Education on the Internet
Number 62: 19th March, 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 33,945 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
European Values Project: A new area on the Spring Day in Europe site gives pupils the opportunity to express their opinions and exchange their views on these values. Are all Europeans equal? Does democracy mean that you have to support your government even if you disagree with the decisions it makes? Is keeping the peace only up to 'security forces' or does it have something to do with you, too? Challenge your beliefs and argue for your point of view in the European Values project. A short article presents the issues around the value - peace, democracy, tolerance or equality - and a page of links leads to more information. Each article has its own forum, where all pupils are invited to post their responses to the questions posed, and debate the views of others.
Student Forum: Andrew Field (England) and Richard Jones-Nerzic (France) have created a forum to enable a discussion to take place on Friday 21st March on European issues. Questions to be discussed include: What do you think about the Euro? What are your views about immigration in your country? Should Europe have a combined defence policy? What do you understand by nationality? Should we all be aiming for a United States of Europe? Should people learn languages other than their own? What do you think a European School curriculum would mean? Should there be a single EU permanent member of the UN security council? Is it time to abolish the European song contest?
Speak Out: On 21st March, 2003 a debate will take place at Imperial College to mark the EU wide Spring Day in Europe. The panel for a Question Time on the Euro will hosted by David Dimbleby, President of the Institute for Citizenship. Panellists include Neil Kinnock (Vice President of the European Commission), Nick Clegg (MEP, Liberal Democrat), Bashir Khanbhai (MEP, Conservative Party), Caroline Lucas (MEP, Green Party) and Adam Afriyie (Managing Director, Connect Support Services).
History
Play Your Dates Right: This game tests historical knowledge by inviting students to choose a topic area and then presenting them with a series of shuffled 'cards'. Students playing the game have to determine whether the event described on each new card happened before or after the one to its left. Russel Tarr (Active History) and John Simkin (Spartacus Educational) have created 20th Century Europe to celebrate Spring Day In Europe.
Trade Unions in Britain: An encyclopedia of the Trade Union movement in Britain between 1800 and 1950. The website includes entries on important events and issues (8), union journals and newspapers (16), trade union and political legislation (12), union organizations (8) and biographies of trade union leaders (48). The text within each entry is linked to other relevant pages in the encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people and events in great detail. The sources are also hyper-linked so the student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper and organization that produced the material.
Pate's Grammar School: This website is edited by Mark Mcshane from the History department at Pate's Grammar School. It includes course information and relevant links for students studying History at Key Stage 3, GCSE, and History as well as Government and Politics at AS and A2 level. The site includes topic links,study tips and student contributions, ranging from interactive revision quizzes to AS notes on Italian Unification. Students use the site to vote on current political discussions and discuss their views on a monitored forum. A range of research based activities have been created for use in the classroom on subjects such as the Chartists and the First World War.
English
Storytelling in the Classroom: David James has reduced his full-time teaching in order to promote the use of Storytelling in the Classroom. The website provides everything you need to deliver lessons, whose targets meet several of the National Curriculum criteria, to Primary School children upwards. Free lesson plans, texts, activities, assessment sheets and worksheets are available as is a download of David James telling "Call of the Sea". The SEN area provides any number of short tales with related activities which form self-delivering literacy lessons for 11 year olds.
Litnotes UK is a website for teachers and students studying AQA English Language and Literature and Media Studies. The site contains comprehensive notes on set texts, language and media topics. Sections include Glossary of Media Terms, Mass Media & Culture, Reading Media, Reality & Representation, Audience Theory and British Newspapers.
Maths
Mathszone is a website of links to interactive resources for teaching the primary maths curriculum. Links are available in two formats, firstly arranged by key objective from the numeracy hour, and secondly by topic. Well known programmes from sites such as Primary Resources and Ambleside are joined with many of Mark Weddell's own creations to form a bank of hundreds of online games and activities. The site has become a favourite place for many teachers and children attempting to find useful activities on the Internet.
Citizenship
Rachel's War: This weekend 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a bulldozer as she tried to prevent the Israeli army destroying homes in the Gaza Strip. In a remarkable series of emails to her family, Rachel Corrie explained why she was risking her life for the cause of peace.
Time for Citizenship: A group of Primary Schools in the UK and Ireland have been working together to create a free website for Primary Schools on Citizenship. They are hoping to get children working together to discuss aspects of Citizenship. The termly prizes for winning entries to the Art Gallery will be £50 for 1st, £30 for 2nd and £20 for 3rd. A library of free lesson plans is available to teachers to download and use.
Politics
When Democracy Failed: February 27, 2003, was the 70th anniversary of Dutch terrorist Marinus van der Lubbe's successful firebombing of the German Parliament (Reichstag) building, the terrorist act that catapulted Hitler to legitimacy and reshaped the German constitution. By the time of his successful and brief action to seize Austria, in which almost no German blood was shed, Hitler was the most beloved and popular leader in the history of his nation. The 70th anniversary wasn't noticed in the United States, and was barely reported in the media. But the Germans remembered well that fateful day seventy years ago - February 27, 1933. They commemorated the anniversary by joining in demonstrations for peace that mobilized citizens all across the world. This article by Thom Hartmann for Common Dreams reflects on the comparisons between the events of 1933 and 2003.
Sojourners: Founded in 1971 Sojourners (Christians for Justice and Peace) is a Christian ministry whose mission is to proclaim and practice the biblical call to integrate spiritual renewal and social justice. The organization holds strong views on the proposed bombing of Iraq and on its website provides a six point action plan on how to solve the conflict. "It is the eleventh hour, and the world is poised on the edge of war. Church leaders have consistently warned of the unpredictable and potentially disastrous consequences of war: massive civilian casualties, a precedent for preemptive war, further destabilization of the Middle East, and the fueling of more terrorism. Yet the failure to effectively disarm Saddam Hussein and his brutal regime could also have potentially catastrophic consequences. The potential nexus between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism is the leading security issue in the world today. This is the moral dilemma: a decision between the terrible nature of that threat and the terrible nature of war as a solution."
Languages
MFL Games is a website dedicated to learners of French, Spanish and German. The emphasis is on making the learning process fun whilst remaining faithful to the central objective of successful learning and retention of vocabulary and phrases. There are several hundred games available to play, free of charge, ranging from the exciting Millionaire, Wheel of Fortune, Mismatch, Scratchcard and Mastermind to the challenging Odd One Out and Complete the Series. All games are stimulating, challenging and exciting. The is also a section for the interactive whiteboard.
Book Section
Emma's War: Emma McCune's passion for Africa, her unstinting commitment to the children of the Sudan, and her striking beauty and glamour set her apart from other aid workers from the moment she arrived in the country. But no one was prepared for her decision to marry a local warlord - a man who seemed to embody everything she was working against - and to throw herself into his violent quest to take over southern Sudan's rebel movement. With precision and insight, Deborah Scroggins charts the process by which McCune's romantic delusions led to her descent into the hell of Africa's longest running civil war. (Deborah Scroggins, HarperCollins, 0 00 257027 0, £17.99)
