Education on the Internet
Number 95: 5th November, 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 40,540 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
Teaching History with a Hypertext Curriculum: At its best a hypertext curriculum can scaffold student learning; supporting the less able, stretching the brightest and recognising the range of multiple intelligences but it can also do more mundane things like improve exam results. In this seminar, Richard Jones-Nerzic examines the practical value of a history curriculum website from the point of view of the teacher who builds and maintains the site, the students who study for an examination course through the site and the ‘significant others’ - parents, other teachers and general web users - who contribute to the success of the students through their use of the site. If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
News and Articles
BETT is the annual international event that encourages and extends effective use of ICT in education. There are numerous opportunities for professional development including the seminar programme and the Policy in Practice area offering practical advice on implementing education policy and funding. Next year's BETT show is taking place at Olympia, London (7th-10th January, 2004). Seminars include: Transforming Teaching & Learning with ICT (Lesley Price), The Learner of the Future (Bill Howe), Creating an e-Confident Education System (Tony Richardson), ICT and Learning Style (John Galloway), World Ecitizens (Christina Preston), Research & Evidence in an eLearning World (Malcolm Hunt), History Online - What are the Cultural Content Providers Doing? (Tom O'Leary) and Effective Pedagogy & ICT (Neil McLean).
Specialist Schools: Music and Humanities specialisms have been added to the existing list of eight specialisms. These will be available to schools which apply for specialist status from October 2003 onwards. The new Humanities specialism will be based around the key subjects of history, geography or English. Taking one or more of these as core subjects, schools will have the option to add the subjects citizenship, humanities or religious education to make up a full complement of three specialist subjects. Schools will be able to choose one or more core subjects and up to two subsidiary subjects as the target-setting subjects within the specialism. For example: history, religious education and citizenship or geography, history and humanities or English, history and geography. The first Humanities Colleges will begin operating in September 2004. Full guidance for the specialism is available in the current edition of the Specialist Schools Application Guidance see the Specialist Schools Trust website.
Extending Schools for Adult Learners: In 2002, NIACE published 'Schools are for Adults Too: Schools, Adults and Communities in the Learning Age', a policy discussion paper to coincide with the government's advice on extended schools. Following pilots, there is to be a model in each local education authority area by 2006, and LEAs will receive funding for promoting and coordinating the development. But many other schools will also be looking to extend their service to their communities and there is a national expectation that over time all schools will do so. An extended school may draw on many different forms, but opportunities for adult learners should be an integral part of the strategy. By becoming local learning centres, schools will not only be able to contribute to the needs of their community, but help to create a culture of learning which will improve children's performance. They will need to work in partnership to succeed. What help and support can schools call on, and what can partners contribute and gain? Next month NIACE is organizing three conferences to discuss these issues: Gateshead (2nd December), Leicester (4th December) and Preston (9th December).
History
Empire and Exploration: The Historical Association and Becta are jointly running an online inset "Empire and Exploration" on the 7th November 2003. The online Inset will focus on using ICT to support the teaching and learning of history in Key Stages 2 to 5. The INSET is focused on the historical theme of empire and exploration. This INSET will provide resources and ideas on such issues as the Roman Empire, Tudor Voyages of Exploration, and Everyday Life in India under British Rule.
Virtual Tours: These 3-d Virtual Tours allow you to experience a historical building or structure. This BBC website includes the Mary Rose, Captain Cook's Endeavour, World War One Trench, Ironbridge, Medieval St Edmunds Abbey, London Bridge, Viking Age Farmhouse, Housesteads Roman Fort and Scottish Crannog. If the virtual tour doesn't play, you may need to download a free VRML plug-in such as Cortona.
Maths
Mathematics National Strategy: Number and algebra lessons to support the intervention strategy and the Year 7 Key Stage 3 strategy for mathematics are now available. The first set of lessons available including nine Number and Algebra units, six Shape, Space and Measure and Handling data units, and twelve Consolidation lessons. Each lesson supports about 40 minutes of direct teaching, and refers to a selection of pupil activities including some drawn from Springboard 7 to complete the remaining time and to provide homework. Downloadable files containing all the lessons are available from the Primary National Strategy website.
TeachNet Math: A collection of lesson plans provided by American teachers. Titles include: In Your Face Math Facts, Fishing for Facts, Tricks for Your Digits, Remembering Units, Fraction City, Apple Estimation, Twelve Days of Christmas, Your Clock is a Teaching Assistant, Keeping Math Problems Straight, Newspaper Activity, Card Facts, Capacity Song and the 10 Commandments of Math.
