Education on the Internet
Number 16: 30th 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
Professors are Human: Steven Kries, a history teacher in the United States, believes that the delivery of information on the World Wide Web has the distinct possibility of enhancing and transforming current pedagogical attitudes and practices in higher education. In his article, Professors are Human: Breaking Down the Barriers Between Instructor and Student he argues that teacher websites can "break down the traditional barrier of authority erected between instructor and students and to empower students with knowledge rather than hide that knowledge as if it were the instructor's intellectual property alone."
GTC and Curriculum Online: The General Teaching Council for England has responded to the government's recent Curriculum Online proposals. The paper highlights some important issues and argues: "We see a critical role for teachers in partnership with the research community to offer the expertise and build the capacity for classroom innovation and investigation of a digitally enabled education. Our concern is that the Curriculum Online proposals fall short of understanding and addressing the need to develop new pedagogical practice. Long-term success of Curriculum Online will not come from the platform that the service is delivered on or from connectivity or infrastructure but from the capacity of teachers to ensure coherent, relevant, supported and challenging learning."
Higher Education and Research Opportunities (HERO) is the official national website for Higher Education and research organisations in the United Kingdom. The site provides a comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date database of links to all the key online HE resources. It also carries topical news and feature content and increasingly powerful search facilities tapping into a growing range of specialist data sources. With information on opportunities, institutions and organisations across the UK, it is becoming a key resource for students, researchers, HE staff and the business community. HERO is owned by the funding councils of the United Kingdom, the Research Councils, Universities UK, SCOP, UCAS, CSU and the TTA.
Primary
GlassForever: This web site is an online learning resource that promotes the benefits of glass recycling to a young audience. GlassForever compares the journey of glass that is not recycled, looking at it’s negative environmental impact, against the journey of glass that is recycled and the benefits that recycling offers. The site employs a mixture of animation, video and interactive activities to cover the following areas: Why should we recycle glass? Why is glass useful? Where can we recycle our glass? How is glass recycled? How is glass made? What are bottles and jars used for? Why choose glass packaging? Additional features include games and a quiz for pupils, printable worksheets and planning documents for teachers.
SEN Teacher is a developing resources site, targeting parents and teachers of children with severe, profound or complex learning difficulties. Just over 30Mb of Windows freeware and printed materials are available, as well as links to other sources of SEN information and resources. The author splits his time 50:50 between teaching learning disabled and autistic teenagers and working as a consultant to the Learning Disabilities and Multimedia Research Project at the University of East London.
Indus Valley Civilisation: This website for teachers created by Ilona Aronovsky co-author of QCA recommended teaching materials, provide resourcing and teaching ideas, curriculum planning links, publications, and replica artefacts for sale. There are 100's of photos, tables of Indus ideograms and essays, all provided by leading archaeologists and scholars.
English
English Language GCE: The materials for GCE English language cover all areas of current examined courses in Britain. They are particularly closely matched to the syllabus (AQA, syllabus B) taken by the greatest number of students, but teachers can readily match them to other language syllabuses. Andrew Moore wrote these materials in the course of teaching two GCE classes. (The class that got them started achieved a 100% pass rate.) He has since revisited and gradually updated and extended some of the guides, with a view to covering the whole AQA syllabus B course, and other exam board courses, eventually. As well as guides to components of the syllabus, there are background articles, occasional quizzes and other activities, including some contributions from distinguished academic linguists, Peter Trudgill, Paul Coggle and Paul Kerswill.
Performing Zone Community: This is a site dedicated to teachers and students of drama and dance at GCSE, A Level or in college or university. It features lesson plans, ideas and resources as well as a fun forum/message board and lots of useful links. To get the most from this site you are advised to join the community, where you will get the added benefits of clip arts, and all the documents on Brecht, Stanislavski and Shakespeare.
Science
EuroTurtle: "Sampling the Internet has been likened to drinking from a high pressure hose - lots of water but difficult to swallow!" Roger Poland and the Biology Department at King's College, Taunton have attempted to overcome this by producing this excellent interactive website that contains a wealth of information on the conservation and biology of sea turtles. There are overviews of all sea turtle species, sections on the threats to turtles in the Mediterranean, identification keys and an adventure game involving a loggerhead turtle trying to lay eggs on a popular Greek island frequented by tourists.
Dynamic Great Lakes: The Dynamic Great Lakes Website describes how the author researched her new book, The Dynamic Great Lakes. The book is about changes in the world’s greatest freshwater system: changes due to natural forces as well as changes caused by people. The information will allow people to make good decisions about these lakes. In addition to excerpts from the book, there are color photos from around the five Great Lakes and their connecting waters from the U.S.A., Canada and photos of the Great Lakes taken from satellites. Other photos and excerpts feature connecting rivers, cities, beaches, sand dunes, marshes, and international bridges. There is a link to the Great Lakes Daily News featuring newspaper and radio articles gleaned from numerous sources every day.
