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.
All
reviews are added to our web
directory. There are sections on Primary Education, English, Mathematics,
Science, Modern Languages, History, Geography, Design & Technology,
Business Studies, Media Studies, ICT, Sociology, Music, Politics,
Physical Education and Religious Studies.
Search
Engine Watch provides up-to-date information on all the major
search-engines. A recent report published by Forrester Research argued
that search engines are the leading way people locate websites. Google
currently carries out 130 million searches a day. Other important
players include Inktomi (80 million), Alta Vista (50 million), Direct
Hit (20 million), Fast (12 million), GoTo (5 million) and Ask Jeeves
(4 million). Google
also has the largest database of web pages indexed (2000 million).
Others include Fast (625 million), Alta Vista (550 million), Inktomi
(500 million), Excite (380 million) and Northern Light (390 million).
Wales
and Online Education: Every school in Wales is to be given a digital
whiteboard and multimedia equipment under a multi-million pound plan.
Welsh education minister Jane Davidson has approved outline spending
plans drawn up by local education authorities to allocate £9.9
million to schools. A £4 million programme will see teachers
trained in the use of the new technology. The minister said the use
of information and communication technology (ICT) was central to the
Welsh Assembly's plans to improve standards in schools.
Centre
for Learning and Teaching Styles: The application of learning
styles in the classroom has been shown to significantly raise educational
standards. In June 2002, Dr Rita Dunn of St Johns University, New
York, will lead a team of highly experienced learning styles practitioners
to present a one day introductory training course in applied learning
styles. For further information and registration details see the Learning
Styles UK website.
Primary
Technology
in the Classroom
is a class website aimed at reaching two important objectives - giving
children the opportunity to feel proud of their work as they see it
appreciated by people not only from their own country but from all
over the world and also that of encouraging teachers, through concrete
examples, to look at ICT as an important teaching and learning tool.
On this website children can have a look at their own work and that
of others, they can play online educational games and search for information
about sports, historical events etc.
Toftwood
Infant School Resources: Click on the 'Resources' link to select
from over 40 free games for use with Infant School children. Suitable
for both home and school use, each game is listed with the corresponding
learning objective, mostly Numeracy and Literacy. You will need to
download the free Flash Player plug-in to play these games.
Solutions
to Problems: A teacher designed site which seeks to share teaching
ideas, lesson plans and resources to help busy teachers both in and
out of the classroom. The site contains a number of pages linking
to information, lesson ideas and homework guides relating to the different
Key Stages and also an area where other teachers can share their own
information, ideas and general solutions to everyday classroom problems.
English
Andrew
Moore's Resources 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. The resources are written to help students
succeed, without letting work take over their lives - at least, that's
the theory.
GCE
Literature offers teachers and students of GCE 'A' level English
Literature a one-stop, completely free resource and news website.
Resources include syllabus analysis, student essays, exemplar material,
advice on essay writing and notes on authors. The English Journal
includes recent essays by students, news about authors' books, competitions
and education features, such as UCAS updates and news stories of interest
to teachers. The developing Weblibrary offers connections to a range
of texts, study guides and other resources for students trying to
complete those demanding term essays. If you need help on an author
or text, you will find it here. The Weblibrary also offers teachers
links to all the main UK GCE examination boards and their resources
and syllabi.
Dramateacher
is a site devoted to the sharing of resources, discussion, links,
book recommendations, exercises, quotes and everything that involves
teaching drama. At present there are over 180 files which can be downloaded
and used to prepare lessons. Members are encouraged to contribute
to the site with their own resources and links so that the site continues
to grow.
Maths
Maths
is Fun 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). However you will find some more complex stuff, and some easier
bits. Hopefully there should be something for everybody. As a recent
review put it "A great website to explain the basics in mathematics,
try out some online tests or download some offline activities. You
can post your own questions, send an online maths card or just leave
a greeting on the guestbook."
Time
to Teach is a site designed for teachers, parents and home-schoolers.
It contains over 100 free, interactive and fun complete primary maths
lessons. Eighty of these lessons closely follow the lesson plans issued
from the British department of education and aimed at helping to teach
children aged between 5 and 12. The lessons are sorted into year groups,
and subdivided into which term to teach a particular lesson. This
unique site only specializes in providing PowerPoint lessons for primary
maths. The webmaster on the site is happy to consider primary maths
PowerPoint lessons written by other teachers for inclusion on the
site. If you send 10 or more complete lessons which are used, you
get a free CD to say thank-you.
Interactive
Online Geometry: Learn about all aspects of geometry at levels
KS3 and KS4 (High School) level by doing interactive online activities.
Free online courses are available in three main areas: Transformations,
which include rotations, reflections, enlargements and translations;
Shape, including polygons, angle properties, symmetry, quadrilaterals
and circle theorems; and Geometrical Construction which covers all
aspects of compass and straight
edge construction mentioned in the National Curriculum for England
and Wales. There are extended resources on the history of geometry,
compass only constructions, "sacred geometry" and other
topics which will challenge the most able student (and teacher!).
Every page is truly interactive, allowing students to manipulate geometric
shapes.
