Education on the Internet
Number 79: 16th July, 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 36,665 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
Teaching Black and Asian History in Schools: If one of the assumptions of the National Curriculum was that all students should be prepared for “life in a multicultural society” (NCC 1990 p.2), then History has a strong responsibility for this. In this seminar Dan Lyndon argues "there has been a failure by government, QCA, Ofsted and schools to develop a curriculum that reflects the Black and Asian experience in Britain and how it has shaped our current position." If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
WritersServices provides handouts formatted ready for use by students and course tutors. The subject matter, selected from the 1000+ pages on the site, covers many aspects of writing technique and the publishing business. There are pages covering information technology including health and safety issues. The pages have been written by UK-based experts for the website. The site hosts an active discussion forum and there is a free showcase for new writers. Audio trailers will be added in the autumn of 2003. Over 200 books and pieces of software for writers are reviewed in the WritersBookstall.
European Quality Observatory: European Schoolnet is a partner in building up a European-wide observatory for quality in eLearning. The mission is to establish a comprehensive European information and support space for quality in ICT-based training, learning and education. European Quality Observatory (EQO) first newsletter is available from its website.
BlackboardJungle is an online tutor directory, covering the whole of the UK and catering for all subjects and ages. The website has tutors offering their services in all school subjects and in music and languages. Also, help with business subjects and post 16 education is offered. BlackboardJungle also features advertisements from parents and students seeking tutors.
History
Civil War Photographs: Over 1,000 Civil War Images, Photographs and Cartes de Visites including Army Life, United States and Confederate Government Officers, Union and Confederate Generals and Soldiers, Civilians, Battle Field Photos, Casualties, Infantry Units, Cavalry Units, Artillery Units, Engineering Units, Navy Units and Vessels, Prisoners, Hospitals and Doctors, Factories, Quartermaster and Lincoln Assassination Conspirators.
Akhet Egyptology: An excellent website on the history of Ancient Egypt. Find out about the people of this amazing culture, and learn about the gods they worshiped, the Pharaohs they followed and the tombs and statues they left behind. So look around this website and find out more about famous people like Tutankhamun, the elaborate preparations they made for an eternal life. See the masks and jewelry which the dead took with them into their tombs and the elaborate mythology that inspired it.
Art & Design
Sodarace is the online Olympics pitting human creativity against machine learning in a competition to construct virtual racing robots. Sodarace invites both human and artificial intelligences to compete. Humans, from young to old, use the sodaconstructor interface to learn to construct handcrafted virtual robots. Artificial Intelligences, created by researchers the world over, use the Sodarace API (Application Programming Interface) to learn to construct computer-generated virtual robots.
Born Magazine is an experimental venue marrying literary arts and interactive media. Established in 1997 the main objective of Born Magazine is to make sure original projects are brought to life every three months through creative collaboration between writers and artists. Currently the website features Story Problem, an interactive adaptation of a poem by Terri Ford and Blue Madonna by Molly Sokolow.
Politics
International Occupation Watch: Cognizant of the current lack of information about Iraq and knowing that Iraq will receive increasingly less attention as media sources abandon the country for the newest “hot spot,” an international coalition of peace and justice groups is organizing the Baghdad-based International Occupation Watch Center. The Center will function under the auspices of United for Peace and Justice, a U.S. anti-war coalition with more than 600 member groups, with participation from a diversity of international groups including Focus on the Global South, Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation, and members of the World Social Forum.
Foreign Policy: Founded in 1970 by Samuel Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel, Foreign Policy is the award-winning magazine of global politics, economics, and ideas. The mazine draws on the world’s leading journalists, thinkers, and professionals to analyze the most significant international trends and events of our times. The current online version includes Grading the President, Rogue State Department and From Victory to Success: Afterwar Policy in Iraq.
Sociology
School Sociology: Janis Griffiths, Head of Sociology at Bryn Hafren Comprehensive School and the Barry Sixth Form, is responsible for the School Sociology website. It offers materials, study skills guidance and resources for students of sociology at GCSE and A Level. There are powerpoint presentations, pdf files and quiz shows.
Sociology Central is designed for use by a A-level Sociology teachers and their students. To this end it offers a range of materials and information for use both inside and outside the classroom. These include notes on various AS/A2 modules (Deviance, Family Life, Media and so forth); student worksheets; lesson plans; overhead transparencies; revision materials (such as keyword files and revision cards) and study skills links. The website also provides short reviews of useful Sociology-related books across a range of modules.
Internet Services
Google Toolbar: Google has just released a beta version of its next generation Google Toolbar - a free browser tool that enables users to search with Google no matter where they are on the Internet. New features in this latest version of the Google Toolbar include a pop-up blocker: You can now turn off distracting pop-up ads from web pages you visit and let through only those pop-ups you want to see. Other features include AutoFill, a facility where you can complete web forms quickly and easily with information that's saved securely on your own computer.
Technorati: You can now get the Technorati Link Cosmos of any site, article, or blog with a single click! The Technorati Anywhere! Bookmarklet will open a new window or tab in your browser with the list of links to that URL. It is a whole new way of instantly checking sources and finding out the credibility of the page you're currently viewing. To install it, simply right click on this Technorati Anywhere! link and select "Add bookmark" (or Add to Favorites) to install it in your browser.
Book Section
The Underground at War: While the Second World War produced numerous acts of self-sacrifice, it also made many people rich. The criminal activities of the underworld that extended from the civilian population right through to the armed forces constitute one of the great untold stories of the war. The Blitz of 1940 may have made a nation of heroes, but in the shadows the shelter gangs and looters prowled. Illegal food supplies threatened the nation's health - a consignment of black-market sausages in Hackney contained tuberculosis meat, while the industrial alcohol or 'hooch' served in West End clubs could produce blindness and brain damage. The scale of theft in the army was also colossal. Donald Thomas draws on extensive archive material to tell the extraordinary and frequently ludicrous story of these less-than-heroic Britons. The facts he uncovers are often so preposterous that in a novel they would seem unbelievable. (Donald Thomas, John Murray, ISBN 0 7195 5732 1, £20.00)
