Education on the Internet
Number 83: 13th August, 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 36,550 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
Learning Styles: All teachers are aware of the fact that students learn in a variety of different ways, and that even the same information given to a class by the teacher is received by the students in a number of different ways. Therefore all teachers need to ensure that they develop their lessons to tap into the varied learning styles of their students. This seminar sets out a number of approaches for doing this and explains how to ensure that the lessons you prepare are fit for the students in your school. Many different methods of ensuring success in planning are suggested such as the use of work scrutinies to find out what type of learning students are having success with, interviews with pupils to find out what teaching and learning styles work for them, departmental discussions with colleagues as the planning process continues to share ideas. The seminar is aimed at those at the start of their teaching careers looking for a way to tackle this crucial and complex challenge, as well as at more experienced teachers looking for ideas or inspiration on how to plan to meet the needs of the full range of their students by using a diversity of teaching and learning styles.
Controlling Difficult Classes: John D. Clare argues that when you find yourself having difficulty with a class – you need to go back to first principles. His sensible advice is organised under the following categories: (1) Teach well; (2) Start every lesson in the pupils’ experience; (3) Give the class your full attention; (4) Agenda; (5) Administration; (6) Task Difficulty; (7) Concentration time and changeovers; (8) Silent Working; (9) Social Engineering; (10) Threats and bribes; (11) Autumn Leaves; (12) Divide and Rule; (13) Persistence.
Bullying Online: This website provides help and advice for parents who are tackling bullying. The site explain, step by step, how to tackle the problem and what happens if you take legal action. Bullying Online has been approved as a National Curriculum content provider and the site is recommended by the DfES, Victim Support, 65 UK councils and more than 20 police forces.
SMART: The SMART Education website has been created by staff from the Faculty of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University College. It is designed to support the needs of teachers, pupils, students, lecturers and everyone involved in education generally. SMART Education is conducting research into the use of SMART Boards in Education and a number of SMART Board Case Studies have been included on this website.
History
Encyclopedia of the United States: An organic encyclopedia on the USA between 1840-1980. The encyclopedia is being created in sections. So far the following sections are available: American Civil War (262), Political Figures (170), Political Events (62), Slavery (156), Women's Suffrage (116), Business Leaders (54), Scientists (20), Supreme Court Judges (18), Trade Unions (68), Journalists (84), Newspapers & Magazines (36), European Immigration (270), Artists and Illustrators (28), Cartoonists (56), Photographers (50), Novelists & Poets (58), the First World War (86), Crime & Criminals (26), McCarthyism (110), Roosevelt and the New Deal (56), and the Struggle for Civil Rights (246).
English Civil War: The site includes a collection of timelines: Parliament and Constitution 1640-60, The First Civil War 1640-46, The Second Civil War 1647-49, The Third Civil War 1649-51, The Commonwealth 1649-53, Cromwell's Protectorate 1654-58 and The Restoration 1659-60. There is also twenty-four biographies of leading figures in the conflict and descriptions of sixty-two battles and sieges.
Census Data for Essex and Suffolk: This website incorporates census data, family trees, wills, christening and marriage data of Essex and Suffolk parishes. Research, so far, includes 1841 census information for Doddinghurst, Navestock, Blackmore, Stondon, South Weald, Warley and more; where descendants farmed the land prior to cheaper American grain imports leading to migration into the towns. The website focuses on Doddinghurst, a place where the 450 inhabitants in 1841 branch out into many smaller family trees, and often there are many links between the neighbouring families.
Politics
Justice Learning is an innovative, issue-based approach for engaging school students in informed political discourse. The web site uses audio from the Justice Talking radio show and articles from The New York Times to teach students about reasoned debate and the often-conflicting values in a democratic society. The website includes articles, editorials and oral debate from the America's finest journalists and advocates. All of the material is supported by age-appropriate summaries and additional links. In addition, for each covered issue, the site includes curricular material from The New York Times Learning Network for high school teachers and detailed information about how each of the institutions of democracy (the courts, the Congress, the presidency, the press and the schools) affect the issue.
