Education
on the Internet
Number
47: 4th December 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 29,810
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
Gender
and Achievement: Produced by the Standards Unit this website claims
to be the first place for teachers, LEAs and parents to visit if they
want support and information on gender and achievement. It will help
those who are interested in raising the performance and aspirations
of underachieving boys and girls by providing an online resource pool
of best practice, analysis and practical advice.
Microsoft
Update: Microsoft has urged Windows users to take swift action
to prevent leaving their PCs open to abuse by hackers. The company
announced that security flaws affecting Windows 2000, Windows Me,
Windows 98 SE, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0 are "critical"
and could leave users vulnerable. It points out that hackers could
exploit the weaknesses to carry out a range of attacks, including
reformatting hard disks and editing web page content. A security patch
is available from the Microsoft website.
Teachers'
Magazine: Teachers magazine was launched in the spring of 1999
and is the Department for Education and Skills' magazine for the teaching
profession in England. The magazine is primarily written for classroom
teachers in the primary and secondary sectors. There are now two versions
of the magazine; one for primary and one for secondary teachers. The
magazine is published bi-monthly and is available online.
Internet
Services
Sygate
Personal Firewall: A firewall is a piece of software that monitors
all incoming network traffic and allows in only the connections that
are known and trusted. Without a firewall, your computer is operating
under an "open door" policy. Port 80 is open so that you
can browse web pages, port 1863 allows you to engage in instant messaging
with friends whereas port 443 gives access to secure web pages used
by online merchants to encrypt purchases. Sygate Personal Firewall
is software that provides a multi-layered shield of network, content,
application, and operating system security. There is a free version
available from its website.
Security
Scan: The BlackCode Security Scan is an online tool which makes
an exhaustive test on your computer or firewall searching for open
ports. After completing
the well known port numbers scan, the BlackCode Security Scan will
proceed to scan your system for possible trojan infections. This scan
is made using a Trojan database with more that 1500 different trojans
and worms.
Puzzlemaker:
Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and
parents. It includes Word Search (type in a list of words and the
computer will hide them in a grid of letters), Criss-Cross Puzzle
(your list of words will be linked together, numbered and formatted,
ready for you to print and hand out), Number Blocks (creates a block
of numbers that will challenge arithmetic and algebra skills), Cryptograms
(enter a phrase and the computer will assign a number to each letter)
and Math Square (math formulas are linked together to form a square).
History
Russia
1917-41: The Greenfield Modern World History GCSE site has a useful
section on Russia for GCSE pupils wanting to gain a
basic initial understanding of the topic. The site includes a topic
'mini-book' on Russia 1917-41 offering a clear account of the key
syllabus topics - the government before 1914, why the Tsar was overthrown
in March 1917, the Provisional Government, the Bolshevik coup d'état
of November 1917, the Bolshevik state, the Civil War, the NEP, and
Stalin (how he gained power, his agricultural and industrial policies
and the Terror). Hyperlinks allow visitors to extend their knowledge
beyond the basic information given in the text. The site also offers
exemplar essays, a revision sheet and an online test. Mini-book texts
and revision sheets are available as free downloadable Word versions.
Political
Graveyard is a web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries.
It is the Internet's most comprehensive source for American political
biography, listing 107,137 politicians, living and dead. The coverage
of the site includes certain federal officials, state office holders
and candidates in all 50 states, state and national political party
officials, federal and state judges, and mayors (including candidates
at election for mayor) of qualifying cities. The listings are incomplete
as the development of the database is a continually ongoing project.
Religious
Studies
Virtual
Tours of Monasteries: Dr. Deborah Vess of
Georgia State University has visited some of the most well-known medieval
monastic sites in the world. She has decided to share these experiences
with others through a series of virtual tours. This includes online
tours of Fountains Abbey, Rievaulx Abbey, Lindisfarne Priory, Celtic
Holy Wells, St. David's, Mellifont Abbey, Whitby Abbey, Kirkstall
Abbey, St. Augustine's Abbey and Battle Abbey.
Medieval
Pilgrimages: The Standards Site is managed by the Department for
Education and Employment's Standards and Effectiveness Unit (SEU).
The main objective of the site is to supply teachers with "guidance
and tools to help schools improve effectiveness, raise standards and
reduce workload". This scheme of work deals with the question:
"Why did people go on pilgrimages?" Aimed at Y7 pupils (11
to 12 year olds) the material attempts to explain why the cult of
relics was an important aspect of medieval religion.
