Education on the Internet
Number 80: 23rd 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 37,010 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
Thinking Skills: In this seminar Lesley Ann Buxton discusses thinking skills and how to approach thinking in the teaching of history. Over the next week the author will post various topics on the teaching of thinking skills, guidance on how to write a thinking skills lesson, the benefits of teaching thinking skills, and offer a range of adaptable and flexible strategies/ activities for use in the classroom. If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
WorldWideWales: The project is part of a nationwide initiative to attract more people to spend time in this amazing country, to increase international awareness of Wales, and to bring Wales into focus within the educational curriculum. This website now has the largest ever presentation of Wales via a single Web portal, and boast more than 200 interactive mini-movies on things Welsh, everything from Rhyl to Ruthin, Rhys ap Gruffydd to RS Thomas, and the list is still growing. The website intends to become the largest ever Welsh language online information resource too, as more than 100 of the films are scheduled to go out in Cymraeg in time for the National Eisteddfod.
Curriculum Online is an online catalogue of priced and free digital learning products to support the teaching of the Curriculum in England up to and including Key Stage 4. The catalogue is provided by the DfES as part of a programme to give £330m, between 2002 and 2006, to maintained schools in England to spend on software and web services. The funding is known as electronic Learning Credits (eLCs) but is paid as cash to LEAs based on the number of schools in their area and the number of pupils at those schools. Each maintained school is entitled to £1000 as a starting point plus nearly £10 for each pupil at the school. Independent schools with maintained places will not receive the £1000 baseline figure but will receive the pupil allocation of nearly £10 for each maintained place.
New Media Awards: The New Statesman New Media Awards 2003, in association with SchlumbergerSema, focussed on how new media technology is used to make a difference in public life. The key themes of this year’s awards were "innovation, efficiency and accessibility". The winners of this year's awards are: Best School Internet Project (secondary): King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys. Best school internet project (primary): Saint Ambrose Barlow School. Best e-government project: Essex Grid for Learning. Safety on the net: Kid Smart.
History
ICT in History Conference: A major one-day conference on the use of ICT in history will take place on October 18th in Lincoln, at the Lincoln School of Science and Technology. The conference is free to members of the Historical Association and teachers from Lincolnshire LEA, and £35 to others. Booking forms and further details are available from Alf Wilkinson at sue.alf@btopenworld.com, or by telephone 01529 460553, or by post 33 Hall Rd, Great Hale Sleaford Lincs NG34 9LJ. Whether you are a relative beginner or a more advanced user of ICT, a trainee teacher or an experienced one, primary or secondary, this major conference will have something for you.
History of the Jewish People: In the year 1741 BCE, Abraham began his long journey from Haran to Canaan - a journey which would change the history of the world and have a profound effect on the development of most major religions. Throughout the ages there has been a fascination with Jewish history. Countless times, people have questioned the "miracle of the continual existence of the Jewish people" - this despite the almost consistent world delight in their persecution and ridicule. Can we, by reading history, find any clue to this intriguing historical riddle? This website, produced by Eli Birnbaum, attempts to answer this question.
English
Nellie's English Projects: These English Projects, produced by Nellie Deutsch, are content based lessons designed to provide students and teachers with clear instructions on how to write and present research papers. Students are evaluated for the process as well as for the final product. The site provides evaluation rubrics and clear instructions on how to do the projects. ESL Projects makes extensive use of WebQuests. These are web lessons designed by both teachers and students. WebQuests are structured mini projects. They consist of introduction, task, process, resources and evaluation.
Infant Explorer: An excellent website for Key Stage 1 produced by teachers working with the Canterbury Environment Education Centre. Every term a new story designed to be used within the literacy hour is added and so far The Swan Story, In the Autumn, Sebastian's Waddle, Pond Web, Sebastian's Rhyme, The Lost Cygnet and Sebastian Swan's Story are available from the site. Each story encourages the children to explore seasonal changes in the environment and includes NLS keywords, photographs, moving graphics and sounds. The story contains interactive sections which encourages the use of email and provides opportunities for the children's work to be published on the site.
Mathematics
MathsNet: As well as being Head of Maths at the Hewett Comprehensive School in Norwich, Bryan Dye is one of the pioneer developers of educational websites. His fantastic MathsNet website is a tremendous resource for all teachers and students of mathematics. Features include: Interactive, Articles, QuizBank, Magic Grid, MathsNet Art, Puzzles and Maths Links. The website also contains reviews of software and books for mathematicians.
