March 2005

Art

Comments

Bellini: Feast of the Gods  http://webexhibits.org/feast/ Around 1512 the Duke of Ferrara commissioned Giovanni Bellini to paint this masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, which now hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington.  Subsequently Dosso Dossi decorated a Gallery for the Duke and 1522 painted over half of Bellini's canvas.  Seven years later Titian repainted the Feast of the Gods again.  What do the earlier versions look like?  How much of the artists work do we see today?  Welcome for investigative web site which looks at uncovering the mysteries surrounding this wonderful piece of work . . . .  in three parts. Ideal for year levels 11-12 RRRRR

Seeking Illumination: Monastic Manuscripts 800-1200  http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/seeking/ From about 800 to 1200 monasteries functioned as the primary guardians of art and scholarship throughout Europe.  Although these religious institutions were physically secluded, their scribes and illuminators created luxurious manuscripts for both the church and the most powerful political leaders of the day.  This site provides excellent background information for any art student focusing on this particular artistic genre. Ideal for year levels 11-12 RRRR

Pigments in Paintings  http://webexhibits.org/pigments/ Paints are something you pick up at the local store; well at least you do now, but in the past an artist had to create their own paints and pigments. This web site investigates how paints and pigments have evolved over the centuries and how artists managed to make sure that their paints did not fade over time. Ideal for year levels 8-12 RRRR

Colour with Uncle Fred  http://www.unclefred.com/   The focus of this web site is to assist students in drawing their first cartoons.  The good thing about drawing cartoons is that it provides a technique for getting proportion and notions of movement embedded in the students art.  Uncle Fred will take students through a step-by-step process through this web site. Ideal for year levels 3-8 RRR

Living with Washi (paper)  http://www.kippo.or.jp/culture_e/washi/ Invented in ancient China, paper made its way to Japan where it became Washi (Japanese paper), adapted by unique materials and new manufacturing methods.  The web site traces the discovery of pare and the development of Washi and the continual improvement in the quality and range of paper products that are available today.  An excellent introduction and background information on paper. Ideal for year levels 8-12 RRR

The Art of Calligraphy in Modern China  http://www.fathom.com/course/21701734/ Calligraphy is a defining feature of China's culture.  It is both a means of communication and a revered form of art, and the dividing line is often vague.  In this online seminar students will be presented an integrated portrait of modern China presenting events within the context of the artists responses and providing a short exegesis of the most intriguing pieces of work.  Ideal for year levels 11-12 RRRR

Rembrandt: Pictorial History  http://cgfa.sunsite.cdk/rembrand/ Rembrandt was a prolific artist and this web site features a collection of thumbnails which can be enlarged to show good quality images of Rembrandt's work.  The site also has a concise biography of the artist. Ideal for year levels 9-12 RRR

Painting the Weather  http://www.bbc.co.uk/paintingtheweather/ This exhibition contains over 100 paintings from 15 different British galleries and in each case the focus of the painting is on the weather.  Students can examine each individual painting and see how the artist has managed to communicate not just the physical weather elements but also the feelings associated with each of the different weather scenarios. Ideal for year levels 4-12 RRRRR

 return to top of page

English Language

Comments

Squigly’s Writing Corner   http://www.squiglysplayhouse.com/WritingCorner/StoryBuilder/index.html Students can enjoy creating their own stories using the unique story builder concept presented at this web site.  Squiggly and his friends have written some stories that students can personalise with your own words.  These are excellent exercises for students building basic language knowledge.  Ideal for year levels 0-4 RRRRR

Mr William Shakespeare  http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/default.htm This site provides a complete annotated guide to the scholarly Shakespeare resources on the Internet a as well as providing a wide range of resources which are "native" to this particular web site.  You can find here an excellent Shakespeare timeline, genealogy and Shakespeare biography quiz as well as many other resources that makes studying the Bard even more fascinating.  Ideal for year levels 7-12 RRRRR

Language Mechanics  http://www.geocities.com/fifth_grade_tpes/lang.html Just as mechanics keep their cars running smoothly this language mechanics site keeps your sentences running smoothly.  The site introduces common areas in language mechanics and then sets about providing a range of resources and exercises to encourage students to avoid pouring engine oil into the fuel tank.  An excellent online resource for teachers and students.  Ideal for year levels 4-10 RRRR

