Education on the Internet
Number 28: 12th June, 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 23,920 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
Digital Learning Alliance: Several media and software companies are demanding a judicial review of the BBC's plans to spend £150m of licence money on expanding its online education service over the next five years. Digital Learning Alliance, an industry body representing media firms involved in online learning, is to petition the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, amid claims they could lose millions of pounds in revenues. "Our industry could be decimated," said Dominic Savage, co-chair of the Digital Learning Alliance. "We have deep concerns about our members' ability to compete with a similar service that was offered for free. There is a serious risk of substantial job losses." In its submission to the culture department, the BBC argues that its proposed free service "is the latest development of the high quality educational resources which the BBC has provided since the 1920s". It goes on to promise students access to "a broad range of learning resources". The programmes and content would be "distinctive", of "high quality" and in strong demand from teachers and pupils.
Internet Safety: How can we tackle the problems of Internet use like dangerous texts, people or images? At a conference at the Palazzo Gerini in Florence on 27-28 May 2002, speakers covered key topics such as network security, awareness and filtering for children, and legislation for internet safety. The conference was opened by Giovanni Biondi (INDIRE) who described some of the problems of Internet safety - especially that of supervising children with an increasing level of access. Tor Eigel Hodne from the European Commission argued that awareness and training are fundamental priorities to tackle Internet safety. He pointed out that 19 countries in Europe had established hotlines for reporting unsafe content all over Europe. Nerina Milletti (INDIRE) gave the results of a survey that found that most teachers and parents do not use filters, and most do not want to. Ola Kristian-Hoff, who previously worked at the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) said: "I am yet to see an image filter that can tell the difference between the face of an American President and a naked female torso".
Ask an Expert: Each month the Ask an Expert section features a different theme. This month, you will have the opportunity to ask questions on the ICT resources that are suitable for the Foundation Stage. This stage is about developing the key skills of speaking, listening, collaborating, concentrating, persisting and about developing the literacy and numeracy skills that will prepare children for Key Stage One. From programmable robots to interactive whiteboards, from the Internet to CD-ROMs, this month's Ask an Expert feature aims to inform practitioners of the ICT resources that are suitable for the Foundation Stage. It also suggests ways in which these resources can best be used to meet the needs of the children and the requirements of the Early Learning Goals.
History
Teaching History: A free weekly email journal for anyone interested in using the Internet to teach or study history. The journal includes online news, reviews of websites and articles on using ICT in the history classroom. Subscribers can also submit information for inclusion in the newsletter. With over 19,400 subscribers this is an ideal way to bring people together who are involved in using the Internet to teach history. All reviews and articles are archived and can be accessed through the History Web Directory.
Around the World in 72 Days: At the age of nineteen, Nellie Bly talked her way into an improbable job on a newspaper, then went on to become known as "the best reporter in America." The daring Bly continually risked her life to grab headlines. To expose abuse of the mentally ill, she had herself committed. When she traveled around the world in just 72 days, beating Jules Verne's fictional escapade, she turned herself into a world celebrity. This PBS website allows you to follow Nellie Bly's record-breaking journey.
Oral History Archive: The East Midlands Oral History Archive is a lottery funded project dedicated to encouraging the use of oral history by community groups and schools. The East Midlands group has recently opened an online exhibition on the hosiery industry in Leicestershire. There are sections on Yarn Preparation, Knitting, Making Up, Finishing, Homeworking and Industrial Relations.
Geography
n2geo is a nonprofit educational organization inspiring people to learn about the world. The website focuses on geography and world culture and has an extensive 1,000+ page world resource section called n2countries. The organization is producing a first-ever expedition to every country in the world, and will be providing lots of video, audio, and rich media that will be useful as a learning tool. Visit the site to see how you can get involved with this historic expedition.
My Environment Newsletter: This new weekly newsletter provides information pertinent to environmental protection from the perspective of technology. The newsletter contains information on the most recent changes, achievements, problems, etc. in the environmental protection field. The website also gives access to a forum where environmental subjects and technology are discussed.