Geography
Valuing Places is a CPD-led curriculum development project to explore how our teaching about places at key stages 2 and 3 can develop pupils’ understandings of global interconnections. From October 2003 to December 2005, groups of teachers will be planning and evaluating classroom activities, and the GA is seeking Regional Co-ordinators to support these groups. The project regions are North-East, North-West, East Midlands, West Midlands, South-East, East Anglia, South-West and London. There will also be an inclusion group, offering special school colleagues the opportunity to explore significant place-based issues appropriate to their settings. An honorarium of £200 per day plus expenses is available, and there is a small budget to support each region’s work. Towards the end of the project each region will be asked to hold a continuing professional development session, funded by the project, for local colleagues.
British Geological Survey: This section of the British Geological Survey site provides information on geological topics aimed at schools and the general public. This includes: Fossil Focus (facts about the major groups of animals commonly found as fossils), Holiday Geology Guides (an introduction to the geology of some classic sites and to the building and ornamental stones used in some of our most historic buildings), Rocks in Your Eyes (Jane Robb's personal account of some of her geological experiences) and Soufrière Hills Volcano (an account of the Soufrière Hills Volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat that began erupting in 1995).
ICT
MAPE is an organization that supports the use of ICT across the primary curriculum. It does this under the following headings: Curriculum (ideas and resources for effective teaching with ICT), Communications (advice on how to use email and the web in the classroom), Software (reviews of the latest software and how to make the best of what you've got), Management (help with how to build ICT into development planning and Hardware (how to optimise available resources and plan for development). MAPE also produces a termly newsletter covering all developments in ICT, including reports of government initiatives, reviews of software and feedback on shows and conferences.
ICT GCSE provides free resources to both students and teachers alike. There are coursework guides to specific projects along with more general tips. Theoretical explanantions are deliberately colloquial to help strip out the jargon within the subject, whilst extremely high quality flash animations explain topic areas. There is a section of downloadable exercises which is under expansion, but the highlight has to be the randomly generated quiz. The questions set are not simplistic and a score of 10/10 is rarely achieved, but the beauty is that every time you log on to it you get a different set of questions. Certainly the site is some way from the complete article but is already a key reference point for ICT students on the Internet.
Religious Studies
Places of Worship: A series of resources produced by Jerome Monahan of the Education Guardian that looking at places of worship and how their buildings may be linked to what goes on inside. As well as highlighting the differences between the practices of different faith communities, the approach should also show up their similarities and provide some help for young people when they visit sacred buildings.
GCSE RE: This website is a resource for all teachers and students of Religious Education. Divided in two main sections the site covers both content and coursework assistance. The coursework section has guidance on essay writing and coursework writing as well as help pages on common coursework topics as a growing number of question and answer pages from questions that students have e-mailed. The Revision section contains notes, sample questions and tests on: Buddhism, Christianity Islam, Judaism, Mark's Gospel, Roman Catholicism and Christian Perspectives.
Internet Services
Ask Jeeves Mini Searchbar: Ask Jeeves is one of the most popular search engines on the Web. Recently it launched its Mini Jeeves Searchbar. It claims it "is the fastest and easiest way to get the information you want, when you want it, from anywhere on the Web". The Mini Jeeves Searchbar is free to download and appears every time you open a new Internet Explorer window. The toolbar also includes a very good dictionary and thesaurus.
Twigger: Twigger is a revolutionary service on the Internet which makes it possible for you to use your e-mail address which you obtained from a provider anywhere in the world using a web browser. With Twigger, you can also see the attachments before you bring them to your PC. This means that you can remove any corrupt, too large or uninteresting attachments in advance. Twigger is a subscription based service since March 21st 2002. You can choose between three types of membership. A three month subscription is £7. For half a year you pay £12, for a full year you pay £18.
Book Section
Greek and Roman Siege Machinery: Siege machinery first appeared in the West during the Carthaginian invasion of Sicily in the late 5th century BC, in the form of siege-towers and battering rams. After a 50-year hiatus they re-appeared in the Macedonian armies of Philip II and Alexander the Great, a period that saw the height of the machinery's development in the Ancient World. Experience of Carthaginian practice during the later 3rd century, and familiarity with the operations of Philip V of Macedon during the early-2nd century, prompted the introduction of the siege-tower and the battering-ram to Roman siegecraft. This title traces the development and use of these weapons across the whole of this period. (Duncan Campell, Osprey, ISBN 1 84176 605 4, £8.99)