Structure of a Sentence  http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/sntstrct.html The structure of a sentence provides the reader with either an efficient and clear understanding of the authors intent or it provides a confused message which is unclear.  The power to provide the former lies an understanding the difference between a simple and compound sentence and this web site provides an excellent collection of background information on how to identify and compose both of these sentences types.  Ideal for year levels 4-10 RRRR

Children's Storybooks Online  http://www.magickeys.com/books/index.html You can find here a collection of 34 fantastic, animated online books for children of all ages.  If you are looking to provide students with relevant and engaging reading material in an online environment then you will find this repository of works a tremendous resource.  In order to encourage students to read in the classroom it is suggested that the child pre-reads an online book from this web site and then using the multimedia projector, they read the book to the entire class.  Ideal for year levels 4-10 RRRRR

The Pied Piper of Hamelin  http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/etext/piper/ This classic book by Robert Browning is illustrated beautifully by Kate Greenaway and presented online as a wonderful book for students to read or for the teacher to read to students using the multimedia projector to project the images.

Poetry: The Online Edition  http://poetrymagazine.org This online poetry magazine was founded in 1912 (not the online version!) and provides an excellent set of archived poetry resources for teachers and students.  There articles dealing with both contemporary and historical poetry with poets featured from around the world.  Ideal for year levels 11-12 RRR

Storyline Online  http://www.bookpals.net/storyline/welcome.html The Screen Actors Guild presents this online storytelling feature which presents an online streaming video program featuring a range the Screen Actors Guild members reading children's books aloud. Each story comes of great graphics and visual elements that reinforce the story, beautifully in some cases. Ideal for year levels 0-5 RRRR

Teaching English: Using Reflective Practices  http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/reflection.shtml Reflective teaching means looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works: a process of self observation and self-evaluation.  This web site encourages teachers to introduce reflective practices in their teaching career in order to maximise and constantly improve their teaching performance. Ideal for teachers RRRRR

return to top of page

General & Professional Development

Comments

Automatic Bibliography Composer  http://www.easybib.com/ This is an excellent online bibliography composer which, in its simplest form is free.  With so much online content available now it is critically important that students are able to compose a bibliography that reflects the research that they have carried out and allows the teacher a process whereby they can track comments and articles that are quoted.  Ideal for all year levels RRRR

The Quiz Hub  http://quizhub.com/ As well as being a subscription site there is a wide range of quizzes available at no cost covering everything from spelling to geography, mathematics, science, social science and English. For high school quizzes go to http://www.highschoolhub.org  Ideal for teachers  RRR

Google alerts http://www.google.com/alerts Google alerts are e-mail updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your individual choice or query or topic.  You can use these alerts to monitor and developing new story, keeps you current on events around the world, get the latest information on science and technology developments and even keep track of your favourite sports team. Ideal for all year levels RRR

Reach the World  http://reachtheworld.org/ Reach the World is a non-profit educational media developer and a provider of school-based training instructional technologies.  The web site here links schools to real-world expeditions which they can join in and become a part of.  Whether it is explorations of remote areas, science and technology events, Flat Stanleys exploits . . . .  An excellent resource introducing students of the power of the Internet. Ideal for year levels 4-10 RRRRR

The Idealist http://www.idealist.org/ Somehow this term has attracted some negative connotations over the past few years whereas in truth much of the world relies on volunteers for day-to-day support. These people are often idealist's who wish to use their skills for little or no monetary gain in order to support the development of Third World countries by increasing the their skill sets in order to make their way independently and interdependently in the world.  This web site provides a wide range of organisations that you can contact in order to use your skills as a teacher or a trainer in a wide variety of exotic and challenging locations throughout the world. Ideal for year levels 10-12 RRRRR

Resources for School Librarians  http://www.sldirectory.com/libsf/reslibs.html In this simple but very effective web site of resources for librarians, there are six resource areas: learning and teaching, information access, program administration, technology, education and employment and continuing education.  Within each of these segments are a range of resources which teachers and librarians can make use of in order to develop a better understanding of each of these particular areas.  Ideal for teachers  RRRR

Kids Tools for Searching the Internet  http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm This web site contains a compendium of research and search tools that students can access simply and easily.  The easy to navigate layout and simplicity and make is the perfect place to start the research process.  Ideal for all levels RRRR

The Free Course Database  http://www.thefreecourse.com/ Students and teachers will find here a free courses dealing with themes such as business, competing, languages, sports and sciences.  These free courses are  . . . .free! Ideal for year levels 9-12 RRRRR

 return to top of page

Health & Wellbeing

Comments

The Fitness Centre  http://www.justmove.org/ At the fitness centre you can keep track of your progress online with this excellent fitness tool. There is a collection of links to helpful resources as well as the capability to profile the type of fitness regime you require in order to manage your lifestyle.  Ideal for year levels 4-10 RRR

