Education
on the Internet
Number
58: 19th 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 33,530
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
3 Networks involve at least one organization from each of at least
six different European countries, and partnerships should be designed
to bring on board new organization during the course of the project.
Activities supported through Networks could include the organization
of seminars and conferences, the dissemination of project results,
comparative studies and the provision of advice and guidance to potential
co-ordinators. Networks will usually be funded for one or two years,
or three years in exceptional cases. The level of funding will vary
from one Network to another, however in the past the average grant
allocated has been in the region of €50,000 to €150,000
per Network per year.
dotSAFE
Project is a pilot study involving 23 member countries of the
European SchoolNet. There are four principal areas of work, some of
which are simultaneous and/or cyclical This includes auditing what
is available, concerns, and effective practices to raise awareness
of Internet safety in schools. The project also plans to develop new
and adapted pilot materials and technical solutions to the problem.
E-Vote
is an attempt to use the Internet and new technology to get more people
involved in the discussions and decision-making process of the EU.
It is a way to give students a vote and a voice. Over the next few
months of the Greek Presidency, students will have the chance to be
a part of these big changes - to vote on important issues, ask questions,
and offer ideas and suggestions.
History
International
History Teachers' Discussion Forum: This extremely popular discussion
forum is run in partnership with some of Britain's leading teacher-created
history websites. This week it launches an International Section.
This has been created to enable history teachers to make contact with
teachers from other countries, to propose work on collaborative projects
with teachers and students from other countries and to act as a section
to bring history teachers from around the world together.
Historians
and the Iraq Crisis: Politicians on both sides of the argument
over Iraq have been busy rummaging through the history books. The
pro-war camp constantly warn against repeating the mistakes of appeasement.
The antis claim we are heading for another Suez. But which is the
more plausible parallel? This is what 12 leading historians think
about this issue: Ian Kershaw, Paul Kennedy, Andrew Roberts, Simon
Schama, Linda Colley, Eric Hobsbawm, Richard Evans, Michael Burleigh,
Norman Davies, Avi Shlaim, Mark Mazower and Richard Overy.
Soviet
Union, 1930-1933: The young Welsh journalist Gareth Jones, and
former Foreign Affairs advisor to Lloyd George, visited Soviet Russia
and Ukraine on three occasions between 1930 and 1933, reporting on
Stalin's Five-Year Plan of Collectivisation and Industrialisation.
However it was on his last visit in March 1933, that he internationally
exposed the great Soviet Famine of 1932-33. He then publicly defended
his allegations in response to Soviet rebuttals by Stalin's main apologist,
Walter Duranty of the New York Times, which are covered on this fascinating
website, along with several supporting documents, including articles
and correspondence by Malcolm Muggeridge.
Geography
Spring
Europe Quizzes: Kim Neale of Abraham Darby School has created
a series of activities on the subject of Europe. This includes Trivia
Quizzes, Do you want to be a Millionaire? Hangman, Matching Exercises,
Challenge Board and Wordsearches.
First
School Years: Elementary Geography: The worksheets and resources
on this site are targeted primarily at Key Stage 1 ( 5 - 7 year olds).
Some may also be suitable for children in Early Years or lower Key
Stage 2. The printables are in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format.
The Geography section includes materials on Mapping Skills, Weather,
Around the World, Homes, Local Area and Jobs.
Politics
New
American Century Project is a non-profit educational organization
dedicated to a few fundamental propositions: that American leadership
is good both for America and for the world; that such leadership requires
military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle;
and that too few political leaders today are making the case for global
leadership. The New American Century intends, through issue briefs,
research papers, advocacy journalism, conferences, and seminars, to
explain what American world leadership entails. It will also strive
to rally support for a vigorous and principled policy of American
international involvement and to stimulate useful public debate on
foreign and defense policy and America's role in the world.
Iraq
Crisis: Robert Byrd, the 83 year old senator for West Virginia,
is unlikely to be a member of the New American Century Project. In
a speech made in the US Senate on 12th February he argued that the
war will represent a turning point in US foreign policy. "This
nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine
applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time. The doctrine
of pre-emption - the idea that the United States or any other nation
can attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be
in the future - is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of
self-defence. It appears to be in contravention of international law
and the UN charter. And it is being tested at a time of worldwide
terrorism, making many countries around the globe wonder if they will
soon be on our - or some other nation's - hit list."
Primary
Education
Activity
Village attempts to entertain and educate the under-10s. It provides
colouring pages, puzzles, printable crafts and games, worksheets and
wallpaper! It also publishes a free newsletters that gives updates
and new ideas. The people behind the website claim: "We believe
that busy kids are happy kids and do our best to provide things for
them to do! Visit here regularly, and your children need never be
bored again."
Education
Place: This website, created by the publisher, Houghton Mifflin,
provides resources for teachers, students, and parents. Subjects covered
includes Reading/Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Intervention,
Professional Development, activities, games, and textbook support.
Art
Artist
Toolkit Encyclopedia is an in-depth guide to learning more about
the building blocks of composition. Here you will see many examples
of works of art that illustrate the visual elements and principles.
Subjects covered include Line, Shape, Colour, Space, Texture, Balance,
Emphasis, Movement and Rhythm.
Museum
of Contemporary Art: Website Insights is a searchable database
of MCA Collection highlights. At present, the MCA holds almost 6,000
objects, works representing trends in art after 1945 in all media
and genres: paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photography, video,
film, installations, and artists' books. Among the greatest strengths
of the MCA Collection are surrealism of the 1940s and 1950s, minimalism
of the 1960s, conceptual art and photography from the 1960s to the
present, recent installation art, and art by Chicago-based artists.
The search engine allows visitors to search by artist name, nationality,
title of work, medium, and the decade in which the work was produced.
Internet
Services
Google
Monitor is a simple application that allows you to find and track
the ranking of your website or any given URL in Google search results.
It offers two modes of operation: you can enter a URL and a keyword
to find the top results and where your site ranks among them, or select
a URL and find its ranking for several keywords at once. You may store
statistics for all URLs and keywords, and keep notes to further track
search trends and the performance of your website.
The
Register: According to Hitwise the Register is the UK's No.1 UK
IT Media website. Hitwise monitors the daily Internet usage of more
than 7.6 million UK internet users to provide website rankings in
over 150 industry categories. Q4 2002 figures from industry monitors
Hitwise confirm that the Register had the lion's share of UK readers
in this category between October and December 2002.
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