Chemical Jigsaw Puzzle: In 1978, Omer Roucoux published a chemical jigsaw puzzle. It was designed to help pupils learn about chemical reactions and valencies, and this is does very well. On its website, it is available in two parts: as a GIF and the original DrawFile version (for RISC OS), which you can download separately.
Stuff is the sociology site produced by a lecturer at City of Bristol College. It is intended primarily as a resource for his students, a cyberspace filing cabinet. Consequently, the site is rather uneven, it reflects the specifications for the courses taught, and those aspects of the specifications that are selected by the college. The site consists of course notes that cover various substantive areas of the AS, A2 and Access Sociology specifications. There is a links section that includes most of the best AS/A2 British School and College Sociology sites, some University links and some sites of general sociological interest. The skills page offers the chance to take some basic online tests and crosswords and has some suggestions for improving exam performance. The password protected area of the site contains information specifically for City of Bristol Students, for example, online work-schemes and homework timetables.
Sociology Learning Support: Sociology Learning Support offers self-assessment material for AS and A Level Sociology students. The tests are self-contained and run directly from the site without plug ins. All tests can be used with either AQA or OCR specifications. Students can do multiple-choice quizzes, short answer tests, match items, gap-fill exercises and crosswords. Topics for which tests are available include the Individual and Society (Introduction to Sociology), Research Methods, Family, and Education. New tests for these and other topics are in preparation.
Music
Staffordshire Music is the LEA's award winning music and music education website. Local and national news, information articles and features. A listening room, an interactive on-line forum, an "Ask a Musician" service, some downloadable resources and much more.
Cris Freeman Music: A website that describes itself as a website for music teachers by music teachers. The site contains information for all types of music teachers, old and new, giving advise and equipment reviews. The site contains links to a wide variety of sites most music teachers need to survive. The site provides on line lesson plans, schemes of work, homework sheets and a way for students to upload work to the instructor. There is an online chat room and a monthly equipment review. Starting in April there will be a feature on equipping a department which will run for 12 months. With the online classrooms this is a site for every Music Teacher.
Music for Teachers: The Music for Teachers website is being developed to provide practical support for the design of Music Schemes of Work to match the requirements of the revised National Curriculum in England. Clear teaching objectives are suggested to provide a series of progressive 'steps' within the seven 'elements' of music and these are applied from Key Stage 1 to the end of Key Stage 3. This attempts to address the difficult issues of skills progression over the whole of the 3 key stages. Many other files and support materials, including extensive databases of songs and teaching ideas, are also available to download and the entire series of support materials can be made available on CD/ROM."
Media Studies
Filcomedia: Filcomedia is a web site dedicated to Film, Communication & Media studies for the 16-19 year old. The site is particularly useful for students & teachers following the AQA Communication Studies syllabus with a number of extensive case studies for the 'Culture, Context & Communication' unit. There are also a large number of photo-copiable hand-outs for A/AS Media Studies (in PDF) The site is frequently updated and is produced by an experienced subject specialist at Filton College of F.E.
A level Media Studies: Steve Baker's website is an unofficial site containing materials suitable for all students of Media, but in particular those studying the OCR and AQA syllabuses. While the site is still very much under development, there are a large number of shorts pieces on the main conceptual areas as well as longer booklets. There are also research links to major media organizations and some limited advice for teachers. A small amount of material is password protected, but the majority is open to all.
Media Web: This is a media studies site intended for students and teachers and anyone interested in working on the AQA media studies A/AS course. There are sections on film, advertising, representation, genre, audience, news, documentary, wider issues, advice on exam coursework and marking criteria. It's been very popular and is widely used by both students and teachers alike. The resources can be copied, pasted and printed.
Physical Education
Sports Media provides a wealth of information for P.E. teachers and students. It is an interactive site dedicated to providing lesson plans, tips, drills, activities and other teaching aids for the physical education teacher. Sports Media feels that the use of ICT by learners offers enormous potential to enhance learning in all subjects - also for physical education & sports. Sports Media/ SportaPolis has members who are nationally - and internationally - recognized experts in physical education, sports, fitness, coaching, health and nutrition. Suitable for all grades the Ask an Expert Page provides links to experts in a number of different expertises. These experts have volunteered to answer your questions for free! This service will give you the opportunity to ask questions about professional development. We are always available for those who have a question, a need for feedback, and who may have no one else to turn to.
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.
