Education on the Internet
Number 72: 28th May, 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 35,680 subscribers to the newsletter.
All reviews are added to our web directory. There are sections on Internet Services, Online Seminars, Primary Education, English, Mathematics, Science, Modern Languages, History, Geography, Design & Technology, Business Studies, Special Needs, Media Studies, ICT, Sociology, Music, Politics, Economics, Photography, Art & Design, Theatre Studies, Physical Education and Religious Studies.
John Simkin
Online Seminars
Encouraging History Teachers To Use ICT: A survey carried out in 1999 discovered that the main reason teachers used computers in their teaching was because they felt they ought to. History, the same as every national curriculum subject, has clear requirements to use ICT. It seems that history teachers thus feel a burden to make use of ICT. In this seminar Andrew Field suggests how history teachers can be encouraged to make use of ICT in their lessons. The fundamental approach is not backed up by the notion"because they have to", but rather the infinitely preferable "because of the benefits". If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
Snapshot Survey: Dr. Maria Uther of the University of Portsmouth is conducting an online survey of teachers and school administrators on ICT use in schools. The aim of the study is to survey teachers, and school support staff throughout the U.K. on the following areas: How frequently they use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in schools for curricular purposes. What teachers' attitudes and training in ICT use are. What kinds of technologies are being used. With the data gathered from this study, we aim to deliver a comprehensive, up-to-the minute report that we hope will help inform educators and policy makers on best possible strategic directions for future use of educational technologies in schools. The survey can be taken via any PC connected to the Internet and will take only approximately 10 minutes to complete. All answers remain confidential on an individual level, and only group trends will be published. Should you wish to participate in the survey, please use the link above.
TEEM: Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia provides teachers with free access to independent, classroom-based evaluations of educational multimedia. As TEEM-trained classroom teachers write these evaluations, readers can be sure that they are receiving impartial, thorough and reliable advice. TEEM trains classroom teachers to become evaluators of CD ROMs, tools and websites. Materials are used in the classroom, before evaluations are written using clear frameworks. Once edited, the results are published on the TEEM website, where there are currently 704 titles of Key Stage 1 - 4 materials available.
Teaching Solutions: This website offers a wide range of teaching resources that are specifically designed to help teachers in the classroom. The teaching resources can be integrated with management environments to help in the day-to-day running of classes, giving the teacher more time for intervention and one-to-one teaching. Subjects covered include Windows Based Management, Internet Based Management, Computer Aided Instruction Authoring, Science and Technology Teaching Resources, Information Technology Teaching Resources and Automotive Technology Teaching Resources.
History
History of MI5: In November 1979, Goronwy Rees, gave a deathbed confession that he had been a Soviet spy. He also claimed that Guy Liddell, Deputy Director General of MI5 (1947-52) was also a traitor and had been part of the five man Cambridge Spy Ring (Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt). In his autobiography published in 1987, former agent, Peter Wright, claimed that the fifth man was not Liddell but Roger Hollis, the Director General of MI5 (1956-65). This website takes a look at the history of MI5 and its search for the fifth man within its ranks.
National SHP Conference: The SHP Conference will be held at Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds (4th-6th July). Workshop sessions on Friday include: The British Empire (Jamie Byrom), Digital Video in the History Classroom (Ben Walsh), Innovating with History (Jerome Freeman), Teaching AS History (Gary Howells), Transatlantic Slave Trade (Dean Smart), The E-Factor in History Teaching (Steve Illingworth), Oliver Cromwell (Andy Harmsworth), Interactive Whiteboards (Ian Coulson), Online Simulations (John Simkin) and Playing Games with the Middle Ages (Rob Martin). You can register online or by writing to Anne Bean, Trinity & All Saints College, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 5HD.
The Middle East (1917-1978): This website contains information on recent developments in the Middle East including: The McMahon Agreement, The Balfour Declaration, Palestine 1918 to 1939; Palestine and the League of Nations; ;The Jewish Agency; Haganah; The Middle East and the United Nations; The bombing of the King David Hotel - 1946; Israel and the 1948 War; David Ben Gurion; The Suez War of 1956; Gamal Abdel Nasser; The Six-Day War;Palestinian Liberation Order; Golda Meir; Moshe Dayan; The Yom Kippur War of 1973; Anwar Sadat; The Sadat Initiative and Menachem Begin.
Science
City of Science: This website, produced by the Nuffield Curriculum Centre and funded by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, looks at the science of London. The site allows you to explore how science has helped to shape London and meet the needs of its people. Find out what London does for science as a centre of research excellence from the entries showing where science is done. Alert yourself the many science events that are open to the public. The site covers science in its broadest sense by including not just pure and applied sciences but also engineering and technologies of all kinds.
