Education
on the Internet
Number
123: 2nd June, 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 51,840
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
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=829
Online
Seminars
Teachers
or Facilitators:
Dafydd Humphreys speculates that "if our esteemed rulers are
right - perhaps you don’t need teachers in the classroom - maybe
teaching assistants (TAs) could supervise the kids while one teacher
per cluster of schools wrote lesson plans and marked work?" He
adds: "Those of us left in the education sector could be facilitators
- allowing students to follow their own learning pathways along the
ready-prepared and prescribed National Curricula (with little tick-boxes
for numeracy, literacy, science, ICT, citizenship, personal, social,
health and moral education encountered in each lesson). We facilitators
would write individual lesson plans for each of the children in the
teaching groups, based on computerised tests taken when they were
3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 years old." If
you have views on this subject, register
with the History Forum and join the debate.
News
and Articles
Foundation
Stage Profiles: In a Guardian article in October 2002, Ted Wragg
wrote a strong protest about the introduction of the Foundation Stage
Profiles. Wragg pointed out that reception class teachers had to assess
children on 13 scales, each with nine different statements: 117 judgments.
Wragg wrote: "These labels are being assigned to four- and five-year-old
beginners: for a class of 30 a grand total of 3,510 assessments each
term. Many of the tickboxes are ludicrous. Some are brainlessly vague,
such as "maintains attention and concentrates" (on what,
for goodness sake - setting fire to the wendy house?)." A recent
Ofsted report criticised these Foundation Stage Profiles but as Wragg
points out, there is still no sign of them being abolished.
Value-Added
League Tables: Research conducted for the National Association
of Head Teachers by Durham University's Curriculum, Evaluation and
Management Centre has found that the new value-added league tables
introduced by the Department for Education and Skills last year, are
very misleading and contain "fatal flaws". This report claims
that the information is skewed by school size, pupil turnover and
children's social-economic background. As a result of this research
the NAHT general secretary, David Hart, has urged the government not
to publish value-added results for tests taken by pupils this term.
A
Life in Secondary Teaching: Last week a group of academics from
Cambridge University, led by professors Maurice Galton and John MacBeath,
published a report based on the study on questionnaire responses from
233 teachers in 65 schools. The report says that bad behaviour was
the worst obstacle to teaching, followed by a lack of discussion time
and large class sizes. The sharp decline in behaviour during the past
15 years was blamed on the "overloaded" curriculum, parental
attitudes, large class sizes, inclusion strategies and the lack of
time teachers had to talk to pupils and to each other. The report
says that teachers work between 45 and 70 hours per week. Outside
lessons and "directed time" they spent an average 22.1 hours
on other work-related activities such as preparing materials and displays
(6.1 hours) and marking (5.3 hours).
History
Civil
Rights in the USA: A comprehensive encyclopedia of the struggle
for civil rights in the United States. 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.
So far there are sections on: Campaigners (1860-1900), Campaigners
(1900-1980), Issues, Events & Organizations (1840-1900) and Issues,
Events & Organizations (1900-1980).
What
Shall We Study in History?: A group of history teachers from all
over the world are discussing on this forum if it is possible to develop
a history curriculum that could be taught in all schools. One suggestion
is that a study of history could be based on a series of themes (Democracy,
Poverty, Conquest, Capitalism and Conflict). Each component would
be made up of a series of case-studies, including at least one based
on a local study unit. If you have views on
this subject, register
with the International Education Forum and join the debate.
English
Strongest
Links: This website, produced by Anne M Robinson, Learning Resources
Centre Manager, Nicholas Chamberlaine Technology College in Bedworth,
provides resources and links for school librarians. The material is
organised under the headings: Organisations and Mailing Lists, Promotion
and Advocacy, Research and Reports, Schools Library Services, General
Information Literacy, School Library Websites, Website Design and
WebQuesting.
Universal
Teacher: Andrew Moore's website is a site is a collection of guides
and tutorials for students, teachers and trainee teachers of English
language and literature. The materials are aimed at the upper end
of secondary education in the UK, but many are suitable for college
and university students. The number of resources on the site is not
vast - just over a hundred - but this can be misleading, as each guide
is very substantial. The guides currently cover the whole curriculum
for GCSE English, and most areas of GCE English Language. There are
also plenty of materials for KS3 English, media at KS3, GCSE English
literature and media, and GCE English literature and theatre studies.
The author is an experienced teacher who has worked as an examiner
for English and literature.
