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 14,697
subscribers to the newsletter.
Helping
Children Cope With Tragedy: Many people turned to the Internet
for help after the events in the United States on 11th September.
One of the most popular websites was Helping
Children Cope With Tragedy. Produced by the US Parent-Teacher
Association it has a range of resources that help young people understand
and cope with the ongoing repercussions of events such as the destruction
of the World Trade Centre.
Education
Online : During a debate held at the Royal Institution in London
last week, Professor Richard Dawkins of Oxford University argued that
the internet heralded the "most radical shift in educational
epidemiology since the invention of the printing press in the 15th
century, and probably since the origin of language itself". He
added: "The best experts I can find all expect the exponential
increase in computer power per unit cost to continue at the present
rate (doubling almost every 18 months) for at least another 10 years.
This is amply long enough to ensure that access to the Internet will
be virtually free to anyone who can afford the electricity."
Digital
Curriculum: The British government is about to announce details
of its plans for a digital curriculum. Over the next five years the
government plans to spend £500 million in public money developing
resources for schools. It claims that by 2006 every teacher in Britain
will be able to select and download high-quality teaching aids and
use them on a computer, television screen or interactive whiteboard.
In an article in this week's Times Educational
Supplement, Jeremy Sutcliffe points out that these plans
have led to the government being threatened with legal action by companies
who believe that they are not getting a fair chance to compete for
the government contracts available to provide this content. Sutcliffe
points out that the "upholders of the free market, who believe
that the innovative, flexible resources can only be achieved through
competition" is in conflict with the "public-service BBC,
which argued that the stakes for the nation were too high to leave
development of new learning aids to chance and market forces."
History
St
Paul's Cathedral: An impressive website that enables you to take
a virtual tour of some of the amazing architecture of St Paul's Cathedral.
This includes six 360° panoramas: the High Alter and Quire, Centre
of the Cathedral, Chapel of St Michael and St George, the OBE Chapel,
Nelson's Tomb and the Great West Entrance. There is also a detailed
timeline of the history of the cathedral.
Royal
Genealogical Data: A database compiled by Brian Tompsett of the
University of Hull that contains the genealogy of the British Royal
family and those linked to it via blood or marriage relationships.
As Brian Tompsett points out in the introduction, this means it is
"the genealogy of almost every ruling house in the western world
because of the intermarriage that took place between them at some
time or another." The database includes details of over 21,000
individuals. The data is ordered alphabetically, by dates, by ruling
house and title.
US
Civil War Factbook: This website produced by Marcus Wendel includes
a chronology of the US Civil War, as well as information on casualties,
generals killed in battle, alternate names of the war, Confederate
States of America, reviews of books on the topic and a message forum
for discussions on the war.
English
TeachIt: Stuck for inspiration
with teaching or studying English, Drama or Media? Need help planning
next term’s scheme of work or tomorrow’s first lesson? Help
is available at TeachIt, the UK's biggest (& fastest growing)
free online library of teaching resources for English teaching and
learning. This NGfL approved site offers over 1500 pages of high quality
photocopiable and downloadable teaching resources for Secondary level,
plus online lessons, NLS resources, revision aids, teaching tools,
a Drama library, a Media Studies Library and loads of useful links.
Teachit is built by teachers for teachers and is dedicated to giving
teachers a focused one stop shop for teaching ideas and materials.
Stories
from Rainbow's Edge:
Designed to brighten KS2 Literacy Hour, Rainbow's Edge is a small
village which contains most of the Nursery Rhyme characters that you
have heard about. They spend their time wandering through the village
telling their stories. But these stories are not their usual stories.
They try to answer some unasked questions and are designed to make
you think!
Charlotte
Bronte: One of the many websites produced by George Landow and
his team at Brown University. The Biographical section includes a
'A Brief Biography', 'Autobiographical Elements in Jane Eyre', 'Charlotte
Bronte Chronology' and on a website in Japan, an 'E-text version of
Elizabeth Gaskell's 'The Life of Charlotte Bronte'. The 'Political
and Social Contexts of Jane Eyre' is particularly interesting with
information on 'The Governess and Class Prejudice', 'Class Attitudes
in Jane Eyre', 'Age Difference in Victorian Marriages', 'The Position
of Middle Class Women' and 'Is Jane Eyre a Feminist Novel?'
