Education on the Internet
Number 74: 11th June, 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 36,400 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
Online Seminar: Andy Walker's seminar is intended to stimulate discussion of the controversial issues of selection, streaming, setting and banding in schools and to explore the educational and sociological implications of these common practices. It may well also extend out to cover related issues concerned with increasing specialization in schools and the right of specialist schools to select on entry. The subject area is deliberately wide as the author's opinion is that all these practices are based on an outdated and discredited ideological commitment to the grammar/secondary modern approach: a commitment which continues to blight the British educational system. Participants draw on an extremely wide range of experience, some still live and work in areas where the Tripartite system still thrives (people from Kent rather than time travellers!), whilst many work in "comprehensive" schools. If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
ICT Awards: The ICT in Practice Awards aim to identify models of excellent practice and use these to develop and promote effective practice in the use of ICT in teaching, learning and leadership. This Becta scheme allow it to share this information with the wider teaching community while rewarding individuals who demonstrate exemplary practice in ICT. Each award winner will receive £2,500, with an additional £2,500 going to their school or organisation. Each runner-up will receive £500, with an additional £500 going to their school or organisation. The awards are open for nominations from 13 March to 25 July 2003.
Curriculum Online: Learnthings and Schoolzone have won the two DfES contracts to evaluate digital learning resources for Curriculum Online. It is hoped that the independent evaluations by practising teachers will help teachers making informed decisions when buying digital materials. Evaluations will be posted on the Curriculum Online website and will be published in a new supplement, E-valuate, inside Education Guardian. The first edition is due out this autumn.
Tony Blair and Technology: At regular intervals Tony Blair makes speeches calling for teachers and other public servants to embrace the new technology. In fact, he usually adds a threat about extra money not being made available until the public sector accepts his proposed reforms. On the 11th September, 2000, Blair informed the public that he had three main aims: "to make sure the UK was the best place to do e-commerce, to ensure universal net access for all and to ensure all government services were available on the net." He added: "To succeed we have to be quick on our feet. We have to embrace the Internet now - not in a few years time." However, a recent investigation shows that only three world leaders, Tony Blair, Robert Mugabe and Fidel Castro, are not hooked up to email. In November, 2002, 10 Downing Street announced that Blair would be contactable by email in the near future. This has still not happened and so Tim Yeo, the shadow trade and industry secretary, has set up an email address for our technophobe prime minister. It is rthontony-blairmp@hotmail.com.
History
History of the Caribbean: A collection of documents for anyone teaching about the history of the Caribbean and Bermuda. Subjects covered include the Caribbean, Bermuda, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Lesser Antilles and the Virgin Islands.
Teaching History in Spain: In this online seminar Juan Carlos Ocaña describes some of the features of teaching history in Spain. Secondary education in Spain is split up in two: Compulsory secondary education (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria - ESO) (12-16 years old) and Upper Secondary Education (Bachillerato) (17-18 years old). After passing a Bachillerato examination, students can go on studying at the university. A secondary education teacher has to teach about 18-17 hours a week.
Science
Science Through Arts: STAR (Science Through Arts) Project being sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The website you will learn about the planet Mars, our solar system neighbor next out from the sun. Students are challenged to develop questions about what they have learned and to imagine experimental means for acquiring answers. In some cases, students can perform basic experiments in the laboratory. The objective is to put together a mission to Mars, based on today's scientific knowledge and outfitted to acquire new information from the planet.
Green Choices: This website provides a guide to greener living which offers advice and encouragement to make environmentally friendly, ethical and sustainable lifestyle choices. It includes information on recycling, food and drink and the home. The schools section offers links to learning about green issues, teaching resources about sustainable development, and helping to manage schools in a more environmentally friendly way. There are games and activities for all age groups up to 16.
Politics
Informed Dissent: The journal, Mother Jones, has launched a new email newsletter, Informed Dissent. Every month Mother Jones sends out a carefully culled batch of suggestions for getting more deeply involved in the issues raised by its magazine. The first issue reports on how 120 million pesticide-laden rose blooms were sold last Valentine's Day in the US, propelling rampant rates of skin rashes, nausea, respiratory problems and birth defects among Ecuador's flower labour force. There is also an article about Thailand's pioneering "Green Label Program," promoting environmentally conscious products and sustainable consumer goods.
HPOL: History and Politics Out Loud (HPOL) is a searchable multimedia database documenting and delivering authoritative audio relevant to American history and politics. The materials range from formal addresses delivered in public settings to private telephone conversations conducted from the innermost recesses of the White House. The aim of HPOL is to provide an accessible source of audio information to enliven instruction and scholarship in history and politics and to enable easy access for all persons to the rich audio archives of American history and politics.
ICT
E-Learning: The Guardian's latest e-learning supplement was published this week. Articles include Unfinished Business (state-funded ICT training is in a mess so where do teachers go next?), The Virtual Art Studio (how painting on a computer can capture the imagination of children and teachers alike), Looking Good on Paper (Guardian/Teem guide to printers), Digital Revolution (a report on a recent digital video showcase) and Music Makers (a look at how technology is increasing music's popularity as a subject to study both at school and college).
ICT in Subject Teaching: This National Curriculum in Action website now includes examples of pupils' work with ICT across a range of subjects, with teacher commentary on how the use of ICT enhanced learning in the subject. The work exemplifies the requirements to use ICT in subject teaching. You can search for examples of pupils' work with ICT by choosing 'Using ICT' in Search. Also, on each subject page, 'ICT learning' links to examples of pupils' work. For each subject, there is guidance on: ICT learning, ICT statutory requirements and ICT opportunities.
Internet Services
Turbo10 Search Engine: Traditional crawler-based search engines (e.g., altavista, google) only search static web pages - the 'Surface Web'. But the Surface Web represents only a small percentage of the available information on the Internet. A plethora of high quality information is found in dynamic pages that are inaccessible to crawler-based search engines. This vast ocean of mostly untapped information has been called the 'invisible web'. Turbo10 searches the invisible web by connecting to a multitude of specialist databases in all topic categories and languages.
UCmore: This tool provided by UCmore installs into your browser and then shows information related to the page you are viewing. You don't search using it, but you may discover new sites related to those you like. UCmore sends you ideas for where to go next, wherever you are on the web. Its producers claim that "it is based on the way real people surf". It does this by organizing related sites into categories on your menu bar.
Book Section
Bay of Tigers: This is an extraordinary account of Pedro Rosa Mendes's journey across Africa in 1997 - 6,000 miles from the west to the east coast, from Angola to Mozambique. A journey through two sub-Saharan countries, torn apart by war and studded with landmines, on trains with no windows, no doors, no seats; on wrecks of trucks and buses, on boats and motorcycles. In war-torn Angola, a country where the landmines outnumber the people, Mendes finds long lines of villagers waiting for shock treatment to neutralize the phantom pain in amputated limbs, an apothecary's tent purveying boiled mucumbi bark to combat scurvy lesions in the mouth, and trains crowded with people eating salted fish and drinking beer, swapping tales of local sorcerers who can turn into snakes. He interviews international relief workers and corrupt local officials, widows and orphans, soldiers and survivors, piecing together a rich portrait no history or travel book can match. (Pedro Rosa Mendes, Granta, ISBN 1 86207 497 6, £12.99)