Maths Help: This website provides free help and advice with problems in Mathematics and Statistics at GCSE, A-level, BTEC, GNVQ and foundation degree level. You send in your question and Maths Help will send an email back with hints and general advice and a couple of days later your answer will appear in the Maths Knowledge Bank. Categories include Number and Financial Calculations, Trigonometry, Geometry & Mensuration, Algebra, Functions and Graphs, Calculus, Statistics & Probability and Applied Maths & Mechanics. There is also a Maths Chat Room where you can talk with fellow students or the Maths Help tutors.
Science
Ask Dr. Universe: A wonderful site produced for children by Washington State University. Visitors can ask scientific questions and the university's team of researchers will find you the answer. The site also contains a database of previously answered questions. The keyword from the question is listed in alphabetical order. Question range from: What is a black hole? to "Why are my eyes blue?" Answers are usually two pages long and include a photograph of the person answering the question. Although answered by academics, the answers are written in a style that most children will understand. It is also possible to send follow up questions directly to the person who provided the first answer. A well-designed website that fully deserves the many awards that it has won.
Biology GCSE: GCSE Biology Revision is just one section of Nigel Purchon's wonderful Science website. Although initially produced for his students as Kingsbury High School, this comprehensive website is available to the whole Internet community. Categories in the Biology section include: How to Revise, Cells, Digestion, Photosynthesis, Respiration, Circulation, Ecology, Muscles and Bones. Other features include Science Investigations (how to improve your score in GCSE Investigations), Skills (how to succeed with your 'A' level biology course) and Homework.
Sociology
DTC Sociology Online: Sociology A1 is a self contained distance learning resource for 6th form students at Dartford Technology College and formed the bulk of a recent LSDA Action Research Project. Health and Social Care provides support for AVCE students studying Unit One and will soon be extended to cover other units PE A Level resources support some units of the A1 in Physical Education Knowledge Management provides and links to forums for educationalists and practitioners to share ideas, methods and approaches The ICT pages are a collaborative project between DTC and Thamesview School to encourage online interactive learning in ICT at Key Stage 3.
Sociology Learning Support: Sociology Learning Support offers self-assessment material for AS and A Level Sociology students. The tests are self-contained and run directly from the site without plug ins. All tests can be used with either AQA or OCR specifications. Students can do multiple-choice quizzes, short answer tests, match items, gap-fill exercises and crosswords. Topics for which tests are available include the Individual and Society (Introduction to Sociology), Research Methods, Family, and Education. New tests for these and other topics are in preparation.
Internet Services
OffRamp.US: Search engines can be a never ending battle for placement to a business because of their search criteria and algorithms in which search results are formulated. Key words and key phrases are only a small part of the battle to have your site listed among the hundreds of thousands of other web sites in the same business as yours. Then the never ending battle to keep placement for your site can be a full time job in itself. OffRamp.US has developed a search engine directory with a criteria and layout so that the most novice of users can locate any business online in their area within just a few short clicks of the mouse. Searches can be done on all category listings from A-Z, not just the popular ones. You may also enter other criteria such as zip code, area code, and mileage search area.
Blogging Headline: More than 500,000 people add one or more posts to a blog, or weblog, each day and this number is growing. There is simply a goldmine of information out there! For you to locate the best of the best, it would take you hours each day. Daily, BHN collects from across the Internet 20,000 posts, sorts them, sifts them and then presents to its human editors the robot's best guess. Then human editors work through the posts and pick the best of the best to serve up in Bloggers Headline News.
Book Section
Words to Outlive Us: This book is a collection of never before published first-hand eyewitness accounts from the Warsaw Ghetto. In 1939, Warsaw was home to the second largest Jewish community in the world. Of the 489,000 people who passed through the ghetto in the years that followed its creation in 1940, fewer than 10% survived. Most of the accounts were written during the war, some by anonymous authors, many by writers who later disappeared - their writings were found in the rubble of ruined buildings, in attics or basements, or else passed from hand to hand until they found their way into the archives. (Michael Grynberg, Granta, ISBN 1 86207 623 5, £20.00)