Art
& Design
Hieronymus
Bosch: Hieronymus
Bosch is one of the most intriguing artists in history. Only about
forty of his paintings have survived and as none of them are dated
it is therefore impossible to provide an accurate chronology. His
life is also a mystery as records of friends, patrons, teachers, or
any other source material that would help us understand his paintings
have not survived. Although the basic themes in his paintings are
usually quite simple, they are also heavily embroidered with subsidiary
narratives and symbols. With this website Janos Dohanics has attempted
to use his detailed knowledge to explain three of Bosch's most famous
paintings: The Hay Wain, The Temptation of St. Anthony and The Garden
of Earthly Delights.
Pieter
Bruegel: Pieter
Bruegel is one of the greatest artists of the 16th century. His well-observed
and truthful renderings of peasant life make his paintings a useful
starting point for cross-curricular work. One of the best places to
see his work is at the Paris WebMuseum. Created by Nicolas Pioch,
a teacher at the Ecole Polytechnique, this website won the BMW Foundation
Prize in 1995. A brief biography of Pieter Brugel is followed by thumbnail
images of his paintings that can be viewed in large format. Each painting
includes its date, size and current location. Paintings featured on
the site include the Peasant Wedding, The Triumph of Death, The Hunters
in the Snow and The Beggars.
Paul
Gauguin: The
United States Modern Gallery of Art is responsible for this well-designed
and easy to use website. An overview of Gauguin's life and career
is followed by seven of the artist's paintings: Landscape at Le Pouldu,
Self-Portrait, Haystacks in Brittany, Words of the Devil, By the Sea,
The Bathers and Delectable Waters. Each one is accompanied by detailed
notes on the painting. For example, we discover that Landscape at
Le Pauldu was painted from memory. As Gauguin explained: "Art
is abstraction; draw art as you dream in nature's presence, and think
more about the act of creation than about the final result."
Edgar
Degas: Produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this website
is dedicated to the work of Edgar Degas. As well as Degas' own work,
the website also provides details of the artist's private collection
of paintings. The website also contains a very good Teachers Centre
that includes a variety of educational experiences that involve the
images of work at the Metropolitan Museum. For younger children there
are games and for older students the website has more complex activities.
Science
BioTech:
The Biotech website is produced and maintained by the University of
Texas. Designed for students of biology and chemistry, the website
includes an Illustrated Dictionary of the Life Sciences, a Chemical
Acronyms Database, Introduction to Glycolysis (an interactive textbook),
Science Resources (an annotated list of biomedical websites) and Bioinformatics
(an introduction to this hybrid of computer science and biology).
The website also includes Cyberbotanica, a virtual chapter in medicinal
botany that describes the various botanical compounds used in cancer
treatment and the plants that produce them.
Biology
Hypertextbook:
The Biology Hypertextbook was originally produced for the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's Introductory Biology course. Organized by
chapter, the material covers topics such as development, immunology,
environmental science, cancer, etc. At the end of each chapter there
is a practice problems section. This comprehensive guide to biology
also has a searchable index the allows you to quickly find the material
that you require.
Why
is the Mona Lisa Smiling? offers rich multilingual cultural perspectives
on the identity of Mona Lisa, while comparing two theories of Dr.
Lillian Schwartz and Rina de Firenze, author of Mystery of the Mona
Lisa, through scientific inquiry. There are current articles online
about the celebration of Leonardo's Bronze Horse in Milan as well
as a view of the Mona Lisa Bridge now under construction in Oslo,
Norway. The project presents music composed by Leonardo da Vinci,
and the authors have also identified Leonardo's portrait of an "unknown"
Musician. The website also offers free musical postcards, a multigenerational
guestbook and The Mona Lisa Select Site Awards Program. Furthermore
the site is accessible to the hearing impaired. Click on the signing
hand to see the Special Needs Resources.
Geography
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.
Kay's
AS & A2 Geography started life as an interactive handout listing
a few useful websites intended for Kay's A-level FE students, but
now gets hits from both teachers and students nationwide. Although
organised by WJEC specification headings, the 'quick links' on the
home page make it easy to find the bit you're after whatever the syllabus.
Includes exam tips (with a listing of command words), a reference
collection, textbook reviews and advice for those attempting to get
to grips with their geographical enquiry. The postcode trail makes
a good basis for a geographically-based first lesson in the ICT suite.
Sociology
Philosophy
of Education:
The Philosophy of Education Society produce a Yearbook that includes
eighty or so essays on the subject. The current edition is available
from the University of Illinois. However, recently the Philosophy
of Education Society has put previous Yearbooks (1992-1999) online.
The website has an efficient search facility that enables the visitor
to search for authors and key words in the database of articles.
Early
Childhood Research:
ECRP is a electronic journal sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education
and organized by the University of Illinois. Published biannually,
the journal includes articles that cover topics related to the development,
care, and education of children from birth to approximately age eight.
ECRP concentrates on reporting on practice-related research and development
and issues relating to parent participation. The current edition includes
online articles such as Children's Social Behaviour in Relation to
Participation in Mixed-Age or Same-Age Classrooms and Early Childhood
Special Education and Distance Learning.
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.
