Education on the Internet
Number 88: 17th 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 37,580 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
Selection, Streaming and Setting: 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 The subject area is deliberately wide as the author's opinion is that all these practices are based on an outdated and discredited ideological commitment to the grammar/secondary modern approach: a commitment which continues to blight the British educational system.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.
News and Articles
Fulfilling the Potential: Education Secretary Charles Clarke recently launched 'Fulfilling the Potential - Transforming Teaching and Learning through ICT in Schools', a booklet clarifying the directions that schools should be moving with ICT and e-learning, and the outcomes they should be seeking. The publication of this booklet signals the next step after the National Grid for Learning Programme (1998-2002). Clarke argues that the success of the strategy depends on the close liaison with subject associations. The document can be downloaded from the DfES website.
Education in Finland: Recent research by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggests that Finland has the most successful education system in the world. This Guardian article looks at this system and points out that: (1) All schools are comprehensive. (2) Children go to the same school from 6 to 16. (3) All children are taught in mixed ability classes. (4) Children do not take national exams at any stage between 6 and 16. (5) The school inspectors do not publish their reports. The reports are instead feedback to the teachers in order “to help staff develop”. (6) There are no school league tables in Finland. (7) Only 3% of children drop out of education at 16 in Finland.
Where's My Peg: Save The Children is the UK's leading international children's charity working in more than 70 countries. The organization is behind the Where's My Peg website. The purpose of this website is to help children prepare for the big day when they start school for the very first time. This website has been produced after extensive consultation and trials in schools throughout the UK.
History
History National Conference: On 18th October there will be a one day ICT and History conference at the Lincoln School of Science and Technology. Organised by the History Association, in partnership with Becta, the conference is aimed at all history teachers, including those in teacher training. There will be presentations and workshops to support teachers in using ICT effectively in history lessons. Full details about the conference can be found on the History Association website.
Black People in Britain: A collection of biographies of black people who lived in Britain. This includes John Alcindor, Ira Aldridge, John Archer, Francis Barber, Manchererjee Bhownaggree, George Bridgetower, Learie Constantine, William Cuffay, Offobah Cugoano, William Davidson, Celestine Edwards, Olaudah Equiano, Marcus Garvey, C. L. R. James, Claude McKay, Tom Molineaux, Harold Moody, Dadabhai Naoroji, George Padmore, James Peters, Bill Richmond, Paul Robeson, Shapurji Saklatvala, Innatius Sancho, Mary Seacole, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Walter Tull, Robert Wedderburn, Arthur Wharton and Sylvester Williams.
English
KS3 Grammar: This is a tutorial in grammar for teachers of English at KS3 - the UK terminology for ages 12-14. It explains all technical ideas and terms, and makes some suggestions for using them in teaching, and especially in the teaching of writing. It doesn't try to cover the whole of English grammar, but presents enough grammar to satisfy the DfES requirements for teaching English at KS3.
Cats in the Classroom: These teaching materials have been produced by Cats Protection. Using the themes of animal rights, pet care, responsibility, community and the media to explore the use of language and information to inform, provoke and persuade, this resource provides structured but flexible support for English at Key Stage 3 and within the 5-14 Curriculum in Scotland. A bank of resources including poems, prose extracts, historical accounts and role-play scenarios are used to stimulate debate and discussion leading to a project of creating an advertising campaign to promote positive cat care.
Mathematics
Geometry: This amazing website created by Antonio Gutierrez provides an eclectic mix of sound, science, and Incan history intended to interest students in Euclidean geometry. Recent additions include Simson Line (proof of Simson line), The Raft of the Medusa (problem solving with fractals and animation), Archimedes and the Rhombicuboctahedron (Archimedes the Geometer), Sierpinski Triangle and Machu Picchu (fractal illustration), Johnson's Theorem (three equal circles pass through a common point), Varignon and Wittenbauer Paralellograms (quadrilateral: midpoints and trisection points of the edges) and Van Aubel's Theorem (quadrilateral with squares).
