Education on the Internet
Number 57: 12th February, 2003
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 32,972 subscribers to the newsletter.
All reviews are added to our web directory. There are sections on Internet Services, 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
Comenius comprises three broad types of activity, all of which provide opportunities for schools and colleges looking to introduce or strengthen the European dimension in their curriculum. Comenius 1 supports a range of School Partnerships which enable pupils, students and staff from across Europe to work together on joint projects. Comenius 2 provides European in-service training for staff involved in school education and opportunities for trainee and intending teachers. Comenius 3 supports Networks of organisations involved in Comenius which share expertise and good practice.
Shambles in S.E.Asia: This website has been created by Chris Smith to support the International Schools communities in 17 countries and regions in Asia. The site has relevance to students, teachers and support staff, it is also also designed to be of help to families, both those already settled and those who are planning to move to Asia. It contains the most comprehensive searchable online database of international schools for this group of countries which is accessible in a number of different formats including text and interactive 'Flash' maps. There are also resources to support the daily work of teaching and learning not the least of which is a database of almost 20,000 URLs recommended by teachers, students and families which had been built up over the past three years. Other areas covered include one of Professional Development for Teachers, Advice for Parents, e-learning, utilities and a shop.
Beyond Theory: This event at the Oxford Union Debating Chamber on 11th April, 2003 will discuss, at a high level, the development of C&IT material for use in teaching. In particular has pedagogical theory/best practice fed into this in the past, and if not, should we be trying to remedy the situation for the future? Are commercial VLEs the answer to our prayers or are we being pushed into a corner against our better judgement as teachers and designers? These questions and many more will be discussed, debated, and maybe even answered in the one-day colloquium "Beyond Theory: Educational best practice and the use of ICT for teaching and learning".
Education Index is an annotated guide to the best education-related sites on the Web. They're sorted by subject and lifestage, so you can find what you're looking for quickly and easily. The links can be browsed by subject such as astronomy, chemistry, geology, and physics (among many others), or by lifestage, from prenatal and infant all the way to college and continuing education.
History
Ireland 1845 to 1922: This is the latest section available from Chris Trueman's History Learning website. It has material on the following topics: Ireland in the C19th, Ireland and land problems, the Great Famine, the Fenians, Gladstone and Ireland, Home Rule, Charles Parnell, Edward Carsons, the Ulster Covenant, John Redmond, the background to the Easter Rising, the 1916 Easter Rising, James Connolly, Patrick Pearse, Countess Markiewicz, Michael Collins, Ireland 1918 to 1922 and the Black and Tans.
Harriet Jacobs Symposium will be held April 4-5, 2003, in Edenton, North Carolina, where writer, abolitionist and reformer Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery in 1813. The story of her life, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, helped build Northern sentiment for emancipation during the Civil War and was the only slave narrative to deal so frankly with sexual as well as racial oppression. Literary critic Henry Louis Gates says, "Jacobs's autobiography is one of the major works of Afro-American literature.” Dr. Jean Fagan Yellin will be the Symposium's Keynote Speaker. She is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of English at Pace University and the editor of the standard edition of Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.
English
Learning Packs: This websites offers more than 2,000 ready made worksheets for students aged 10-18. Although there is a charge for this service there are more than 100 free worksheets to try. You can download, or print the sheets, amend them or adapt them as you wish. If they do not meet your requirements exactly you can simply use the ideas on the worksheets to inspire you when you design your own. There are no copyright restrictions. This includes English Literature Guides - Animal Farm, The Go-Between, I'm The King Of The Castle, Great Expectations, An Inspector Calls, Macbeth, Of Mice And Men, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Pygmalion, Romeo And Juliet and Twelfth Night.
Dorothy Parker: Dot City was launched in 1998 to create something unique online: a site devoted to Dorothy Parker's life in New York. The award-winning writer and peerless wit was a quintessential New Yorker, and that's what this site celebrates. Dot City takes you to her homes and apartments, the hangouts where Mrs. Parker and the Algonquin Round Table met, and even to a few places you may not have heard about. You can also listen to Dorothy Parker reading more than 30 poems. Autographs and interviews are in The Gallery for Parkerites; visitors can explore Dottie's days in Hollywood, the latest news items and also links to related sites.
Jack London: A website devoted to the life and times of Jack London. The website includes a biography, photographs and articles about Jack London and his family. The website provides online versions of several of his short stories and the novels The Call of the Wild, White Fang and The Sea-Wolf. There are also newspaper articles that he wrote while covering the Russo-Japanese War and the Russian Revolution.
Science
Creative Science: In advance of setting up a national network of science learning centres in 2004, the Department for Education and Skills and the Wellcome Trust are offering funding to develop and pilot new and exciting continuing professional development (CPD) courses for science teachers and other science support staff in schools. In addition to seeking creative and innovative courses from existing CPD providers, it is hoped that creative partnerships will be formed between science training organizations and those skilled and experienced in providing training in different academic disciplines.
Exploring Biodiversity. This website produced by the Natural History Museum provides an interactive introduction to biodiversity. It allows students to investigate what biodiversity means, explore different ways of measuring biodiversity, compare the floras of different British postal districts and consider factors influencing British species distributions. It also provides ideas for outdoor and classroom based biodiversity studies and links to other biodiversity related websites.
Geography
InfoNatura is a source for conservation information on the birds and mammals of Latin America and the Caribbean. This website is a comprehensive source for conservation, distribution, and taxonomic information on over 5,500 common, rare, and endangered species in 44 countries and territories. InfoNatura is updated three times a year to include "new data from refined geographic surveys, the latest taxonomic treatments, and any new conservation status assessments." Future versions of the database will include amphibian and reptile data.
Alabama Maps is an ongoing project of the Cartographic Research Laboratory, which operates under the auspices of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama. The Cartographic Research Laboratory has been creating computer generated maps since the early 1990's. Its 3540 digitized maps offers a valuable resource for persons doing research on the history of Alabama. The historical maps of Alabama are divided into time periods ranging from 1803 to 1942, and can be enlarged to focus in on areas of interest.
Music
Richard York - Musician: Richard York’s slightly unusual site has a large section offering resource information, though it was first intended to show his work as a education workshop leader & historical interpreter. Since he deals mainly in medieval, Tudor and Victorian periods through music and drama, these are the periods featured, together with much information about the instruments of the times, and an eclectic mix of other social history. The Instruments section is not period-specific, but shows how a wide range of instruments developed; e.g. the harp section shows a very early harp image, from Iraq, about 4,000 years ago, with modern reproductions of renaissance and medieval harps. This whole instruments section is written by a practising musician regularly using such instruments, not just looking into reference books. The Victorian section offers a variety of source material, pictures, references, and links to other sites, and some period English Language.
Herbert Von Karajan Center: Herbert Von Karajan became famous when he was conductor of the Berlin Staatsoper (1932-1942). As he was a member of the Nazi Party he was not allowed to work for a time after the war. However, in 1955 he was made principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. This website provides a biography of Herbert Von Karajan, brief multimedia clips of his recordings and a chronology of his life. It also has a complete archive of his musical recordings, searchable by composer, composition title, or musician.
Book Section
Ireland's Banner County: 1890-1918: A turbulent, dramatic past of an Irish county and its people is depicted against the national beackdrop of cultural, socio-economic, political and military upheavel on the eve of the birth of the Republic in Daniel McCarthy's comprehensive historical record of his native Clare. To order a copy of the book contact the author at dmccarthyma@hotmail.com (£19.95, Saipan Press: ISBN 0 9544087 0 5)
