Education on the Internet
Number 93: 22nd October, 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 39,400 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
Interpretations and History Teaching: Richard Drew points out that his old PGCE lecturer told him that in his experience interpretations was the worst taught, and least taught historical skill. In this seminar Richard Drew covers three issues: (i) What interpretations are and are not; (ii) Effective strategies for teaching interpretations and (iii) Effective strategies for assessing pupils understanding of interpretations. If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
News and Articles
Gifted and Talented: This website provides guidance for teachers, coordinators and others involved in teaching the gifted and talented in the context of an inclusive curriculum. The general guidance now includes information and case studies on providing for gifted and talented 14 to 19 year-olds. Material is provided for those teaching English, Mathematics, Science, Design & Technology, ICT, History, Geography, Modern Foreign Languages, Art & Design, Music, Religious Education and Physical Education.
Celebrating Cultural Diversity: A one day conference to celebrate good practice in the use of ICT to cross cultural boundaries in UK schools and community organizations is to be held on Friday 21st November at the Westwood Conference Centre, Coventry. The conference is hosted by the British Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) and is part of the Netd@ys 2003 project. This project aims to harness the potential of ICT to facilitate communication between cultural groups, and has been encouraging organizations working with young people to communicate their experiences through the use of digital technology. For further details on the Netd@Ys project or conference, please contact Becta on 02476 416994 ext 2250, or email elisabeth.ferrar@becta.org.uk
New Directions in the Humanities: The Second International Conference of New Directions in the Humanities will be hosted by the Monash University Centre in Prato, Italy. What is the role of the humanities in thinking the shape of the future and the human? Anthropology, Archaeology, Classics, Communication, English, Fine Arts, Geography, Government, History, Journalism, Languages, Linguistics, Literature, Media Studies, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology or Religion - these are just some of the many disciplines represented at the Humanities Conference. The focus of papers ranges from the finely grained and empirical to the expansive and theoretical. Participants are also welcome to submit presentation proposals, either as 30 minute papers, 60 minute workshops or jointly presented 90 minute colloquium sessions. For those unable to attend the conference in person, virtual registrations are available, which provide access to the online edition of the conference proceedings. Virtual participants can also submit papers for refereeing and publication in the International Journal of the Humanities.
Schools of the Future: Education is a recognized priority not just for the Government, but also for society as a whole. It is the key to preparing the nation for the expansion of the knowledge economy and its increased demands for skills and human capital. Despite their importance to successful education, many school buildings are of poor design: dull, uniform and with an institutional look. To succeed in raising educational standards and improving attainment levels we need to examine how to make our existing schools better and ensure that new school buildings are of good design and well built. This TeacherNet website contains case studies of schools which are thinking ahead and planning information on design issues and the building process.
English
My Life as a Pair of Shoes: The 7th forms from Samsøgade and Herskind schools in Denmark have worked together on 'My Life as a Pair of Shoes'. Photos of shoes formed the basis of a project. The students then wrote short stories, created websites and the pupils chatted and responded across the two schools. The pupils started in pairs, taking a photograph of a pair of funny, strange, ingenious shoes, that could tell an exciting story, from their life as shoes. The photos were then manipulated in Paint Shop Pro and put on a website. This site formed the basis of the ensuing work. Pupils were subsequently given the following: 'My life as a Pair of Shoes'. The students had to write a story with flashbacks. They could choose from the following categories: whodunit, romance, travel, thriller, the old days and comedy.
Gareth Pitchford's Primary Resources: Illustrated by humorous cartoons, Pitchford has provided a wide range of lesson ideas and resources for primary teachers. This includes a good section on Literacy Hour Resources such as 'Nouns and Adjectives Game', 'Lego Instructions', 'Types of Sentences', 'Conjunctions' and 'Thesaurus Work'. Pitchford, who teaches at Edleston Primary School, also provides materials for Maths, Science and Art and numerous links to other good websites.
Maths
NuMaths is an interactive mathematics program, delivered via the Internet. The NuMaths program encompasses the entire primary school mathematics curricula of most countries. It may be used as a stand-alone classroom program, a curriculum-support program or an extension program for students requiring acceleration beyond their general classroom syllabus. NuMaths also provides an excellent remedial program for children experiencing learning difficulties or who, for various reasons, have gaps in their mathematics knowledge. NuMaths utilises various learning styles including visual, auditory and kinaesthetic approaches. Follow-up exercises and activities are entertaining, yet educational.