Go for Your Life  http://goforyourlife.vic.gov.au This excellent presentation by the Victorian government of Australia provides a range of resources on physical exercise and healthy eating accompanied by a promotion for stronger communities. At the same time the site addresses the rising prevalence of obesity and diabetes.  The site is designed to meet the specific needs of different categories of users and provides excellent suggestions, guidelines and alternatives which promote a more active and satisfying life. Ideal for all levels RRRRR

It's Up to You!   http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/uptoyou/ Rosie will assist you in doing a project on healthy eating and as part of this you need to help her understand how her body uses food and how you need to eat the right types of foods so they your body can carry out all the different jobs that it needs to do.  An excellent collection of activities based around the good nutrition and balanced eating.  Ideal for year levels 4-6 RRRRR

Tiki the Penguin  http://uk.oneworld.net/penguin/food/home.html Tiki the Penguin will assist you to work out what sorts of foods you need to eat and what sorts of food groups you need to avoid (most of the time).  This is an excellent collection of activities to work through in order to understand how your body uses food and how different types of food contain different types of chemicals minerals and vitamins to carry out all the various jobs your body needs to do and leave you with plenty of energy to power through your day!  Ideal for year levels 2-6 RRRRR

Why Milk?  http://www.whymilk.com Milk is an excellent food containing many of the vitamins and minerals that allow good bone growth and encourage young bodies to develop with plenty of energy and vitality.  This web site uses high-profile basketball players and other celebrities to bring the message of drinking milk rather than lemonade, as a healthy choice that has lots of advantages.  The web site is well produced with plenty of activities and messages to encourage overall healthy eating as well as focusing on the role of milk in keeping healthy.  Ideal for year levels 0-6 RRRRR

Eaten Alive: The Journey of a Biomolecule  http://library.thinkquest.org/12090/main.html In this student created web site you can come and learn about the anatomy of Fred, a humanlike monster, through the eyes of a biomolecule.  You, as the biomolecule, will get to experience a unique journey through the monster's digestive tract first being swallowed and then being absorbed into his small intestine. A clever idea in order to communicate the role of the different parts of the body in processing food.  Ideal for year levels 5-10 RRRRR

Smart Risk  http://www.smartrisk.ca/YouthDefault.aspx?dd=5 Life is all about taking risks and young people tend to take their fair share.  Is not that we should not take risks but it is important that we manage the risks that we take and that we are aware of the possible risks associated with any particular behaviour.  This excellent Canadian initiative looks at encouraging young people to manage the risks that they take. Ideal for year levels 7-12 RRRRR

Poison Prevention  http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/poisonsafe/ This excellent introductory site shows students how to recognise some of the chemicals around the home, school and the students community that need to be avoided.  The site provides teachers with an excellent set of activities for their students to work through in order to increase their understanding.  Ideal for year levels 0-4 RRRRR

 return to top of page

Information & Communication Technology

Comments

Soople: Expert Searching  http://soople.com Google has become the number-one search engine around the world over the last few years.  However there are so many different services offered by Google that are never use to their full potential.  Soople is the solution to this problem.  On one page you are able to use the standard Google search engine, as well as a range of other tools such as translations, searching different languages, searching images, searching news, scholar search, search by topic, searching multiple sites at once . . . . . . Ideal for all year levels RRRRR

The National Education Technology Plan 2004 (United States) http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/plan/index.html “Towards a New Golden Age in American Education” reports on the current status of educational technology, examines how technology and the "no child left behind" law can help improve academic achievement, and makes seven recommendations for further improvement.  This is of a significant document and has great intent, strong vision but unfortunately probably has little chance of success.  In order to make the transition of this magnitude the general culture of education has to be "in the mood for it" and a lot of work needs to be done in order to prepare the political organisations that direct education in United States prior to this paper taking root.  It is an excellent document, succinct and to the point. Ideal for teachers RRRR

Tools for Schools  http://www.nsdc.org/members/tools/tools8-04.pdf Transitioning schools by way of professional development has always been an enormous task.  Information and communication technologies are pivotal elements in almost all the transitions that are presently being targeted as essential within school infrastructures.  In a time when education is making significant fundamental transitions, the capability of administrators to manage change successfully is critical to the overall success of the school.  This paper addresses the various tools and processes day body in professional development and investigate the capability for assisting whole school change.  An excellent paper. Ideal for teachers RRRR

