Education
on the Internet
Number
57: 12th February, 2003
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
spartacus@pavilion.co.uk
News
and Articles
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)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
