Education on the Internet
Number 4: 24th October, 2001
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 14,712 subscribers to the newsletter.
John Simkin
Anthrax: The Learn website provides two topical lesson packs based on Guardian and Observer articles. In recent weeks it has produced several lessons based on the events in the United States on 11th September. This week it looks at the history of chemical and biological warfare. The website includes a series of student activities based on articles that have appeared in the two newspapers on anthrax. Teachers' notes and a list of relevant web links accompany the lesson.
National Parent Information Network (NPIN): The mission of NPIN is to provide access to research-based information about the process of parenting, and about family involvement in education. The NPIN website, designed and maintained by the Teachers College, Columbia University and the University of Illinois, includes a very useful Virtual Library of parenting resources and a questioning-answering service. A recent addition to the site is an article on 'Computers and Young Children' by Mark Ginsberg.
Schools: Achieving Success: The British government's new White Paper, Schools: Achieving Success, has just been published. The government once again is emphasizing that quality teaching and learning lie at the heart of school improvement and restates its mission to raise standards. It claims that this will be achieved by "greater diversity and flexibility; delivering high minimum standards; supporting teachers and schools to deliver change; and encouraging innovation with the best schools leading the system".
ASandA2: Launched in October 2001, ASandA2 intends to become a lively and exciting community for students and teachers of the AS and A2 curriculums in the UK. At our core is an interactive portal of subject links, to which visitors can add resources, plus rate and review the current links. There are also hi-tech forums for discussions under any topic of the curriculum and an opportunity for teachers to build their own website, for which they can receive money according to how many page impressions they receive.
Middle East & Jewish Studies: Columbia University's collection of Middle East Studies Internet Resources is an on-going compilation of electronic bibliographic resources and research materials on the Middle East and North Africa available on the Internet. The resources are organized by region, country and subject. The scope of the collection is research-oriented but it also provides access to other websites with different or broader missions.
Irish History: An excellent website for any student researching Irish History on the Internet. Like a sourcebook, most of the links found here will lead to primary documents, original essays, bibliographies or specific informational sites. The website is maintained by Jacqueline Dana (jdana@utxsvs.cc.utexas.edu) at the University of Texas and suggestions and contributions are welcomed.
Vietnam Generation: This website is devoted to providing a forum for people interested in "the Sixties in general and the Vietnam War in particular". The most interesting part of the site is the 'Sixties Project Web'. Visitors are encouraged to contribute a narrative of the experiences of the 1960s. These accounts can be read online or downloaded and include people's experiences of the US armed forces and the 'Anti-Vietnam War' protest movement.
English
Children's Storybooks: This websites provides a collection of illustrated stories for young children to read online. Titles include Round Bird Can't Fly, Kitty Wants a Box, Buzzy Bee, The Counting Story, Alphabet, Animals Can See at the Zoo and Farm Animals. Some of the stories have linking activities such as Riddles, Maze and Colouring Book. The website also includes online stories for older children and young adults.
D. H. Lawrence: The Rananim Society is a D.H. Lawrence e-mail discussion group. Two of the members of this group from Ontario, Canada, have produced a site dedicated to the work of D. H. Lawrence. As well as producing original material, the Rananim Society have collected together all the sites on the Internet that relate to Lawrence and his work. One list includes 'Pilgrimages and Homages' and provides links with places where Lawrence lived. 'Eastwood and DH Lawrence' supplies information (text and photographs) on the four houses that Lawrence occupied in Eastwood. Special emphasis is placed on his birthplace, 8a Victoria Street, which is now maintained as a museum. From here there are also links with other related websites: 'Eastwood', 'Picture Gallery of Old Eastwood' and 'About Nottingham'.
Elizabeth Gaskell: Literary genius is not always rewarded with good websites. Elizabeth Gaskell is one of those writers who will obtain a growing readership thanks to the devoted care and attention of the Gaskell Society. The site provides links with electronic texts of her work. There are also copies of rare, 19th century illustrated versions of her work. Other linked websites include: 'Gaskell Portrait Gallery', 'Knutsford, Past and Present', 'Elizabeth Gaskell's Manchester' and 'Gaskell Studies and the Internet'. There is also detailed information about past editions of the Gaskell Society Journal and a free newsletter on the writer.
Mathematics
MathSphere: The MathSphere website has an impressive collection of resources for mathematicians. This includes mathematics worksheets and test papers. There is also wide coverage of the national curriculum, the numeracy hour and homework. Topics include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, square numbers, cubic numbers, data handling and geometry.
Mathematics Enrichment: The NRICH started out in September 1996 as a research and development project funded by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. The project aims to establish a permanent national centre for curriculum enrichment to provide mathematical learning support for very able children of all ages. Based at the University of Cambridge School of Education, the website provides access to a collection of puzzles, games, mathematical problems, articles and activities.
Design & Technology
George Carwardine: The automotive engineer George Carwardine based his Anglepoise task lamp upon the human form. This timeless classic lighting system was inspired by the "constant tension principle of human limbs". The articulated desk light has been copied many times and is still mass-produced even today - sixty-two years after it was first patented. This website provides information on Carwardine's work and should be useful for students of Product Design and Resistant Materials.