A Guide to Online High School Courses http://www.nea.org/technology/onlinecourseguide.html Increasingly, more and more students are taking online courses to supplement their study.  This is sometimes due to the remote nature of the students location or the inability of a school to justify a particular course for a few students, or a lack of teachers to teach that particular course.  What are the key success criteria for identifying a successful online course?  This paper presents these success criteria and provides additional background information on online courses for high school students.  Ideal for teachersRRRR

New Insights on Technology Adoption in Schools  http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/articleprintversion.cfm?aid=2640 The adoption of information and communication technologies in school environments is fraught with conflicting advice, supposition and myth.  This paper addresses the research background into how teachers can use technology to enrich teaching and learning. Ideal for teachers RRR

Data Management & Interoperability http://www.eschoolnews.com/resources/reports/datamgmtandnclb/index.cfm One the key questions now within schools is how do we ensure that information systems that have evolved over the past ten years can all share information with each other.  Interoperability and data management and now mission critical issues that schools need to address.  This paper provides a background information, which covers issues such as likely systems, effective technology integration, standards driven technology systems . . . . . Ideal for teachers  RRRRR

 return to top of page

Foreign Languages (LOTE)

Comments

French Theme Page http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/french.shtml Teachers and students of French will find an excellent collection of introductory French resources available from this location.  There is an English-French as well as a French-English picture dictionary, principal activity books, quizzes and background information. Ideal for year levels 4-10 RRRR

Learning Greek as a Foreign Language  http://www.xanthi.ilsp.gr/filog/ If you are learning Greek as a foreign-language then the resource available here will be invaluable.  You will find a complete course in learning Greek language available from this site including excellent background information and instruction as well as sample work and a complete set of exercises.  Ten chapters of extensive language work and all available at no charge. Ideal for year levels 7-12 RRRRR

The French Tutorial  http://www.frenchtutorial.com The French Tutorial is a web based set of step by step lessons covering basics, pronunciation, but also grammar, vocabulary and everyday French.  It offers audio support (200 audio files) for better oral comprehension, a table of contents and an index for faster searching. The web site can be downloaded onto your hard drive and with almost 60,000 users are obviously voting with their feet (well maybe their mouse). Ideal for year levels 5-10 RRRRR

Learn Spanish  http://www.lingolex.com/spanish.htm Available from this web site is an excellent collection of resources for those students studying Spanish.  The resources vary from "word of the month”, hangman games, Spanish proverbs, the weather in Spanish,, and phrases, Spanish tutorials . . . . .  An excellent resource for both teachers and students.  Ideal for year levels 6-12 RRRRR

John McCafferty's French Study Pages  http://gcsefrench.users.btopenworld.com These pages were originally aimed at students taking a GCSE French course in the United Kingdom but the material is useful for anyone learning French at a basic level.  Themes work done here include French and everyday life, the verb in French and interviews in French.  Ideal for year levels 4-10 RRR

Learn Cantonese http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/ This site contains over 200 pages of print friendly Chinese reference sheets, tests and revision aids.  The aim of the web site is to encourage the user to speak, read and write Hong Kong Chinese (Cantonese).  An excellent collection of useful resources for both teachers and students. Ideal for year levels 6-11 RRR

Chinese Character Pronunciations http://www.ocrat.com/ocrat/reaf/ This useful tool allows you to input any Chinese characters and obtain the transliterated pronunciation of each character.  This program can be downloaded and installed on your computer and is available in both Mandarin and Cantonese. Ideal for year levels 7-12 RRRR

Conversational Mandarin Chinese Online  http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/ccol/content.htm The resources available here support conversational Mandarin and come in the form of PDF hardcopy documentation as well as MP3 audio support the each of the 15 units that are available from this location. Ideal for year levels 8-10 RRR

Free Online Dictionaries  http://www.freedict.com At this location you can find free online dictionaries which will translate Afrikaners, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Indonesian, and Italian, Japanese, Latin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish into English.  Ideal for year levels 8-12 RRR

         return to top of page

Mathematics

Comments

Functions Grapher in Flash  http://www.math.uri.edu/~bkaskosz/flashmo/fungraph/ This excellent Flash animation provides teachers and students with a way of graphing two different functions on the same graphical interface.  This resource allows students to experiment with different variables and see the effects as an interactive graph.  Ideal for year levels 11-12 RRRRR