Mathematics
Planetqhe:
Probability Theory is an area of mathematics that attempts to deal
with the concepts of chance and random behaviour; to measure levels
of predictability and unpredictability. Planetqhe is designed as a
teaching tool with which students form judgements by use of the experiments
- applets and spreadsheets - on the site. They collect data to investigate
their judgements, perhaps alter their judgements before finally subjecting
them to proof using the methods of mathematics. The author, David
Harris, hopes this paradigm will prove to be an application of technology
that will
enable us to give students an enhanced and authentic learning experience
with probability.
Numberwork:
A series of games produced
by the BBC which gives children the chance to test their mathematical
abilities with fun games. When the children successfully complete
all the games they will be able to discover the secret code which
allows Zack needs help to complete his journey from Acapulco to Chihuahua.
There is a Parents section which gives you tips on how to use the
site with your child.
Maths
Lessons: Susan Boone teaches at Saint Agnes Academy, Houston.
Her website has been developed as part of a program sponsored by the
National Science Foundation. Boone's lessons involve the students
using the Internet to solve mathematical problems. This includes making
calculations to decide the best place to buy pizzas and the mean and
median speed for the Indianapolis 500. Another activity involves the
gathering of data to make predictions about the future population
size of different countries.
Design
& Technology
Resistant
Materials: This
new addition to Design and Technology Department was developed to
help GCSE students study for their Resistant Materials examination
paper. It offers a revision guide on Health and Safety including Finishes,
Ergonomics and Anthropometrics, Scale of Production, One-off production,
Batch production, Mass-production, Flow or continuous production,
Injection moulding, Vacuum forming, Jigs, Moulds, Thermoplastic, Thermosetting
plastics, Hardwoods, Softwoods and Performance Specification. This
is a must for any student revising for a GCSE or As/A level in Product
Design or Resistant Materials.
Technology
at GCSE: The
author of this website points out that the main reason for students
choosing Technology at GCSE is that they think it is easy. "Think
again!" he tells his visitors, "it is time consuming and
demanding". However, the author attempts to help by providing
resources on Drawing Techniques, Anthropometry, Materials, Mechanisms,
Fixtures and Fittings. There is also a picture gallery and advice
on written work.
Science
Science
Active: This award winning site for Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 students
is easy to navigate and has appropriate, accurate content. The emphasis
is chemistry within the curriculum. Key stage 3 builds on the investigation
work students see at KS 2 and explores solids, liquids and gases and
changing states. Key Stage 4 has as its focus atomic structure and
bonding. On line style lesson and downloadable multimedia features
make this a complete package. Support materials for AS and A2 Chemistry
are identified. Most usefully these are related to specific topic
areas. In addition to this resources and download pages provide access
to games, quizzes and other interactive learning experiences.
Chemistry
for AS and A level:
This website is written by a Chief Examiner from his teaching and
examining experience. Hints and tips for exam technique; Learning
to Learn; Reaction Catalogues for organic and inorganic chemistry;
spectra; analytical reactions; worksheets; articles and comment on
much-misunderstood Chemistry; biographies; and much more on the whole
range of Chemistry. Rod Beavon is Head of Science at Westminster School,
Chief Examiner in Chemistry for Edexcel Foundation, and author of
several books on AS and A level chemistry for Nelson Thornes and Philip
Allan.
The
Ocean Planet: This website is managed by the Smithsonian Institute
in Washington. The Ocean Planet is a virtual reality tour of the successful
exhibition held at the National Museum of Natural History in 1995-6.
The original exhibition attracted nearly two million visitors and
now it has been made available to the rest of the world. The design
of the website lets you click the floor plan to navigate, or you can
search the site by subject. Most of the educational materials available
here were developed specifically for the Ocean Planet Exhibition.
These are in electronic form and can be retrieved for use in the classroom.
Other organisations such as the University of Kansas and the New England
Aquarium have also developed materials that link with the exhibition
and these are also available from this website. There are also nine
free fact-sheets that relate to the exhibition. A splendid website
that is well worth the visit.
