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.
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.
History
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.