Mathematics as the Science of Patterns  http://convergence.mathdl.org/convergence/1/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=437 The author of this excellent article brings together two figures from the history of mathematics, one from the ancient world and one from the modern world.  In a sense this paper is more about what it means to be a mathematician as opposed to the pure history of mathematics.  The emphasis here is on using these two mathematicians to show the mathematics is all about investigation of patterns and how those patterns can be described and predicted using the language of mathematics. Ideal for year levels 9-12 RRRRR

Mathematics Lesson Plans  http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/features/mathematics/lesson_plans/ Teachers will find here a range of mathematics lesson plans designed to meet the needs of students in the first six years of schooling.  This web site provides teachers with an index and links to the publications across this excellent UK web site. Ideal for teachers  RRRR

Teaching Leonardo: An Integrated Approach  http://convergence.mathdl.org/convergence/1/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=477 The history of mathematics readily lends itself to interdisciplinary teaching. Rick Faloon, a mathematics instructor at the Ross School, East Hampton, NY, joined with colleagues of other disciplines to develop a student project dealing with aspects of  the Renaissance. Topics dealt with in this excellent interdisciplinary unit of work include patterning, tessellations, geometry, perspective . . . Ideal for year levels 8-10 RRRRR

MathSphere  http://www.mathsphere.co.uk/Resources/Resource_Worksheets.shtml While you can purchase the CD containing all the activities from but this web site provides anything between four and 24 pages of activities dealing with a wide range of fundamental mathematics activities.  Themes include numbers in the number system, calculation, investigations, data handling, problem solving and measurement.  An excellent collection of free online resources. Ideal for year levels 4-10 RRRRR

Count On  http://www.counton.org/ Students and teachers will find a wide range of excellent online multimedia activities for students covering a wide range of mathematical concepts and ideas.  The problem bank hosts a wide range of problems which can be provided to students at an appropriate time and level.  This excellent, thoroughly engaging digital material is invaluable for the mathematics classroom. Ideal for year levels 4-7 RRRR

Mathematics Problems, Games & Articles  http://www.nrich.maths.org/public/index.php These mathematics enrichment activities cover a wide range of contexts and themes and provide students with an interactive multimedia environment where they can practice basic mathematical principles as well as interact and learn the relationship between mathematical concepts as they are presented. Ideal for year levels 3-9 RRRRR

Mathematical Applets  http://www.fi.uu.nl/wiseweb/welcome_en.html Mathematical applets are small computer programs which run automatically over the Internet providing a visual sequence of events which students can engage with an experience what happens as different variables are changed.  The collection here provides some excellent visual presentations of mathematical concepts. Ideal for year levels 4-10 RRRRR

       return to top of page

Music & Performance Arts

Comments

The Dramatic Exchange  http://www.dramex.org/ The dramatic exchange is a script exchange site on the web.  It is a place where playwrights can post otherwise unpublished scrips, and where readers and producers can look for plays.  It has been online for over seven years and has 400 plays registered for use.  This may be useful place for students and teachers to come and look for possible material for school productions.  Ideal for teachers RR

The Improv Village  http://members.aol.com/TrencyJ/improv.html Here you will find a wealth of improvisation games, a scene in which you and other characters do not get to talk about it at all to decide what is going to happen!  In pure improv all your dialogue and plot turns have to be created in a heartbeat, right in front of the audience for whoever might be watching.  The skills developed by doing improv are critical skills in developing confidence, good oral capability, spontaneity and simply being good fun people who can be the life of the party at the drop of a hat. Essential skills for all 21st-century human beings. Ideal for all year levels RRRRR

Scenes for High School Drama Students  http://www.geocities.com/thespian_didi/backup/indexreal.html If you have been searching the web looking for a monologue or a scene you can perform in your drama class then you will find an excellent collection here.  The scrips range from very good to excellent and range from recently straightforward to quite difficult.  An excellent resource. Ideal for year levels 8-12 RRR

Drama Workshop: Ideas for Teaching Drama  http://www.dramateachers.co.uk This site contains a collection of ideas that have been used in teaching drama which encourage the development has spoken language skills across a wide variety of ages and ability ranges.  There are a range of dramatic themes including animals, Christmas, communication, humour, machines, space, the sea  . . . As well as ideas for school assemblies and suggestions for teaching drama in the classroom.  Ideal for year levels 4-10 RRRRR