St.
Louis Science Centre: St. Louis Science Centre is a museum that
is experimenting with new and more interactive ways of displaying
their exhibits. Their first online gallery is 'Ecology and Environment
Past'. This gallery enables the user to explore 300 pages of photographs,
animation, videos, drawings and text. 'Ecology and Environment Past'
includes Dinosaur animations, a robotic T-Rex, Mississippian and Pennsylvanian
dioramas and a Triceratops excavation. There is also an exhibition
on the St. Louis area that explains how the region has changed through
geological time, which creatures have lived there in the past, and
what its current earthquake and tornado risks are. 'Science Adventures'
is another popular part of the site. St. Louis Science Centre describe
their science adventures as "pre-visit treasure maps that lead
your class to the excitement of learning". Titles include: 'Struggle
in the Steamy Swamp', 'The Talking Rock', 'Marooned on the Moon',
and 'Alien Report'.
Geography
GeoResources:
This website is authored by David Rayner, Head of Geography at Rainham
Mark Grammar School in Kent. The website started as a school resource
and has now grown to include over 1000 carefully categorised links
for Keystage 3, G.C.S.E. and 'AS/A2' Level. There is also a special
page for teachers with links to exam boards, publishers, etc. Other
sections in GeoResources provide weather data and outline maps to
include in homeworks or projects, detailed case studies e.g. Kobe
earthquake, UK National Parks and oil spills, Virtual Fieldwork (so
that can you can visit sites and stay dry!), a photo gallery and a
weekly GeoQuiz.
CIA
World Factbook: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been
collecting and evaluating information on foreign countries since 1947.
Now the CIA has agreed to make this information available to the world.
Just choose a country from a menu of 262 countries and the CIA will
give you several pages (United Kingdom has eleven) of detailed information.
At the beginning you are supplied with a map and flag. The rest of
the information is listed under: 'Geography'; 'People'; 'Government';
'Economy'; 'Transportation'; 'Communications' and 'Defence'. The section
on Geography includes location, co-ordinates, area, land boundaries,
coastline, climate, terrain, natural resources, land use, irrigated
land and environment. Constantly updated this is one of the most important
educational sites on the Internet.
Exploring
the Environment:
This website is being developed by Wheeling Jesuit University as part
of the NASA Classroom of the Future Project. Supported by NASA's Information
Infrastructure Technology and Applications Program, Exploring the
Environment is a series of interdisciplinary, problem-based leading
modules for students. The project enables students to address real-world
problems related to weather, population growth, biodiversity, land
use patterns, volcanoes, water pollution and global warming. Excellent
section for teachers which provides module notes and advice on planning,
facilitating and assessing.
Business
Studies
Oxford
School of Learning: This site contains resources for Teachers
of Business Studies and Economics including: Notes, e-book full of
model essays, Teach-in (Critical Path Analysis etc.), Book reviews,
Scores of Comprehension Questions and Applied Questions that require
an Internet trawl. The Oxford School of Learning also provides revision
conferences on school premises. The Conference fee goes to charity
- the Dystonia Society.
Business
Education on the Internet: Bix/ed is based at Bristol University
and is a dedicated business economics information gateway for students,
teachers and lecturers. Sections include Company Facts where top companies
answer questions and offer case studies to help students with their
coursework. BP and Unilever have provided material and Virgin Atlantic
and the Meat and Livestock Commission have also promised to join the
scheme. Another feature of the website is Extel Data where students
can look at key features of the accounts of 500 major companies. These
companies can be compared by using the Company Report Profiler. This
excellent site also has a Tutor Support area where teachers can obtain
classroom support materials to help them use business information
on the Internet.
ICT
ICT
GCSE: A web site
designed to support ICT GCSE students with both their coursework and
theoretical understanding. The coursework guides give step by step
pointers on how to gain a good pass grade. There are also beautiful
animations in Flash that are used in a constructive way to support
learning, look at the "network topologies" section in theory
for good examples. The randomly generated quiz is very challenging,
whilst the whole site is being
expanded all the time on a regular basis. In short, probably the key
reference point on the net for Key Stage 4 ICT students.
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.