Presidential Elections 1860-1884: This website has been compiled and prepared as a public service by HarpWeek. It features cartoons from Harper's Weekly, especially by Thomas Nast, and from Vanity Fair, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, Puck, and the Library of Congress Collection of American Political Prints: 1766-1876. The website covers the seven presidential elections of 1860-1884. In addition to explanations of each cartoon, the site contains biographies, explanations of the issues, campaign overviews, and other relevant information.
Media Studies
Stage and Screen: Notes & Queries began in 1989 as a weekly column in the Guardian, and rapidly acquired a cult following. Now, thanks to the Internet, it is reaching a worldwide electronic audience. The questions and answers are organised into different categories. This section deals with the theatre and includes questions such as Why is a matinee performance so called, if it takes place in the afternoon?" and "Why is the ''green room'' in theatres so called?".
Media Web: This is a media studies site intended for students and teachers and anyone interested in working on the AQA media studies A/AS course. There are sections on film, advertising, representation, genre, audience,news, documentary, wider issues, advice on exam coursework and marking criteria. It's been very popular and is widely used by both students and teachers alike. The resources can be copied, pasted and printed.
Geography
Moving Here is the ultimate database of digitised photographs, maps, objects, documents and audio items recording migration experiences of the past 200 years. The Exhibition section allows you to sample the in-depth resources on Caribbean, Irish, Jewish and South Asian migration. The Tracing Your Roots gallery will guide you through the many different ways you can find out when and how your family first came to England and where they settled. Collected together here for the first time are documents, photographs, sound and film clips selected by curators and researchers at archives and museums all over England. These incredible fragments of history are presented by specialist writers and historians and available for you to download.
Wildlife Interest Group: The American Society of International Law's Wildlife Interest Group website seeks to provide educational resources on the role of international law in protecting endangered wildlife species. These resources include the following: (1) The full text of hundreds of wildlife treaties and declarations; (2) The full text of hundreds of pieces of national legislation and regulations from virtually every continent; (3) The most comprehensive set of links on the Internet on wildlife science, law and policy issues; (4) A list of over 100 environmental law and policy journals; (5) A series of research of bibliographies on species-specific issues, beginning with whales, dolphins, and porpoises.
Modern Languages
Language to Language: This website offers translations for thousands of words in dozens of languages and there's even an option for accessing the dictionary via your mobile phone or PDA when abroad. There are also games and word quizzes you can play to help learn a language.
Bonjour: This award-winning website offers a variety of French resources and online activities. Originally set up as a school website, Bonjour is now used in hundreds of schools worldwide. Students can access the site during lesson time as well as at home. Endorsed by the National Curriculum, the NGfL, The Guardian, The BBC, Channel 4 and even the Cabinet Office, Bonjour constitutes a quality resource for all learners and teachers of French. Its downloadable resources include a host of worksheets that complement the online activities.
Internet Services
Wales on the Web is a subject gateway to material of Welsh interest on the World Wide Web. It is an online guide to high quality, validated websites offering dependable information relating to Wales and all aspects of Welsh life. The project is being led by the National Library of Wales. Partners within the project include the Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum, Society of Chief Librarians and the Consortium of Welsh Library and Information Services.
News Alerts: Google is expanding its news section with tools to let users sign up for news alerts or search specific news publications. With the news alerts tool, users type in the news topic they would like to track, and choose whether they would like to receive bulletins once a day or "as it happens." The alerts will be sent to the e-mail address supplied by the user. This information comes from more that 4,500 publications.
Book Section
Parting the Desert: The building of the Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea was the greatest engineering feat of the nineteenth century, but it was much more than just a marvel of construction. The canal was supposed to strengthen the Middle East and bridge cultures; instead the gap widened and disturbs the world today more than ever. Zachary Karabell's book is both a transporting narrative and a window into the origins of the modern Middle East. (Zachary Karabell, Parting the Desert, John Murray, ISBN 0 7195 6160 4, £15.00)
