Education on the Internet
Number 19: 20th February, 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. Currently there are 17,800 subscribers to the newsletter.
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, Economics, Photography, Art & Design, Theatre Studies, Physical Education and Religious Studies.
John Simkin
Teaching and Learning: The Teaching and Learning section of TeacherNet is a gateway to the very best educational resources currently available on the internet. From this page you can access more than twelve hundred lesson plans, tap into the support services of museums, libraries and charities and ensure that you are making the most of the educational activities that your local community has to offer. You will also find comprehensive directories for Community Learning Grids, teaching unions and other affiliated bodies.
ICT in Schools: The Fischer Family Trust carries out a yearly survey on the impact of websites and software packages across different secondary school curriculum areas. The main aim is to reliably identify important resources that are already in reasonably widespread use. The survey asked for responses to include ratings for both frequency of use and learning impact. In total over 1,800 responses were received from over 1,300 schools – nearly 1/3 of the secondary schools in England and Wales. The sample was representative in terms of both geographical spread and type of school. The results of the latest survey can be found on the Fischer Family Trust website.
US Web Usage: The Department of Commerce reports that 143 million people, or 54 percent of the total population, are now online in the US. The report says that there were an average of 2 million new Internet users in the US every month last year. The digital divide seems to be narrowing in the US. Black and Hispanic households are also going online at a more rapid rate than white and Asian-American households. Furthermore, the number of rural households getting Net access for the first time is increasing at a faster rate than the number of urban households. The report also found that email continues to be the most popular online activity. It is now used by 45 percent of the total population, up from 35 percent in 2000.
Development of Railways: In this activity, produced by Learnall, students access the Spartacus Historical Encyclopedia in order to research the development of the railways. A class is put into groups, and each group researches a particular event, machine or personality, then summarises their findings and reports back to the class in the form of a word-processed document. National Curriculum key objectives are specifically targeted along with language for learning. Students and teachers wishing to make use of the Learnall site have to first get themselves registered on the site and thereby gain a username and password.
Scottsboro Case: The film Scottsboro: An American Tragedy and this companion website offer insights into topics in American history including race relations, civil rights, the Depression, the Communist Party of the United States, and judicial due process. You can use part or all of the film, or delve into the rich resources available on this website to learn more about this tragic case. Teaching activities on the website are grouped into 4 categories: history, economics, geography, and civics.
Violette Szabo: After hearing that her husband had been killed at El Alamein, Violette Szabo, developed a strong desire to get involved in the war effort and was recruited to join the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The violette Szabo Museum website tells the story of how she was parachuted into occupied France to help the resistance. Szabo was captured and executed by the Gestapo and was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre and the George Cross.
English
Walt Whitman: The Walt Whitman Archive is an electronic research and teaching tool that sets out to make Whitman’s vast work, for the first time, easily and conveniently accessible to scholars, students, and general readers. Whitman, America’s most influential poet and one of the four or five most innovative and significant writers in United States history, is the most challenging of all American authors in terms of the textual difficulties his work presents. He left behind an enormous amount of written material, and his major life work, Leaves of Grass, went through six very different editions, each of which was issued in a number of formats, creating a book that is probably best studied as numerous distinct creations rather than as a single revised work. His many notebooks, manuscript fragments, prose essays, letters, and voluminous journalistic articles all offer key cultural and biographical contexts for his poetry. The Archive sets out to incorporate as much of this material as possible, drawing on the resources of libraries and collections from around the United States and around the world.
First World War Poetry: This seminar is intended as an introduction to First World War poetry. As well as the poets Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon and Edward Thomas the seminar looks at women poets in the First World War. Each poet and topic includes the following: (a) an introduction, (b) a featured poem, appropriate to the seminar's theme, (c) some literary criticism of the featured poem, (d) other relevant information or texts, (e) a selection of other poems appropriate to the poet/topic.
Wilfred Owen: This website includes four of Wilfred Owen's most popular poems: Anthem for Doomed Youth, Dulce et Decorum est, Strange Meeting and The Parable of the Old Man and the Young. There are also links to other websites on Wilfred Owen and his poetry.
Music
Music88 Recorder Resource: Most people do not consider the recorder to be serious musical instrument. The mission of this website is to promote the understanding and learning of recorder as a serious yet versatile musical instrument suitable for everybody. Even King Henry VIII played and collected recorders and Shakespeare used it in his plays! A brief history and interesting facts as well as FAQs about the recorder can be found here. There are pictures on the different types of recorders and a mention of their sizes. There is a section on composing, methodology, fingering charts and recommendations of recorder instructional books and music. The presentation of content is geared towards teachers and students researching on recorders for the first time. They may then choose to visit our featured links to other specialized sites for more in depth information.