Primary
Education
Kindersite:
The Kindersite Project was founded to build an Internet-based system
that will add to the body of research on the subjects of early-learners’
use of technology and to provide Internet-based content as a an educational
tool. This non-commercial project has two aims: The building of a
child-safe Internet site where children, either on their own or with
the attention of caregivers, can search and find the best, graded
and age-relevant content on the Internet. The creation of a research
tool that will enable academic educational researchers to ascertain
the effectiveness and relevancy of technology and types of content
as a tool of learning and language acquisition for the very young.
Face
It: This website provides an online exploration of portraiture
designed for KS2 (or upper KS1) children. It's interactive and engaging
with instinctive, visual navigation and a non-linear layout - giving
children a sense of control over their learning experience. Developed
in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, the site is based
on four portraits from the National Portrait Gallery's collection:
Sir Bobby Charlton by Peter Edwards (1991), Catherine Maria Fisher,
by Nathaniel Hone, (1765), Ellen Terry by G.F.Watts (c. 1864) and
Queen Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (c. 1592).
Politics
Colossus:
Niall Ferguson, professor of history at New York University, has just
published a new book entitled Colossus: the Rise and Fall of the American
Empire. Ferguson takes the view that American Imperialism is a force
of good. He argues: “Many parts of the world would benefit from
a period of American rule” Ferguson adds that despite
America's overwhelming military, economic and cultural dominance,
it has had a difficult time imposing its will on other nations, mostly
because the country is uncomfortable with imperialism and thus unable
to use this power most effectively and decisively. A television series
that examines these ideas starts this week on Channel 4.
An
Empire of Denial: George Monbiot does not agree with Niall Ferguson
thesis put forward in his book, Colossus: the Rise and Fall of the
American Empire. "He (Ferguson) shows that there was little difference
between the westward expansion of the founding states and the growth
of "the great land empires of the past". He argues that
its control of Central America, the Caribbean, the Pacific and the
Middle East has had long had an imperial character. He makes the interesting
point that the US found, in its attempt to contain the Soviet Union,
"the perfect ideology for its own peculiar kind of empire: the
imperialism of anti-imperialism". But he asks us to remember
only in order to persuade us to forget. He seeks to exchange an empire
in denial for an empire of denial."
ICT
ICT
in Practice Awards: Becta's ICT in Practice Awards 2005 are now
open for nominations. Into their fifth year, the awards identify models
of good practice and use these to develop the use of ICT in education.
For these awards, Becta is looking for practice that is replicable,
that will say to teachers 'you too can do this'. Each award winner
will receive £2,500, with an additional £2,500 going to
their school. Nominate a practitioner by the closing date (23 July
2004) and you could win an ICT product in the free prize draw.
ICT
in Schools: More
than 90 per cent of teachers are competent users of ICT, according
to a new report from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted).
The report, ICT in schools: the impact of Government initiatives five
years on, says that ICT resources in schools are at record levels
and the competence of school staff in ICT has risen dramatically since
1997. It also says that the incidence of effective application of
ICT in lessons across subjects is increasing slowly but steadily.
Internet
Services
Webquests:
TeachersFirst is a collection of lessons and web resources for classroom
teachers and their students. Materials are arranged by subject area
and grade level, making it easy to locate lesson plans and associated
web resources quickly. This tutorial, Putting Discovery into the Curriculum,
is an introduction to Webquests – an internet activity which
lets you create something useful for your students while increasing
your web "comfort level" at the same time. A well-designed
webquest lets you turn your students loose on the web for a specific
project and get results that both you and your students will like.
Ask
Jeeves Mini Searchbar: Ask Jeeves is one of the most popular search
engines on the Web. Recently it launched its Mini Jeeves Searchbar.
It claims it "is the fastest and easiest way to get the information
you want, when you want it, from anywhere on the Web". The Mini
Jeeves Searchbar is free to download and appears every time you open
a new Internet Explorer window. The toolbar also includes a very good
dictionary and thesaurus.
Book
Section
The
Stalin Organ: Gert Ledig was born in Leipzig and grew up in Vienna.
At the age of 18 he volunteered for the arm, and was wounded at the
battle of Leningrad in 1942. He later reworked his experiences in
the book, 'The Stalin Organ'. Switching between the German and Russian
lines, Ledig brings us the experience of war from both sides of the
conflict. Gert Ledig describes in horrifying detail the graphic and
resourceful violence that maims and kills soldiers. In 'The Stalin
Organ' Ledig has written an absolutely authentic and powerful account
of the horrors encountered in war.
(Gerd Ledig, Granta Books, ISBN 1 86207 652 9)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