Scientists & Engineers: Biographies of Charles Babbage, John Bernal, Henry Bessemer, George Bidder, John Blenkinsop, Matthew Boulton, Edward Bury, Sydney Camm, Edmund Cartwright, James Chadwick, John Cockcroft, Christopher Cockerell, Samuel Crompton, Humphry Davy, Michael Faraday, Rosalind Franklin, Daniel Gooc, Timothy Hackworth, John Haldane, James Hargreaves, William Hedley, Dorothy Hodgkin, Julian Huxley, Edward Jenner, William Jessop, R. V. Jones, John Kay, Frederick Lindemann, Joseph Locke, John MacAdam, Charles Macintosh, George Macintosh, Reginald J. Mitchell, William Murdock, Matthew Murray, James Nasmyth, William Perkin, Joseph Priestley, John Rastrick, George Rennie, John Rennie, Ernest Rutherford, George Stephenson, Robert Stephenson, Thomas Telford, Charles Tennant, Henry Tizard, Richard Trevithick, Charles Vignoles, Barnes Wallis, James Watt, Robert Watson-Watt, Frank Whittle, Joseph Whitworth, Nicholas Wood and Solly Zuckerman.
Special Needs
Community Languages: Over 300 languages are spoken in Britain today and one child in four in Inner London boroughs is bilingual. To support teachers and others working in this area, Becta now has a Community Languages website. It has case studies, information about software and translation engines. Becta is also working in partnership with Coventry LEA, which is developing a collection of Clicker Grids to support newly arrived pupils.
CAP: The Communication Aids Project (CAP) is an attempt to meet the needs of pupils in mainstream and special schools in England who have significant communication difficulties. CAP funding covers an assessment of the pupil, provision of hardware and software, training for school staff, the pupil and the pupil's parents, and an ongoing review. In the first year of the project, 1500 pupils benefited from over £3 million worth of technology. The project, funded by the DfES, is to be extended for a further two years, with an extra £10 million of government funding.
Geography
Geography in the News: This brand new site from the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) provides free learning resources, for teachers and students, focusing on the geography in and behind the news. Updated regularly, this dynamic and expanding website covers contemporary issues relevant to GCSE and A level geography curricula that feature in the news. Since launching in April major topics have included London's controversial congestion charge, the perennial problem of flooding in the UK and the facts and fables surrounding international migration. A wealth of downloadable resources is available including, video clips, maps, student activity sheets and teachers' notes. Users are able to interact with the site in a number of ways. A forum allows teachers to review the materials, students are able to report news stories with a geographical perspective from their local areas, a bulletin board enables users to give their views on 'hot' geographical topics and there is an interview area for interaction with experts.
Newfoundland and Labrador: The heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador is the result of a unique combination of geographical and historical forces. Located on the northeastern corner of North America, the province is closer to Europe than any other part of the continent. It was perhaps the first part of the New World to be explored by Europeans. Firm archaeological evidence has shown that Norse voyagers reached Newfoundland and Labrador around 1000 C.E. There are also strong indications that Newfoundland was the site of John Cabot's landfall during his first voyage to North America in 1497. This website provides information of this area under the following headings: Natural Environment, Aboriginal Peoples, Society, Economy & Culture, Exploration & Settlement, The Arts, Government & Politics, Facts & Figures and Maps.
Internet Services
Weblogs: Google is to create a search tool specifically for weblogs, most likely giving material generated by the self-publishing tools its own tab. It isn't clear if weblogs will be removed from the main search results, but precedent suggests they will be. Bloggers are likely to welcome their very own tab as a legitimization of the publishing format. But many others will breathe a sigh of relief as blogs disappear from the main index. Google has strived in vain to maintain the quality of its search results in the face of a blizzard of links generated by a small number of sources. Google currently searches over 3,083,324,600 pages. Assuming there are one million bloggers, and generously assuming they have a hundred pages each, that amounts to 0.032 per cent of web content indexed by Google.
Book Section
The Empire of the Raj: This book examines the clash between British Indian external policy and that of an expansionist Imperial metropole in the 'western approaches' to India. The major spheres of India's overseas interests - the Gulf region, the Middle East, Aden, Somaliland, Zanzibar, and East Africa - are examined through a series of case-studies and an analysis made of the motives behind, and nature of, Indian sub-imperialism and British imperialism. (Robert J. Blyth, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0 333 91475 9, £45.00)
