Education on the Internet
Number 15: 23rd January, 2002
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.
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.
John Simkin
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.
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.
