Education
on the Internet
Number
43: 6th November 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 28,415
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
My
Account: As an additional service to its catalogue of thousands
of high quality social science Internet resources, SOSIG, the Social
Science Information Gateway, now offers My Account. My Account is
a feature that enables you to customise SOSIG to create your own,
tailored SOSIG information services. This free registration service
can help you to keep up-to-date with events in your areas of interest,
develop your career through contact with like-minded colleagues and
publicise your conferences and events. Specific features of the service
allow you to receive weekly email notification of new Internet sites
and to set up your own Web page on SOSIG that displays Internet channels
of your choosing.
Dyslexia:
A report on a revolutionary exercise programme for children and adults
with dyslexia and similar learning difficulties has just been published.
David Reynolds of Exeter University, and Rod Nicolson of Sheffield
University, who monitored the progress of 35 children in the West
Midlands, said those who had undergone the treatment showed "significantly
greater improvements" than others in dexterity, reading and verbal
fluency. Ten thousand children and adults are on or have completed
programmes which effectively try to improve the working of the cerebellum,
the part of the brain that controls motor functions, such as eye,
leg and arm movements.
NewsSeer:
NewsSeer is both a straightforward news search engine and an adaptive
tool that's constantly learning your interests to deliver personalized
news tailored to your own needs. In addition to its search capabilities,
NewsSeer will attempt to learn your interests by using several criteria
from the material you select to view. This includes article selection,
the text of the article, how long you looked at a story, the source
of the material and the age of the story. This process is automatic.
However, you can also choose to assist NewsSeer by rating your interest
in the story.
Web
Directories
Kevin's
Playroom is a unique multi award winning web site produced by
children for children, listing all school subjects with hundreds of
approved links to curriculum based information. The site is aimed
at children from pre-school (working with parents) to primary, junior
and secondary pupils to assist with class work and homework tasks.
It also has a big kids section which is proving very popular with
teachers and pupils for project work, as here you can compare the
different mobile phone tariffs, find comparative costings for holidays
and flights etc. all without leaving the classroom.
Mr.
Flack's Ultimate Educational Resources: Jim Flack of Lancaster,
Ohio, has produced a resource website encompassing all curriculum
areas. Listed as a Yahoo! K-12 Teaching Web Directory and a winner
of the USA Today "Best Bets For Educators" award. The website
has 10,000+ active links and and has been visited by over 75 countries.
Primary
Boggles
World: The website is maintained by four teachers, two in Korea
and one in each of Canada and the United States. Boggle's World is
is a resource site for teachers who teach elementary and middle school
English, ESL and EFL to children. The site hosts original materials
that teachers download to supplement classroom activities. Worksheets
include crosswords, word searches, worksheets, science activities,
and lesson plans. There are also extensive flashcards exploring themes
such as animal habitats and outer space. All materials have been teacher
tested in EFL and ESL environments.
Mr.
Jennings' Website: Graham Jennings is a teacher at Westdale Junior
School in Mapperley. The purpose of his website is to share teaching
resources with junior school colleagues. It also allows him to share
his termly and weekly curriculum planning with pupils, parents and
colleagues. Currently, the main teachers' resources are an index to
the National Literacy Strategy Framework document and Science self-assessment/RoA
sheets linked to the QCA Scheme of Work for Science at Key Stage 2.
History
Women's
Library is a cultural centre, housing the most extensive collection
of women's history in the UK. Its collections cover a range of topics
relating primarily to women in Britain, but some international material
is available. Published materials include over 60,000 books and pamphlets,
including first editions and rare items, and 2,400 periodical titles,
ranging from popular magazines to academic quarterlies. Special collections
consist of 350 archival collections, including diverse personal papers,
records of societies and associations, and research and oral history
projects. There are also rich holdings of photographs, posters, postcards
and other visual materials.