Interactive Mathematics: Most of the best educational websites have been created by people who are enthusiastic about the subjects they teach. Alexander Bogomolny definitely fits into this category. Interactive Mathematics is an attempt to reduce what Bogomolny calls "math anxiety". His strategy is to provide a database of games and puzzles that require deductive skills. Bogomolny argues that: "Mathematics is the only deductive science. The peculiar beauty of Mathematics lies in deduction, in the dependency of one fact upon another". He adds that he is attempting to create a resource that will help people learn "if not math itself, then, at least, ways to appreciate its beauty." Bogomolny's website also includes sections on Maths Quotes, Did you Know?, Fast Reckoning, Mathematics as a Language and Inventor's Paradox.
Geography
Global Wise: WaterAid is a charity dedicated to helping people escape the stranglehold of poverty and disease caused by living without safe water and sanitation. WaterAid works in partnership with local organisations in 15 countries in Africa and Asia to help poor communities establish sustainable water supplies and latrines, close to home. WaterAid also works to influence governments’ water and sanitation policies to serve the interests of vulnerable people. The Global Wise website leads pupils through a series of activities which teach them about WaterAid water and sanitation programmes in India and Ethiopia.
Newcastle upon Tyne: This website takes the form of a residential areas case study for Newcastle upon Tyne. Surfers can locate the five selected areas using an interactive map and are encouraged to research the areas using external links to maps, air photos, council data and ward-based national statistics. Each area has a webpage including photos, background information and dedicated links. This website can be used with any specification including urban patterns of growth and decline at a local scale and policies to improve and regenerate urban areas.
Media Studies
Reach for the Sky: This BSkyB careers website covers four areas: TV & Moves, Journalism, Music and Sport. Each section has interviews with practitioners at various levels; from presenters to backroom workers (video clips with text transcripts). Students will also find the CV Builder useful. Other sections include On the Road, Work It, Clued Up and Chat n Chill.
Newspaper Education Trust is a registered charity based in the heart of London Docklands. Supported by the Newspaper Industry it provides courses for students and teachers. Each year nearly 2,000 Primary and Secondary pupils use the newsroom facility each year. Teachers can also apply for courses that cover the basics of Microsoft Publisher, the Internet, e-mail and web design.
Internet Services
Nutch: Web search is a basic requirement for internet navigation, yet the number of web search engines is decreasing. Today's oligopoly could soon be a monopoly, with a single company controlling nearly all web search for its commercial gain. That would not be good for users of the InternetNutch provides a transparent alternative to commercial web search engines. Only open source search results can be fully trusted to be without bias. (Or at least their bias is public.) All existing major search engines have proprietary ranking formulas, and will not explain why a given page ranks as it does. Additionally, some search engines determine which sites to index based on payments, rather than on the merits of the sites themselves. Nutch, on the other hand, has nothing to hide and no motive to bias its results or its crawler in any way other than to try to give each user the best results possible.
Webcactus is the first search engine with previews of all its search results. Webcactus believes that a multi-media approach would be a better way for a browser to find the most relevant website for their search. Webcactus began development in the second half of 2000. Refinement after refinement of previewing capabilities give it the high quality thumbnails it has today. In 2002 webcactus began a test launch to determine public perception of its approach to searching, which is basically search results matched by their thumbnails. At the time the technology was called SETS or Search Enhancement Thru Screenshots, it is now known as PlusPreview, which is a clearer, more descriptive name for the technology.
Book Section
King of Odessa: Famed writer Isaac Babel returned to his colorful hometown of Odessa in the summer of 1936, pining for a daughter living abroad and hoping to pen one last homage to his past. This would be Babel's last visit to Odessa; four years later, he was arrested as a spy and executed. For more than six decades, the letters and postcards Babel sent to his mother and sister were the only record of this trip. In King of Odessa, Robert A. Rosenstone imagines the lost manuscript Babel wrote during those weeks. Rosenstone's Babel is concerned with more than literature as he mulls over a deal with the secret police and attempts to help a condemned prisoner escape the Soviet Union-or is it Babel who intends to escape? Babel's search for a way out leads him to reflect on his past: the horrifying pogrom of 1905, his rides with the Cossacks that inspired Red Calvary, and, above all, his complicated relationships with women. Mixing historical fact with gifted storytelling, Rosenstone captures Babel's lively wit, his disenchantment with fame and the Soviet system, and his infectious charm. The result is a hard-boiled thriller, a suspenseful love story, and a captivating portrait of a great writer. (Robert A. Rosenstone, Northwestern University Press, ISBN 0 8101 1992 7, $24.95)
