Education on the Internet
Number 45: 20th November 2002
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 29,180 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
Spring Day in Europe: The European Convention, with representatives from 28 countries, is discussing the future of Europe. Spring Day in Europe is an event organised to bring this debate right into schools - your class can take part. Every secondary school in Europe is invited to join in. At a time when important decisions need to be made about the future of Europe, it is an opportunity for pupils to learn, discuss, and have their say on the European issues they care about. Schools can decide exactly how and to what extent they participate; organise a debate in the school, invite an expert on European issues to speak, or join with other schools to exchange views on the future of Europe. The Spring Day in Europe website will help with activities, ideas and tools for teachers.
Comenius Space: Comenius is is a European action programme to encourage schools to collaborate across borders. Comenius projects can improve professional skills, knowledge of culture and languages, and innovation in teaching. Comenius Space is a site for teachers and trainers active in Comenius projects and for those that would like to join. On the website you can find services, people, experts, and advisors that can help set up an international project. Comenius Space is available in English, French and German.
World Wide Wales: Officially launched this summer and created and produced by New Media Magic Ltd, a media company based in Ebbw Vale, is a very large, unique and innovative project which creates and presents short programmes about the history, culture, geography and people of Wales. It is created using Macromedia’s Flash technology for narrowband distribution, and is presented on the Internet via an easily accessible website. With over 100 individual programmes already on the site this will be one of the largest audio-visual sites on the web. The programmes are divided into a number of different categories, which include towns, biographies and heritage sites. As well as the programmes themselves, there are quizzes, collages and jigsaws to involve the viewer during the initial pre-load of the programme content. Each programme can be viewed with or without subtitles for the benefit of those who are hard of hearing or whose computers do not have speakers installed.
Internet Services
WebQuest: A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The model was developed in early 1995 at San Diego State University by Bernie Dodge with Tom March. The website provides training materials and a large collection of WebQuests.
Filamentality: This website, created by SBC Pacific Bell, helps teachers create and post a web-based learning page. You don't need to know any HTML and you can go back and edit it at any time. Filamentality helps you pick a topic, provides web searching tips, lets you use "fill-in-the-blanks" to gather good Internet sites, guides you with interactive pages that help you shape your ideas around whatever specific goal you have, and then, gives you your very own web page on the Internet.
edu@guardian: Richard Doughty's edu@guardian is always full of useful information for teachers. In the edition published yesterday, John Davitt provides some advice on how to stop students from copying work from the Internet and handling it in as their own. As well as making use of the autocommand in Word (tools menu) Davitt suggests asking the students to turn the text into a one-minute talk. The Guardian supplement also includes articles on digital video, ICT and exam results, virtual learning in Scotland and tablet computers.
Modern Languages
Vacation to France: This WebQuest for students of French was created by Lee Kirby of the University of Richmond. The student is told that the family has decided to take a trip to France. The problem is that each one of you has different interests and likes so you must make an itinerary that fits all of your interests and needs. Once you are in France you have to visit all of these fun and exciting places and bring back information and pictures for a scrapbook.
Graham Davies's Favourite Websites: An annotated list of hundreds of websites for Modern Foreign Languages, compiled by Graham Davies, including links to authentic materials, school and university site, sites offering interactive exercises, and sites from which classroom materials can be downloaded - plus a few entertaining links with a linguistic focus. This page also includes links to a number of articles on MFL/ICT written by Graham Davies.
Art
PapaInk Children's Art Archive is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of youth. PapaInk's activities encompass the exhibition of works by young artists, the archiving of historically significant children's art collections and the building of communities that support children's creative endeavors. Through open archival access, PapaInk seeks to "grow the audience for children's art and reinject the creative spirit of young people into human experience."
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Despite his notoriously dissipated lifestyle, Toulouse-Lautrec was a dedicated craftsman. His work, with its bold and arresting forms, was one of the most important influences in gaining acceptance for both lithography and the poster as major art forms. This website, run by the San Diego Museum of Art, enables you to look at this large collection of Toulouse-Lautrec's posters.
Design & Technology
Design And Technology On The Web is a growing resource of material for students at KS3, KS4 and KS5 in a variety of the strands of study. Resistant Materials, Graphic Products, Systems & Control ( Electronics), Industrial products (Engineering), Drawing Conventions, Textiles and Food - and A-Level topics are all included. The KS3 material covers a variety of topics and projects that are common to many schools. A site Search facility and an A-Z section allows most topics to be found quickly - or the structure allows and entertaining degree of exploration.
Primary Design & Technology: This website is produced by the Nuffield Foundation Design & Technology Project. On the website you'll find information about the Project, examples of pupils' work, classroom materials to download and other resources for teachers. Free computer control materials will soon to be available from this site.
Media Studies
Pathe News: Seven years ago the publishers of the Daily Mail spent more than £10 million for the film library of British Pathe. The 3,500 hours of material covers news, sport, social history and entertainment from 1896 to 1970. The entire archive, including its pictures of the Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II, the explosion of the Hindenberg airship and the declaration of war in 1939, has been digitised, with the help of £1 million from the National Lottery's New Opportunities Fund. This material can now be searched online and downloaded from the Pathe News website.
Newsroom: The Newsroom, Archive and Visitor Centre at 60 Farringdon Road, London preserves and promotes the histories and values of the Guardian and the Observer through archive, education and exhibitions. School parties are invited to spend a day at the Newsroom to find out what it is like to be a reporter and editor. Students get the opportunity to get involved in everything from researching, writing, editing to creating headlines and selecting and captioning photographs.
Advertising
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Book Section
Politics on Trial: Five Famous Trials of the 20th Century: William Kunstler, champion of civil liberties and human rights, reflects on five famous examples in which ordinary citizens were targeted for the colour of their skin or the views they held. The political trials presented include those of Nicola Sacco and Bartomoleo Vanzetti (Italian immigrant anarchists accused of murder): Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (communists executed for espionage); John Thomas Scopes (convicted of teaching evolution); and the Scottsboro boys (nine young African Americans falsely accused of rape). In the current atmosphere of fear being whipped up as part of the "war on terrorism" and the framing of political debate in terms of, "good versus evil", these cases seem more resonant than ever. (William Kunster, Ocean Books, £7.95)