MathMagic: MathMagic has been created by Alan A. Hodson from El Paso, Texas. Hodson points out that he is trying to "provide strong motivation for students to use computer technology while increasing problem-solving strategies and communication skills." A facilitator (teachers, parents, librarians, etc.) register teams of mathematicians with the MathMagic project. Mathematical challenges are posted on the website and each registered team is paired up with another team and engage in a problem-solving dialogue. When an agreement has been reached, the solution is posted on the website.
Science
Learning Science Through Play: This website shows various science projects made by 2- 5 year old children. Daily life at the Iðavöllur Kindergarten in Iceland revolves around play, activities, work and cooperation which works towards giving the children the opportunity to learn, to discover themselves and to explore their boundaries, both on their own and also with the help of others. Teachers at this kindergarten consider education and development as integral and therefore, when they work on projects they try to bring together as many aspects of the curriculum as possible, together with the development of the person.
Aylesbury Biology: This website has been created by Fearghal Kelly of Aylesbury High School. The site is intended for
AS and A2 biology students. The website contains powerpoints and word documents that he has used as teaching aids for AQA (B) Biology AS and A2. In only his second year of teaching, Fearghal Kelly is constantly adding and updating the content.
Art & Design
Digital Palette: Research has shown that many art teachers are reticent to use ICT in their Art teaching - even where resources allow for this. The Digital Palette is intended to provide an active source of direct support to promote teaching and learning where new technology is used in harmony with traditional techniques in a creative context. The different facets of this website provide sources of inspiration as well as resources (e.g. the Image Bank) for use in a number of cross-curricular projects. The Digital Palette is the result of two and half years work. It is a web site for art teachers and has been produced by art teachers. It aims to represent all phases of education and is intended to be a resource for teachers who want to use ICT in Art Education.
British Artists: 1750-1900: Biographies of 22 artists, illustrators and cartoonists working in Britain between 1750 and 1900. This includes artists such as James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson, George Cruikshank, John Leech, John Doyle, John Tenniel, Phil May, Linley Sambourne, Bernard Partridge, Frank Holl and Luke Fildes. There are also entries from the journals that employed these artists such as Punch Magazine, The Graphic and the Illustrated London News.
Modern Languages
Summerhill School Language Site: Language teacher Kim Neale of the Summerhill School in Kingswinford is the person behind this impressive website. The site offers class pages for language students from Year 7 to Year 11. There are numerous interactive activities: quizzes, games such as hangman, concentration, drag and drop and many more. These activities are designed by Kim with the aid of Quia and Hot Potatoes Web Authoring Packages. The site is constantly updated and is suitable for use in ICT suites or for whole class teaching with a whiteboard. It provides instant lessons and also homework activities and is suitable for the introduction of new vocabulary and grammar and also for revision. The sites also features links to other useful websites.
Musselburgh Modern Languages: Musselburgh Grammar School has recently launched a website to support pupils and staff in teaching and learning. It pulls together existing resources, together with presentation files, internet challenges and lessons teaching staff can use directly. There are also links to cultural resources, including newspapers, magazines (and translation tools), webcams, photo galleries, cyber school visits. The site also contains ideas and research articles, many of which have been linked to from specialist sites, including the Partners in Excellence programme in the West of Scotland.
Internet Services
WhittleBit: Have you ever searched for something and wished you could tell the search engine that it was totally on the wrong track and it should try again? Well now you can! WhittleBit works much like most other search engines, except it can help you to refine your searches by allowing you to give positive or negative feedback on each search result. Simply rate the search results by clicking on one of the buttons provided then click on Whittle to get a refined set of search results based on your feedback.
PageRank: Google has bought Kaltix, a three-month-old, three-man Stanford startup that's working on personalized and context-sensitive search. Despite its battalion of PhDs, Google isn't too proud to acquire external search technologies, and earlier this year bought Applied Semantics for its CIRCA ontology, which "understands, organizes, and extracts knowledge from websites and information repositories in a way that mimics human thought". While Google relied on PageRank to provide context, all was well. But PageRank is now widely acknowledged to be broken, so new, smarter tricks are required.
Book Section
Six Days: The Six-Day War was an extraordinary human drama sweeping up a generation of Israelis and Arabs whose children today cannot live peacefully in the world it created. In Six Days Jeremy Bowen takes us through the history of the Six Day War and brings us to the current explosive situation in the Middle East. Drawing on his experiences as the BBC's former Middle East correspondent, and building on extensive original research and interviews with some of the key participants, Jeremy Bowen uses his vast array of contacts to weave together a completely convincing and compelling account, hour by hour, of the 1967 war between Israel and Egypt, Jordan and Syria. (Jeremy Bowen, Six Days: How the 1967 War Shaped the Middle East, ISBN 0 7432 3095 7, £16.99)
