hear unreleased music by their
favourite bands, search the Sony catalogue, and watch the latest music
videos.
Art
& Design
Art
History Resources on the Web: Christ
Whitcombe, Professor of Art History at Sweet Briar College, Virginia,
has produced a valuable directory of art resources on the Web. Whitcombe
lists the resources under the headings: Prehistoric, Ancient, Middle
Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century
and Non-European. Lists of museums and galleries for each of the major
countries are also included.
Artlex
Dictionary of Visual Art: This dictionary of visual art has been
created by Michael Delahunt, a teacher of visual arts at Sonoran Sky
Elementary School, Scottsdale, AZ. What began as a short lexicon in
the spring of 1996 has grown into a massive dictionary. So far Delahunt
has produced definitions of 2,600 terms. Entries usually include illustrations,
pronunciation notes, quotations and links to other resources on the
Web. Delahunt is still working on the project and plans to add lessons
and assessments that teachers and students can use.
Art
Lover's Guide to Britain and England: An excellent directory that
enables the visitor to find paintings being exhibited in 650 museums
and art galleries. The Art Guide is organized by artist, by museum
and geographical area. The artists are listed in alphabetical order
and once you reach their home page, you will be provided with a list
of their paintings and the places where they can be seen. Each of
the art museums has a list of the main paintings in their collection,
contact details and links to other museums in the region.
Do you
want to have your website listed in our web directory? If so, send
a brief description (about 150 words) and the URL to spartacus@pavilion.co.uk.
