Education on the Internet
Number 89: 24th 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 38,160 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
Surviving the First Term: This seminar provides some advice for those teachers currently experiencing their first term in the classroom and includes passages such as: "Remember the swan: serene and calm above but paddling like hell below! Pupils equate competence with calm. Always, always, always keep your cool! Voice is hugely important in teaching. Instructions given in a calm, quiet, authoritative voice command obedience and respect. Raising your voice or shouting will almost always result in a noisy reaction from your pupils." If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
News and Articles
Curriculum Online Content Advisory Board: The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) have set up a Curriculum Online Content Advisory Board to advise the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on the performance of Curriculum Online and the development of a comprehensive range of online digital learning resources for schools. The Board will be Chaired by Owen Lynch, Chief Executive of the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta), membership will include representatives from the DfES, Ofsted, DCMS, and the DTI as well as educationalists and industry. Membership may be expanded in future in relation to need. The Content Advisory Board will play a key role in ensuring that Curriculum Online is able to offer a consistent, coherent and comprehensive set of curriculum resources and materials for teachers and pupils.
ICT Strategy: The education secretary, Charles Clarke, has announced that the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) will have a new role. Last week he said: "I now want Becta to take on a more strategic role, this change represents a shift from being mainly a delivery-focused organisation to becoming a strategic partner with the Government in taking forward and developing our wider objectives for ICT in education."
ICT Advice Conferences: Becta, in partnership with the subject associations, has developed a calendar of events and activities to support the use of ICT in subject teaching and learning across the curriculum. So far the following conferences promoting effective classroom practice have been arranged: History (18th October, 2003), Primary Education (8th November, 2003), Geography (20th November, 2003), Design & Technology (21st November, 2003), Art & Design (January, 2004), English (February, 2004) and Science (March, 2004).
History
TUC History Online: The TUC Library Collections at London Metropolitan University has launched the third and final phase of its lottery funded website. Two more resources have been made available – the unique and fascinating archive relating to the General Strike of 1926 as well as every Congress Report between 1868 and 1968. The General Strike Collection comprises material collected by library staff in 1926 and includes TUC documents and bulletins, printed publications and newspapers from Britain and overseas. Other records, such as bulletins produced by local trades councils and strike committees, dispatch riders' reports, photographs etc., were passed to the Library from other TUC Departments.
Czechoslovakia 1968: It has been 30 years since Soviet troops marched and tanks rolled down Wenceslas Square in Czechoslovakia's capital to crush a reform movement known as Prague Spring. Alexander Dubcek's attempts to create "socialism with a human face" are often seen as historical and ideological forerunners to Mikhail Gorbachev's reform policies of glasnost and perestroika in the 1980s in the USSR. The events of 1968 shattered many illusions about Socialism and the Soviet system - both in Czechoslovakia and in the West. This website, produced by Radio Free Europe, provides a comprehensive account of these events.
Geography
Zoom: From June until the end of November this year, primary school and kindergarten children all over Europe are collecting Green Footprints for a symbolic journey to the UN Climate Conference in Milan during December 2003. Zoom invites them to carry out an activity week dedicated to sustainable mobility and climate change, focusing on the fun of movement and independent mobility. By zooming to school on foot, bikes or scooters, the kids discover their daily journeys and experience how this helps to treat the world's climate with care. For each journey they make using a sustainable means of transport, they receive one Green Footprint. Zoom aims that together the children of Europe will collect enough Green Footprints, each representing one kilometre, to make a symbolic journey, taking them 28,029 km from the EU headquarters based in Brussels, to Kyoto in Japan, where the climate protocol was adopted, and then to Milan, where the next UN Climate Conference is taking place in December.
Climate Prediction: Climate change, and our response to it, are issues of global importance, affecting food production, water resources, ecosystems, energy demand, insurance costs and much else. There is a broad scientific consensus that the Earth is likely to warm over the coming century, but estimates of how much vary hugely. This website has been developed to allow a state-of-the-art climate prediction model to be run on home/school/work computers. By taking part in this experiment you can help to improve scientific forecasts of 21st century climate.
