Education
on the Internet
Number
89: 24th September, 2003
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
spartacus@pavilion.co.uk
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)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
