Education on the Internet
Number 87: 10th September, 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 38,090 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 History Simulations: In their book Simulation in the Classroom, John Taylor and Rex Walford argued that an educational simulation has three main components: (1) Students take roles which are representative of the real world and involve them making decisions in response to their assessment of the situation that they have been placed in. (2) Students experience simulated consequences which relate to their decisions and their general performance in the simulation. (3) Students monitor the results of their actions and are encouraged to reflect upon the relationship between their own decisions and the resulting consequences of their actions. In the History Forum's latest seminar, John Simkin looks at why history teachers should use simulations in the classroom. If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
Archive Awareness Month: September 2003 is a month long promotion of celebratory events across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Local and national archives, large and small, public and private will open their doors to hold a host of special events celebrating and promoting the wealth of archival treasures. To find out what's going on during archive awareness month, simply click on any region of the map provided or alternatively, choose a region and/or an audience category from the menus below the map, then click on the search button.
National Archives: Launched in April 2003, this website brings together two existing organisations, the Public Record Office and the Historical Manuscripts Commission. Over the next 12 months, the National Archives will combine the services and expertise of both the PRO and the HMC. It will be a national resource for anyone interested in, or with responsibility for, documents relating to British history: whether for professional research reasons, as an archivist or records manager, for school or learning projects or, simply, for personal curiosity and a unique day out. The National Archives has one of the largest archival collections in the world, spanning 1000 years of British history, from Domesday Book to government papers recently released to the public. You can see this collection at Kew or view certain documents online.
ICT and Education: Is your school proud of its Internet safety systems? Are you using ICT in an exciting or innovative way? Have your whiteboards made a significant difference? We are always on the lookout for good case studies to post on the ICT Advice site which demonstrate effective practice and which would help others to integrate ICT into teaching and learning. If you think you are doing something innovative or just good sound practice then don't hide your light under a bushel - share your story with others and help to inspire. Contact Becta via top@becta.org.uk.
History
Westall's War: At 11.12 pm on Saturday May 3rd 1941 the Air Raid Alert sounded over North Shields. In the East End of the town, locals hurried as usual to the air raid shelter beneath Wilkinson's lemonade factory.At midnight, a single bomb from a lone German raider scored a direct hit on the shelter. 103 people, many of them women and children were killed. It was the worst bombing incident in north east England during World War II. Robert Westall, the award-winning author of The Machine Gunners, was a North Shields schoolboy at the time. His father was an ARP warden in the town. Westall used his wartime experiences as a backdrop to many of his novels. Westall's War explores the Wilkinson's disaster using quotations from the novels to introduce archival sources.
Woman Spirit: Julia C. White was born in North Carolina of Cherokee/Sioux heritage and is a contributing writer for the international magazine, Connecting Link, with a column of historical information on Native American Nations. On her website she has produced a series of biographies of Native American women. This includes Hanging Cloud (Ojibwa), Dahteste (Mescalero Apache), Nancy Ward (Cherokee); Juana Maria (Chumash), Coosaponakeesa (Creek), Kateri Tekakwitha (Mohawk), Tocmetone (Paiute), Sacajawea (Shoshoni), Pocahontas (Powhatan), Susan La Flesche (Omaha) and Kaitchkona Winema (Modoc).
English
Literacy Lessons: Joy Simpson's website dedicated to literacy planning for years 8 to 11. Each year group is divided into terms and planning relating to the range for the term is listed covering fiction, non-fiction, poetry and plays. Each block of work is planned according to the latest ideas from the National Literacy Strategy and the DfES and shows the ways in which literacy teaching can be creative and fun for pupils. If you would like to reduce the amount of time you spend planning on a Sunday evening then visit the site and download the free lessons and resources.
Writers in the USA: 1860-1960: Brief biographies of seventy-eight writers born in the United States. This includes novelists and playwrights such as Louisa May Alcott, Sherwood Anderson, James Baldwin, Edward Bellamy, Ambrose Bierce, Mary Borden, John Jay Chapman, Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Ralph Ellison, Hamlin Garland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman, Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, Edwin Markham, Arthur Miller, Frank Norris, Clifford Odets, Eugene O'Neill, Dorothy Parker, David Graham Phillips, John Dos Passos, Upton Sinclair, Gertrude Stein, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Edmund Wilson and Richard Wright.
Mathematics
Numberwork: A series of games produced by the BBC which gives children the chance to test their mathematical abilities with fun games. When the children successfully complete all the games they will be able to discover the secret code which allows Zack needs help to complete his journey from Acapulco to Chihuahua. There is a Parents section which gives you tips on how to use the site with your child.
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.
Religious Studies
Educhurch allows pupils to find out more about the Christian faith. It features three churches, all very different from each other: an Anglican church, a Salvation Army citadel, and a free church. For each church there are photos and information about: the building, artefacts used within the church (e.g. font, flags and items for communion), events within the church (e.g. worship, prayer and homegroup) and interviews with Christians (e.g. minister, teenager and Sunday school teacher). Educhurch was designed and written by Andrew Trythall from Sir Robert Hitcham's Primary School in Suffolk.
Virtual Tours: This website allows you to take a virtual tour of churches of different Christian denominations as well as places of worship of the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths. All examples so far are from Lancashire. The photo tour of each building is accompanied by explanatory test. The website also has question sheets that can be downloaded.
Geography
Geosense is an online, one-two player geography based game. You compete against an online opponent to place a city on a world map as quickly and accurately as you can. It plays in realtime with a built-in chat. It is fast paced and tends to keep kids interested while being educational. There are no ads, banners, fees, etc.
Bishop Heber Geography: Graham Russell designed Bishop Heber Geography Department's website to support students in all years who are studying Geography. It is essentially a 'gateway' site, pointing them to 'good Geography' on the web. Pages are organised into Key Stages, and there is a 'Help with Homework' page. Students are encouraged to access links to various websites to support work they are doing.
Art
American Art: This website provides details of artists working in America between 1750 and 1865. This includes Karl Bodmer, Gilbert Stuart, George Catlin, Thomas Cole, Fitz Hugh Lane, William Sydney Mount, John Trumbull, John Vanderlyn, John Faed, George Inness, Thomas Sully, George Caleb Bingham, John Frederick Kensett, John James Audubon, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, Asher Brown Durand, Charles Willson Peale, Raphael Peale and Rembrandt Peale.
Sistine Chapel: Built between 1475 and 1483, the Sistine Chapel has originally served as Palatine Chapel. The chapel is rectangular in shape and measures 40.93 meters long by 13.41 meters wide. It is 20.70 meters high and is roofed by a flattened barrel vault, with little side vaults over the centered windows. The architectural plans were made by Baccio Pontelli and the construction work was supervised by Giovannino de' Dolci. Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II della Rovere in 1508 to repaint the ceiling; the work was completed between 1508 and 1512. This website allows you to take a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel.
Book Section
Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes: This landmark book traces the rise and decline of the British autodidact from the pre-industrial era to the twentieth century. Using innovative research techniques and a vast range of unexpected sources such as workers' memoirs, social surveys and library registers, Jonathan Rose shows which books people read, how and why they educated themselves, and what they knew. In the process he shines a bold new light on working class politics, ideology, popular culture and the life of the mind. (Jonathan Rose, Yale University Press, ISBN 0 300 09808 1, £12.99)