Music India Online: A comprehensive website on Indian music. The material is organized under the categories: Carnatic, Hindustani, Jugalbandhi, Light Music (Devotional, Folk Music, Ghazals, IndiPop, Qawwali, Patriotic) and Regional (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarathi, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sindhi, Tamil and Telugu).
Music in Latin America: An impressive website run by the University of Texas. The material is organized under the categories: Latin American Resources, Regional Resources (Andean, Caribbean, Hispanic/Latino) and Country Resources (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela).
Design & Technology
The Memphis Group was founded in 1981 by Ettore Sottsass with a group of recently graduated designers and journalist Barbara Radice as public relations/art director. The group's main aim was to revive Radical Design. The products created by the Memphis group included limited production creations of unusual objects and functional designs. Most products featured plastic laminate surfaces, bright colours and bold patterns. The Memphis Group attempted to make a political statement. They strived to break down the barriers between high class and low class. To some, this concept was alien but to others it offered freedom.
Viking Boat: This project from Minersville Area High School got its start as a requirement for senior graduation. Sixteen seniors were divided into groups of from one to three. Just like the Viking builders, each senior had a set of building tasks. The project's goal was to replicate a twenty-one foot cargo boat. Plans were obtained from the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. Upon completion of the boat successful sea trials were held on a local lake and the boat was donated to the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle, Washington for its final resting place. Educationally, the project combined the disciplines of Social Studies with Industrial Technology. The website was created and maintained entirely by the students. The site includes the boat's history, sailing and tour information, photos of the boat's construction, displays including a visit to the Smithsonian Institution, animated blueprints, and a 360 degree view of the boat.
Science
Biology GCSE: GCSE Biology Revision is just one section of Nigel Purchon's wonderful Science website. Although initially produced for his students as Kingsbury High School, this comprehensive website is available to the whole Internet community. Categories in the Biology section include: How to Revise, Cells, Digestion, Photosynthesis, Respiration, Circulation, Ecology, Muscles and Bones. Other features include Science Investigations (how to improve your score in GCSE Investigations), Skills (how to succeed with your 'A' level biology course) and Homework.
The Science Museum: The Science Museum at South Kensington covers seven floors and has more than 40 individual galleries. It is now possible to visit the museum online to see some of its 15,000 objects in its collection. The best feature of the website is its exhibitions centre. This currently includes Japan: Gateway to the Future, Alfa Romeo - Sustaining Beauty, Apollo 10, Challenge of Materials, Flight Gallery, Flights of Inspiration, Cosmic Globes, Making the Modern World and Strange Surfaces.
Economics and Business Studies
Tutor2u is a portal site for students of Economics, Business Studies and Politics. The objective of Geoff Riley is to build a comprehensive, user friendly study portal, and to contribute to the study and examination success of all our users. At the heart of Tutor2u lies the Discussion Forums. A widening range of bulletin-board style discussion groups that provide users with a unique opportunity to interact with each other. In just 16 months, the Discussion Forums have attracted over 2,000 registered users and some 19,000 posts. Tutor2u also includes a range of study materials. The comprehensive collection of revision notes covers the key areas of economics and politics. Tutor2u maintains one of the Web's most comprehensive collections of reviewed study links, carefully categorised and described to help users find the data and support they need.
International Finance and Development: As part of the University of Iowa's Global Studies Program, Enrique R. Carrasco and his students have produced an electronic book on International Finance and Development. The E-Book has been written for laypersons and is fairly easy to read. It looks at the key concepts relating to international finance and development. Key issues covered include the role of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the globalised economy. The website has a chronology of key events relating to international finance and development and a Bulletin Board to exchange ideas and information. An outstanding website that provides an insight into what reference books will be like in the future.
UK Business Park: This website provides comprehensive information on UK business activity, including news on acquisitions, new projects, expansion plans, strategy and major new products. Material is organised under sixteen topics: chemicals, computers, construction, energy, engineering, financial services, food & drink, health care, leisure, media, motor, packaging, retailing, transport, opportunities for employment and mergers & acquisitions. Information can also be accessed by searching for specific companies.
Modern Languages
Alternative and Complementary Language Site: Complete, graded lesson packs suitable for both self-access and teacher led lessons in French and German for key stage 3, 4 and beyond; all come with worksheets, vocabulary lists, schemes of work, national curriculum levels and programmes of study where applicable. Use these for cover lessons, independent work, or incorporate them into the scheme of work. Grammar packs are project based or free-standing with clear explanations, worksheets, printable summaries and online self-marking practice games. Students can use further topic based online, interactive, self-marking games and exercises for revision or to practise vocabulary and grammar. The site is constantly updated, and there is a newsletter to inform subscribers about additions to the resources.
French Cyberbook: This website provides free online French courses that are designed to help French instructors to integrate technology into their teaching. The courses on the French Cyberbook website have been designed by Fabienne Gérard and Claudia Griesing, two high school teachers at Cary Academy, North Carolina.
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