Education
on the Internet
Number
39: 9th October 2002
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 27,150
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
spartacus@pavilion.co.uk
News
and Articles
Grid
Club: Initiated and funded by the Department for Education and
Skills, the Grid Club is designed to help 7 to 11 year old have fun
pursuing their interests online. Schools that register can recruit
pupils as Grid Club members. This enables the pupils to gain access
to a range of clubs covering interests such as sports, music, puzzles
or art. On school days GridClubbers are invited to take part in 'Talk-Live'
events: Monday to Friday 12 - 2 p.m, and Tuesdays, Wednesdays and
Thursdays 3 - 4 p.m. The Grid Club also run sessions on Sundays at
12 - 1 p.m. Here children can publish their work safely and take part
in online conversations and debates.
Bugbear
Virus: This new virus was first identified in Malaysia on 29th
September. This mass-mailing virus propagates by using the MIME MS01-020
vulnerability. Bugbear also has the ability to disable or disarm Anti-Virus
software. The virus appears to contain a key-logging Trojan. This
potentially could be used to steal passwords and credit-card details.
The virus also opens a port which can allow hackers to manipulate
the infected PC. Sophos researchers have developed a standalone tool
which detects and disinfects this virus. This utility provides a simple
way for businesses and home users to confirm their networks are clean
and disinfect any infected files that are found. You can read more
about Bugbear and download the disinfection tool from Sophos's website.
Teacher
Online Events:
The British Educational Technology Agency (Becta) website provides
links to a range of teacher online events. Future events include:
North West Education Event (17th/18th October), Promoting Effective
Practice with ICT (18th October), Teaching Music Using ICT (4th November),
Opening Pandora's Toolbox (6th/7th November), RNIB Techshare Conference
(21st/22nd November) and Promoting Effective Practice with ICT (22nd
November).
History
100
Most Important Women of All Time: Shelby Ellery, created this
site as a gold award project, the highest award that can be awarded
in Girl Scouting. Women featured include Jane Addams, Susan B. Anthony,
Marie Antoinette, Joan of Arc, Aspasia of Miletus, Nancy Astor, Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, Jane Austen, Ella Baker, Clara Barton, Florence
Bascom, Simone de Beauvoir, Aphra Behn, Ruth Fulton Benedict, Shirley
Temple, Elizabeth Blackwell, Rosa Bonheur, Louise Arner Boyd, Pearl
S. Buck, Rachel Carson and Catherine the Great.
Military
Blunders: Everyone makes mistakes, but having ranks of soldiers
and heavy weaponry at one's disposal can certainly make an error more
dramatic. This website, produced by the History Channel, presents
five famous military blunders to investigate. It poses questions such
as: What went wrong? Who was to blame? What should have been done
differently?
English
Literature
First
World War Writers: A collection of biographies of men and women
who wrote about the First World War. There are sections on War Poets
(16), War Journalists (34) and Writers and the War (26). The website
also features entries on Accredited War Journalists, Defence of the
Realm Act, British War Journalism, War Office Press Bureau and journals
published during the war such as Workers' Dreadnought, Simplicissimus,
Kladderadatsch and The Masses.
Book
Box: This Channel 4 website is aimed at encouraging 9 to 13 year-olds
to read. It provides information on 40 popular writers of children's
classics along with interviews, games and activities. There is also
a writing toolkit to aid creative writing. Authors featured include
Roald Dahl, Jamila Gavin, Anthony Horowitz, Terry Jones, Beverley
Naidoo, Terry Prachett, Philip Pullman and J. K. Rowling.
Booktrust:
National Children's Book Week (7th to 13th October 2002) celebrates
the world of children's books. It is an annual focus on the enjoyment
of reading, with the aim of encouraging as many children as possible
to get into books. Each year Booktrust provides colourful and useful
resources to promote National Children's Book Week. This year they
have produced resource materials for both Key Stage 1-2 and 3-4 with
two core posters featuring the illustrators Axel Scheffler and Bee
Willey, together with bookmarks, stickers and postcards.
Mathematics
KidsMAPE:
MAPE (Micros and Primary Education) is an organization that has played
a pioneering role in using ICT in Britain. The KidsMAPE section of
the website includes a Random Number Generator (can be used in any
activity requiring random numbers), Greenfield Road (a 19th century
database with differentiated activities), a Maths Treasure Trail (pupils
use the Internet to hunt for mathematical answers), Bounce (a mathematical
investigation) and Number Grids (interactive teaching of numeracy).
Smile
Mathematics: The
interactive section of the Smile Mathematics website is an on-going
development area. You will require the Flash 5 browser plug-in to
access some of these activities and a java enabled browser. Activities
include: Mental Mathematics, Playing Cards, Investigations, Fraction
Flags, Symmetry Match, Pythagoras, Magic Squares, Wiggly Tessellations,
Rotational Symmetry and Similar Triangles.
Science
Planet
Science: This website is a packed calendar of events, projects
& resources designed to stimulate the imagination about science
& technology. It’s
for everyone, but it’s focused particularly on people between
the ages of 10 and 19 and the adults around them - especially their
teachers. Planet Science isn’t about test-tubes, voltmeters and
bunsen burners though. It’s about raising awareness of the wide
and wonderful world of subjects and careers that are underpinned by
science and technology.
Charles
Darwin: The heart
of the C. Warren Irvin Jr. Collection, donated to Thomas Cooper Library,
in 1996, is Darwin's own writings. The Irvin Collection was first
exhibited at Thomas Cooper Library in 1992. This much-expanded web
exhibit sets out both to chart Darwin's career and to illustrate his
achievements and influence, setting Darwin's own books in the context
of works by his scientific contemporaries.
Internet
Services
Google
News Portal: A recent addition to the Google website is a news
portal that will serious challenge market leaders News Now and Moreover.
Everyday it groups together the interesting stories that are developing
and then links you to the best news sites for those particular stories.
At the moment the site searches 4,000 news sources but this will increase
rapidly over the next few months.
Message-Labs:
It is estimated that each day 11 million spam emails are sent worldwide.
That is a five-fold increase since 2000. Recent research by the email
security company Message-Labs, suggests that the average employee
spends up to 10% of the working day reading and deleting spam. According
to the European Commission the problem costs £6.4bn a year in
connection charges and lost productivity. The situation is unlikely
to change as direct-mail costs 200 times more per person than an email
campaign. The cost of email addresses is so low that these campaigns
only need a 0.01 success rate to become profitable.
Book
Section
C.
S. Lewis at the BBC: Using previously unpublished material, Justin
Phillips tells for the first time how C S Lewis became a leading figure
on the BBC's Home Service during its greatest era. During the Second
World War, the BBC rose to the task of informing, entertaining and
inspiring the nation. Risks were taken with new formats of spiritual
and religious broadcasting. One of these risks was to enlist Lewis.
Initially the critics claimed that his status as a layman did not
qualify him to speak on Christian matters. However the response to
the first programme was so overwhelming that a second programme had
to be arranged to answer listeners' questions. Lewis's hugely popular
BBC talks were published as Mere Christianity and have been a classic
ever since, selling over 11 million copies worldwide. (Justin
Phillips, HarperCollins, £18.99)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
