Education
on the Internet
Number
93: 22nd October, 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 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
spartacus@pavilion.co.uk
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)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
