Education on the Internet
Number 98: 3rd December, 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 41,520 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
Active Learning in the History Classroom: Active Learning activities are highly important teaching tools that are often discarded by teachers because of the level of ‘risk’ involved in them. In this seminar Dan Moorhouse argues that the use of active teaching and learning techniques actually minimizes the ‘risk’ by providing a greater variety of learning options to students. "Through a range of carefully constructed questions and tasks students think critically, develop their empathy with the people involved in the ‘real’ events and, in my experience at least, form a much better understanding of how a range of complex factors can combine to cause further events." If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
News and Articles
Teachers Online Newsletter: This monthly newsletter contains the latest ICT-related news, gathered from the leading educational publications. The December edition of Teachers Online celebrates the winter season with a feature on religious festivals throughout the year. It also contains ideas for classroom activities for younger and older pupils. Finally, if you plan to head for distant pastures this holiday season, the newsletter has route planners and some online sources of cheap flights.
WSIS: The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 10th to 12th December 2003. Through a series of online activities teachers and students will examine the impact of information and communication technologies on human rights. This is an opportunity for schools to develop partnerships with other schools from different regions of the world. On 10th December, 2003, Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the World Wide Web, will be sending an email to all the schools registered to the World Summit for Information Society activities on human rights from the computer he used to invent the World Wide Web.
ENIS is the European Network of Innovative Schools. ENIS schools have been selected as some of the most innovative schools in their home countries when using information and communication technologies for teaching and learning. Each ministry has a ENIS Coordinator who is responsible for the national network of innovative schools. This person lays out the agreed European criteria and procedures in his/her own ministry, and identifies how they can be integrated into national policy.
History
History of Aviation: In 1487 Leonardo da Vinci designed his first flying machine. At first his designs were based on the way bird's flew. Later he realised this was impractical and produced drawings of machines with fixed wings. This website looks at these early experiments to produce flying machines that were carried out by people such as Francesco de Lana, Laurenco de Gusmao, Joseph Michel Montgolfier, Jean Pierre François Blanchard, George Cayley, Henri Giffard, Louis Charles Letur, Alphonse Pénaud, Alexander Mozhaiski, Otto Lilienthal, Clement Adler, Percy Pilcher and Samuel Pierpont Langley.
Evolution of Flight: In commemoration of the approaching 100th anniversary of flight, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has launched the Evolution of Flight, a campaign to recognize the passionate men and women who have challenged history and defined aerospace achievement. This website celebrates the centennial of flight as well as providing information about the men and women who made it possible.
English
World Wide School Library: This collection of 1,535 online texts is part of the impressive World Wide School Library. Material is organized under the following categories: Adventure, Animal Tales, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Detective, Drama, Epics, Essays, Fantasy, Historical, Horror, Humour, Literary Studies, Mystery, New Age, Other Tales, Plays, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Shakespeare, Short Stories, Social Commentary and Western.
English Banana: This website features over 350 free printable worksheets for ESL, EFL and English language students and teachers. New ones are added every week. There is no subscription required. The English Banana website also contains many fun language quizzes for practise at home or in the classroom - covering reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and general knowledge. The site also features a fun collection of Javascript games such as Snake and Pong as well as language games.
Science
Science & Nature: The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a private, nonprofit corporation whose members are America's public TV stations. Science teachers can find hundreds of lessons and activities on this excellent website. The material is organized under the following headings Archeology & Anthropology, Creatures, Earth & Habitat, Health & Medicine, Physics, Space, Technology & Inventions.
Earth Observatory Newsroom: This website provides a one-stop source for the latest news on Earth science research. NASA news announcements, summaries of headline news, listings of new published research, and more are updated each week. Current stories include, Global Warming Gas Seen Increasing Dramatically, Coral Reefs May Be Healthier Than Thought, Sahel Drought: New Look at Causes, Volcanoes Help Unleash El Niño Disaster, Climate Linked to Reproduction of Whales, Military Weather Satellite Ready for Service and Climate Change: the Human Connection.
Media Studies
Screen Online: This British Film Institute website brings to life Britain's big and small screen histories from the 1890s to the present. Popular classics, little-known gems and many hard-to-find films and television programmes are represented by thousands of video extracts, thousands of still images, publicity materials and specially-written analyses by expert writers, supported by comprehensive filmographic information. Screen Online is a vital resource for anyone with either an academic or casual interest in British film or television.
Picture Library: The Museum of London Picture Library holds over 20,000 images illustrating the history of London and the life of its people from prehistoric times to the present. These include images of the Museum's collections of paintings, prints, drawings, historic photographs and 3D objects. The 1400 images that you can view on this website represent a selection of material available to order from the picture library. You can search through them by keywords, theme, date or type (colour or black and white).
ICT
ICT Magazine: The ICT coordinators' magazine is a new publication which can help you keep up to date with news, events and articles relevant to the needs of ICT coordinators in all schools. Delivered direct to your email in-box every month and also available online, the magazine is written by and for ICT coordinators. The current issue includes ICT Snapshots (quick ideas on using ICT in the classroom), Deepening the Pool of Knowledge (ICT in the city), ICT Challenge (take up the challenge - you could win a prize!) and Reader's Corner.
ICT Questions: Should ICT still be taught as a discrete subject or be embedded across the curriculum? Why should young people need to study ICT? These are some of the questions that Gareth Mills, principal consultant at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and a government adviser on ICT will be answering on the Education Guardian website. Questions should be emailed to Gareth Mills at: education.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk.
Internet Services
Website of the Day: Miles Mendoza reviews websites for Steve Wright's BBC Radio 2's afternoon show. The websites are archived and appear under the categories: Computing, Lifestyle, Useful, Music, Nostalgia, Children, Entertainment & Celebrities, Fun, and Webcams. The computing section is particularly useful and includes advice on email, spam, firewalls, viruses and online security.
OPEUS is a web-based content management system designed to give your school an anywhere/anytime learning facility accessible from home or school. OPEUS is used to create "e-portfolios" and dynamic websites based on content authored by students and teachers. The webpage editor is based on Microsoft Word and is extremely quick and simple to use. Using this software teachers are able to manage, develop and authorise the work of students to secure, individual e-portfolios in a streamlined and efficient way.
Book Section
Medieval World: From the Islamic expansion into the Middle East, North Africa and Europe to the European discovery of the Americas. The book covers nearly a millennium of one of the most formative phrases in history: its geographical scope is vast, treating all major cultures outside the americas. The Arab invasions of Europe, the empire of Charlemagne, the African kingdoms of Songhay and Mali, the Crusades, the Viking and Mongol invasions, the Delhi sultanate and the Tang and Ming empires are just a few of the subjects covered. (Rosamond McKitterick, HarperCollins, ISBN 0 00 712710 3, £30.00)