Modern
Languages
Abraham
Darby Language Site: Kim Neale of the Abraham Darby School in
Telford in Shropshire is the person behind this impressive website.
The site offers class pages for pupils in Years 7 to 10. There are
numerous interactive French activities: quizzes, word searches and
an assortment of educational games. The majority of which are based
on the Heinemann Metro 1 and 2 books. Relevant feedback is provided
with all activities. Click on Bienvenido and Spanish and you will
be taken to a selection of Spanish resources, many of which are based
on The Arriba Textbook. The
site is constantly updated and it provides instant lessons either
for use in the computer suite or for whole class teaching. It is useful
for homework tasks especially for pupils using Metro 1 and 2. There
are also many links to other useful language websites.
Centre
for Information on Language Teaching (CILT) is the national centre
of expertise on language teaching. CILT was established in 1966 as
an independent charitable trust supported by central government grants,
with the aim of collecting and disseminating information on all aspects
of modern languages and the teaching of modern languages. CILT is
not a membership organization; anyone concerned with language teaching
and learning is welcome to visit the Centre or write for information.
CILT's prime objectives are to promote a greater national capability
in languages and to support the work of all those concerned with language
teaching and learning.
Photography
Pencils
of Light: The Edinburgh Calotype Club, the first photographic
club in the world, was formed in the early 1840s after a group of
Edinburgh gentlemen were introduced to the calotype process by Sir
David Brewster, the Principal of the United Colleges of St. Salvator
and St. Leonard at St. Andrews and a close friend and associate of
William Henry Fox Talbot, who had discovered the process in 1840.
The National Library
of Scotland has now put over 200 of these rare images produced by
this group on its website.
Brighton
Photographers 1841-1910: This website includes a comprehensive
Directory of Photographic Studios which operated in Brighton and Hove
during the period 1841 to 1910. Over 380 photographic studios are
listed alphabetically and alongside the name of each studio is given
the years of activity. The Directory of Photographic Studios will
help owners of photographs taken in Brighton or Hove in Victorian
and Edwardian times to date family photographs and hopefully as a
result make it easier to identify the people portrayed. Another feature
of the website is a History of Photography in Brighton, which traces
the development of photography in Brighton from 1841 to 1910. Beginning
with William Constable's Photographic Institution, which opened in
Brighton in November 1841, this history recounts the story of photography
in a large Sussex town, while outlining the major developments in
photography in general explaining along the way photographic processes
and formats such as the daguerreotype, the talbotype, collodion 'wet
plate' photography, the albumen print, stereoscopic photography, the
carte-de-visite, cabinet portraits, gelatin 'dry plates', roll film
and the birth of the snapshot. Technical terms are explained in detail
in a separate glossary and biographies are provided on the most important
and influential photographers in Victorian and Edwardian Brighton.
Web
Directories
Kids
Net: A search engine designed for children. The site, based in
Australia, contains over 20,000 child safe sites, and over 4000 categories.
Categories include: Arts, Computers, Directories, Entertainment, Games,
Health, News, People and Society, Pre-School, School Time, Sports
and Hobbies, and Family. Kids Net contains sites and categories that
are of direct interest to children, in this regard the site is a niche
search engine for children.
HERO:
Higher Education and Research Opportunities - is the official national
portal into Higher Education in the UK. The purpose of the site is
to provide a comprehensive, clearly annotated and easily navigable
body of links to all relevant HE related bodies and activities and
to effectively highlight the world-class work carried out within the
sector.
Book
Section
China's
New Rulers: At the Chinese Communist Party's 16th Congress in
November 2002, a group of new leaders will take over the world's most
populous country. Their accession signals the end of a long, complex
struggle for power, yet little has been known outside high Party circles
about either the struggle or the men who emerged victorious from it.
Now China's New Rulers, based on leaked secret Party files that were
compiled in choosing China's "Fourth Generation" of leaders,
offers an unprecedented glimpse into the most orderly transition in
the history of the People's Republic. It reveals the backgrounds,
characters, and visions for the future of the seven men who will rule
China for the next five years, profiles other key figures in the Party,
government, and military, and provides new perspectives on Jiang Zemin's
thirteen years in power. This is an extraordinary account of how a
new generation of leaders came to power, how they will face the challenges
of China's politics, economy, and culture, and how they may act as
international partners and competitors. (Andrew
J. Nathan & Bruce Gilley, Granta, £14.99)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