Maths
Probabilistic Learning Activities Network: Have you ever wondered how to enhance your teaching of probability? David Harris tries to answer this question with this site. The material is based on interactive probability experiments in the form of applets and spreadsheets. The Question, Hypothesis, Experiment methodology is designed to introduce students to the fascinating world of random behaviour. Students are asked to provide an initial response to a probability experiment, collect data from the experiment and finally use mathematics to determine the probability measure of the experiment. Many of the experiments are counter-intuitive and are designed to foster discussion and interest in the mathematics classroom. The site is written primarily for students of the International Baccalaureate but can be used throughout any high school programme.
Fine Structure Constant: The question of how to calculate the numerical value of the fine structure constant from theory was one of the most outstandingly difficult problems in mathematical physics for the greater part of the 20th century. There were many unsuccessful attempts by researchers, including famous ones such as P. A. M. Dirac to find a formula for the fine structure constant. Substantial progress with this fundamental problem is outlined on this web page produced by James G. Gilson.
Design & Technology
Ettore Sottsass was one of the leading members of the Memphis Group founded in 1981. This Austrian-born designer has been described as "a forward-looking designer who is also mischievous!" Throughout his remarkable career Sottsass drew inspiration from a variety of sources such as popular culture, other cultures and of course his own travelling experiences. His work was colourful and humorous in contrast to the black, modern products of the 1980's. It could never be accused of being bland and dull. In the 1970's he was a leading figure of the 'Radical Movement' and played a very important role in 'Post Modernism' in the 1980s.
Food Link is organized by the Food and Drink Federation in association with the Food Standards Agency, the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Local Authorities Co-ordinating Body on Food and Trading Standards, the Departments of Health, Food and Education, the National Farmers Union, the British Retail Consortium and the British Hospitality Association. The programme provides a focus for communicating messages aimed at helping everyone understand and carry out the basic precautions which they can take to reduce the risk of suffering from food poisoning.
Science
Scientists and the Second World War: Biographies of 52 scientists involved in military technology during the Second World War. Subjects include David Bohm, Nils Bohr, Wernher von Braun, Sydney Camm, Christopher Cockerell, Walter Dornberger, Enrico Fermi, James Franck, Walter Gerlach, Hans Geiger, Otto Hahn, Ernst Heinkel, Werner Heisenberg, Frederick Lindemann, Salvador Luria, Lise Meitner, Reginald J. Mitchell, Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, Barnes Wallis, Robert Watson-Watt and Frank Whittle.The website also has a hyperlinked Second World War Technology timeline.
Invent Now is a non-profit organization that celebrates and foster the spirit and practice of invention. The National Inventors Hall of Fame honors the women and men responsible for the great technological advances that make human, social and economic progress possible. Each year, the Selection Committee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation selects inventors for induction. On this website you can brouse Invent Now's database of inventors and inventions.
Search Engines
Search Engine Ratings: NetRatings has began releasing figures showing the total number of people performing searches at popular search engines and portals, along with the average time spent by these searchers at these sites. Figures are for users in the United States. At the top of the list in search hours is Google, where users spent nearly 13 million hours searching during March 2002. In second-place was Yahoo with 5.4 million search hours, followed by MSN Search with 4.9 million search hours logged. According to StatMarket, Google accounts for more search referrals than any other search engine. According to this research, based on worldwide traffic measurements in April 2002, Google was responsible for 47 per cent of search referrals worldwide, followed by Yahoo at 21 per cent, then MSN Search at 8 per cent and AltaVista at 6 per cent.
Ask Jeeves attempts to understand the precise nature of the question by using a question-processing engine. Using natural language processing technology, Ask Jeeves determines both the meaning of the words in the question (semantic processing) as well as the meaning in the grammar of the question (syntactic processing). Ask Jeeves's answer-processing engine provides the question template response (that's the list of questions that users see after they ask Jeeves a question). When the user clicks on a response, the answer-processing engine retrieves the answer template that contains links to the answer locations. The Ask Jeeves knowledge base contains links to more than 7 million answers, which contain information about the most frequently asked questions on the Internet.
Book Section
Guide to GCSE Websites: The Hutchinson Guide to GCSE Websites is arranged by subject and includes over 1,000 sites selected specifically for GCSE study. The book makes learning on the web faster and easier, and will give students extra insight into subjects to improve their marks. Users of this book get free access to a special website, which provides links to each of the sites listed in the book.
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.