Origin
Search: Origin Search allows searching, via a single search request,
of millions of web pages containing genealogy data. By entering a
surname, and any other relevant information such as forename, year,
place of birth, residence, the search engine will link you directly
to sites where that name and information appears. Origin Search is
not an interface for databases, but a specialised genealogical search
engine saving users time and ensuring that they find information which
may not be found on other general search engines. This search engine
currently covers over 300 million names from around the world.
Modern
Languages
Aiglon
College Language Link is a resource site for German and French.
For each language there is a large bank of interactive exercises,
grouped by GCSE topic area or Grammar area. In German, there is also
a corresponding bank of exercises for A Level. The exercises are of
various different types, and each link has a brief description of
the nature and level of the exercise. The site also contains material
for printing, a revision section, and a set of links to other useful
resources. A number of projects by students at the school have also
been published on the site, and can be found in the 'Student Work'
section.
Beowulf
in Cyberspace: Beowulf on Steorarume (Beowulf in Cyberspace) centres
on a free online edition of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem "Beowulf",
including: the original Old English (OE) text with MS notes; new English
translation with facing OE text; German translation with facing OE;
supplemental OE texts with translation; Old English glossary (in progress);
audio & visual resources.
ICT
WebWise:
This new online course is the easy way to get to grips with the Internet.
It lets you learn at your own pace and can lead to a nationally recognised
qualification. The eight key sections, or trips, will take you through
the Internet basics in a simple and easy to follow format. It will
probably take you about ten hours to complete the course. WebWise
will help you find out about getting connected, e-mailing, searching,
bookmarking, making your own address book and the very basics of building
your own web page. You will also learn about technological developments
like Digital TV and WAP phones, your legal rights online, the history
of the net, and the other ways in which you might get online.
Richard's
Things: Richard Finnigan has been involved in co-ordinating ICT
in middle schools since 1996. He has created this website in order
to share work and ideas so if you are an ICT teacher hopefully you
will find this website useful. Richard Finnigan has explained what
each resource is about and what it can be used for. On this website
you will find teaching resources, lessons plans and schemes of work
and a few homemade applications.
Citizenship
Consumer
Education: Buying things on the Internet? Taking a pair of faulty
jeans you bought in a sale back to a shop? Wondering where all those
empty soft drink cans go after you throw them in the bin? Young people
all over the UK can learn how to become informed and responsible consumers,
aware of their rights and aware of how their actions affect other
people across the globe. Young people can now find out everything
they need to know about their rights and responsibilities as consumers
by visiting the site. This consumer education website launched by
the Welsh Consumer Council provides a wealth of information to support
and build the confidence of young consumers learning how to live in
a complex and independent world. The colourful site makes learning
about consumer issues simple and fun, with information, worksheets
and quizzes on consumer law, shopping, advertising, money, health
and safety, the environment and how to complain.
DfES
Citizenship: This government website has been designed as a source
of information about education for Citizenship in the curriculum for
young people in schools and colleges in England. Information
on the site has been arranged in three main areas for teachers, pupils,
and parents and governors. There are sections on Curriculum Issues,
Assessment, Training & Development, Teaching Resources and Case-Studies.
Citizenship
Foundation: The Citizenship Foundation is an independent charity
working to promote more effective citizenship through education about
the law, democracy and society. Founded in 1989, it encourages understanding
of the rights and duties of citizenship, the workings of the political,
social, and legal systems and the democratic process. It also advocates
the provision of experiences which enable citizens to become caring,
confident and effective members of society. In particular, the Foundation
seeks ways of enriching provision for those for whom the quality of
citizenship would otherwise be poor.
Book
Section
Ralph
Miliband: Based on exclusive access to Miliband's extensive personal
papers and supplemented by interviews, this book analyses the ideas
and contribution of a key political figure whose lifelong aim was
to help build a form of socialism which would avoid the dictatorship
of the Soviet bloc and the timidity of social democracy. Miliband's
life and work form the central focus, but the book also provides an
interpretative history of the evolution, debates and dilemmas of socialists
throughout the period, and of the problems they faced both at work
defending academic freedom and in society at large. (Michael
Newman, Merlin Press, £15.95)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