Automotive Learning Online: This website is produced by Informative Graphics Corporation, a commercial software company with visualization and Web collaboration technology for document management, engineering project Web sites and product data management. This site provides a clear explanation how a car and its moving parts work. The graphics that show the function of individual components are visually very attractive.
Science
Science Museum of Minnesota: This website is produced by the Science Learning Network and the Science Museum of Minnesota. Aimed at younger children, there are several interactive areas including projects on 'Windmills to Whirligis', 'Worms' and 'Monarchs and Migration'. Teachers and children all over the world are encouraged to participate in these projects. The philosophy of the project is clearly illustrated in the excellent 'Thinking Fountain' section. Teachers and students create 'Thinking Fountain' cards on templates provided by the museum. The goal is to encourage questioning and inquiry. Each card highlights an interesting resource related to science. It then refers you to three other selected connections that extend the learning process. The cards are arranged in three different ways: 'Card Clusters'. 'Mind Maps' and 'A-Z'. This is a model of interactive learning that hopefully will inspire other site providers.
The Exploratorium: The San Francisco Exploratorium is a museum of science, art and human perception with over 650 interactive exhibits. Founded by Dr. Frank Oppenheimer in 1969, the Exploratorium receives more that 660,000 visitors, including 67,000 children, every year. Exhibits appear in thirteen different categories: light, colour, sound music, motion, animal behaviour, electricity, heat and temperature, language, patterns, hearing, touch, vision, waves and resonance, and weather. Recently the San Francisco Exploratorium has been producing electronic versions on their favourite exhibits. This includes 'The Trapezoidal Window', 'Mutant Fruit Flies' and the 'Squirming Palm'. There are other interesting sections including 'What's New in the World' and Science Explorer' where students can carry out their own experiments. This is a website that really makes science fun and exciting. Not surprisingly the San Francisco Exploratorium has won a whole range of awards for its website.
The Natural History Museum: Daphne Hills works in the Department of Zoology at the National History Museum and is part of the team responsible for identifying mammal specimens. The National History Museum website has an excellent Science Casebook section that enables visitors to follow Daphne's attempts to find out whether the recently discovered skull with large fangs in the River Fowley, is evidence of the existence of the Beast of Bodmin Moor. Other case-studies in this section include work on a recently discovered micrometeorite and an attempt to answer a question raised by the recent films, Jurassic Park and The Lost World: "Is it possible to extract DNA from ancient bloodsucking insects trapped in amber?" A very impressive website that hopefully will inspire other British museums.
Geography
The Volcanic: This website is funded by the Japanese Science and Technology Agency and the National Science Foundation. Regular features include sections on 'Current Eruptions', and 'The Volcanic Photo Gallery'. 'Volcanic Animations' gives the user the opportunity to watch five videos and two computer animations. There are also sections for academics and older students including 'Online Volcanic Journal', 'Volcanic Bibliographic Database' and 'Guide to Volcanologists on the Internet'.
The Tornado Project: Tornado Project Online is a company that gathers, compiles, and makes tornado information available to weather enthusiasts, the meteorological community and emergency management officials. The company is using its website to share some of this information with the general public. This material appears under several headings including: 'Recent Tornadoes', 'Tornadoes in the Past', 'Storm Chasing', ''Top Tens About Tornadoes', 'Tornado Oddities', 'Tornado Stories', 'Tornado Safety' and 'Myths about Tornado'.
Modern Languages
Learn French: Speak French at this site and you will get feedback on how you are doing from the webmaster. The topic changes every month. For example, October's topic is the fashion show season. The site is aimed at GCSE French and offers a growing collection of vocabulary practice based on the exam boards' wordlists. At Learn French you will find the best links to help you; these are all free and include whole online courses, collections of exercises as well as useful tools such as talking dictionaries and information on how to print accents and cedillas on the computer. There are also links to fun sites that entertain as well as educate. A recent addition is the collection of online projects presented both in French and English. More offbeat links to authentic French language sites are offered in the free monthly newsletter you can
sign up to.
Webspañol: Webspañol is a collection of Internet resources that promotes the study and appreciation of the Spanish language. This includes a large number of online tests such as translating the song lyrics of the Beatles, a systemised study of English-Spanish cognates, solving Spanish riddles and mastering irregular verbs. There is also an audio pronunciation guide, English-Spanish Penpal Exchange, a Spanish Chat Room and links to newsgroups in 20 Spanish-speaking countries.
All About Spain: All About Spain is a comprehensive website for anyone planning to visit Spain. Sections include: Regions of Spain (provinces, locations of interest, major attractions, etc.); City Guide (information on Spain's most important cities); Spain A-Z (alphabetical listing of all the locations mentioned on the website); Yellow Pages (database of hotels, camping sites, youth hostels, restaurants, etc.); Photo Tour (a collection of photographs of Spain) and Country and Culture (information about Spain's climate, history, architecture, popular customs, etc.).
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.