Modern Languages
Gut! Produced by Joanna Applewhite from Lincoln Christ's Hospital School, this website provides a comprehensive set of interactive activities for German teachers and learners, featuring more than 200 exercises, over 50 of which have audio samples of native German speakers. It is an easily navigated resource, organised for each year of study and also includes exercises for the interactive whiteboard. Although best done online, a lot of the exercises can be printed out and used in the classroom.
Language Investigator: This website is the result of a one-year project called “Thinking through Languages” which was developed within a group of Coventry Primary Schools. Funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the material is aimed at Primary School teachers who are interested introducing a multilingual dimension into their lessons. It aims to provide pupils with a foundation for future language learning through encounters with languages from the local and international communities. The site provides a number of opportunities for investigating languages together with links to multilingual materials which will support the teacher in developing them.
Citizenship
21st Century Citizen: The British Library has organised parts of its historic collection of documents into a set of investigations supporting the study and discussion of citizenship issues. Suitable of key stages 3 and 4 the site includes downloadable materials for teachers and students. The strength of this Citizenship website rests in its rich collection of source material and supporting activities fully referenced to the National Curriculum programmes of study, as well as the opportunities for sharing and developing local community projects. By providing students with access to original sources and teaching them how to undertake research in order to test a hypothesis, this site will empower young people to become politically literate and active citizens.
Citizenship Foundation: The Citizenship Foundation is an independent charity working to promote more effective citizenship through education about the law, democracy and society. Founded in 1989, it encourages understanding of the rights and duties of citizenship, the workings of the political, social, and legal systems and the democratic process. It also advocates the provision of experiences which enable citizens to become caring, confident and effective members of society. In particular, the Foundation seeks ways of enriching provision for those for whom the quality of citizenship would otherwise be poor.
Politics
Adam Smith Institute: For over 25 years it has been a pioneer in the worldwide movement towards free markets, public-sector reform, and free trade. The Institute's main focus is on reforming governments and state enterprises in order to promote choice, competition, enterprise, and user-focus. It works through research, reports, conferences, advice, and media debate. It has now launched its own weblog in order to encourage debate on these issues.
Politics in the United States: An encyclopedia of American politics between 1840 and 1980. The website includes entries on political parties (10), pressure groups (26) and biographies of leading political figures: 1840-1900 (106), 1900-45 (56) and 1945-1980 (46). The text within each entry is linked to other relevant pages in the encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people and events in great detail. The sources are also hyper-linked so the student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper and organization that produced the material.
Photography
Internet Cameras Direct: Fuji Finepix s602 digital camera including 16MB smartmedia card PLUS FREE Fuji FX-602 case. Supplied Accessories: 16 MB SmartMedia™ Card, 4 AA Alkaline Batteries, Shoulder Strap, USB Cable, AV Cable, Lens Cap, Lens Cap holder, CD-ROM (USB Driver, FinePixViewer, DP Editor, Apple QuickTime 5.0, VideoImpression, Adobe® PhotoDeluxe HE 4.0 for Windows®), 1 year manufacturer guarantee 3.1 megapixels producing an output of 6 megapixels using a Fuji Super CCD technology 6x optical zoom Price including VAT and insured delivery £439.
Book Section
Using ICT in Primary Humanities Teaching: This book has been written for trainee primary teachers and newly qualified teachers. It will also be useful to curriculum co-ordinators and teaching assistants and anyone wanting to use ICT to enhance the teaching and learning of History, Geography, RE and Citizenship. The book focuses on the National Curriculum requirements for ICT, and uses the QCA Schemes of Work as a structure for activities. Frequent references to research in the area provide a clear rationale for the use of ICT in each of the humanities subjects. (Graham Jarvis, Learning Matters, ISBN 1 903300 91 6, £10.00)
