Finding EDSITEment
in the
Humanities
by Candace Katz
Would you use the Internet in your classroom if you knew you
could find
reliable humanities resources online? if there were
teacher-tested lesson
plans that enhance your curriculum? that encourage careful,
analytical
thinking and good writing skills? If so, then Candace Katz
describes
the perfect resource for you: EDSITEment. Check out this
collection
of humanities materials and lessons.
Hunting for Asteroids, Comets,
and Novas
by Dennis Erickson
Have you ever thought that you might empower your students
with the
tools and techniques that could make them famous (à la
Deep
Impact)—and maybe even save humans from extinction?
It’s
not as farfetched as it sounds. In this month’s science
article,
Dennis Erickson shows how helping science students develop
their astronomy
skills could just lead them to discover the wonders of the
night sky.
Follow these links to the resources Dennis uses with his
students.
In the Dark Ages? How to
Create Imaginative,
Exciting,
and Interactive Web Sites with Barely More than a
Keyboard
by Steve Feld
Are your school’s computers stuck in the Dark Ages? Steve
felt
the same way, but he didn’t let that stop his students
from creating
a Web site that is making a splash all over the world. Visit
Why Is
the Mona Lisa Smiling? for an example of what your students
can create
on legacy computers.
Meeting the Needs of the Net
Generation
by Dorothy Valcarcel Craig
As Dorothy shows in her article, focused summer technology
training
has many benefits: children who can deal more effectively with
information
from the Internet as well as be teachers and leaders among
their peers.
Visit some of the students’ favorite Web sites.
Touching Students’ Minds
in Cyberspace:
8 Creative Tips for Using Distance Education
by M. Khalid Hamza and Bassem Alhalabi
Perhaps the best feature and use of distance education is the
element
of collaboration. When used for problem-solving instruction,
collaboration
becomes more than the sum of its parts--that is, its
participants. Authors
M. Khalid Hamza and Bassem Alhalabi offer advice on how best
to use
such an approach. Read more about distance education and
collaboration,
and view an innovative creative problem-solving model.
The World Wide Web:
Interfaces, Databases,
and Applications to Education
by Richard Repp
Richard Repp
describes how
easy it is to publish databases on the Web using FileMaker
Pro. Visit The
Illinois Alliance for Essential Schools to see his
theory in
practice.
I Know What We’re
Doing,
But How Do We Do It?
by Judi Harris
Judi has written a lot about telecomputing activities and
activity structures.
In this month’s Mining the Internet column, she
identifies another
way to categorize and plan telecomputing activities: action
sequences.
The seven action sequences she describes are Correspond,
Compete, Comprehend,
Collect/Share/Compare, Chain, Come Along, and Collaborate.
Visit the
resources she points out in this column.
Our Multimedia Future: Recent
Research
on the Impact of Multimedia on Education
by M. D. Roblyer
Should you use multimedia products in your classroom? If so,
how do
you pick quality products? In this month’s Research
Windows column,
M. D. Roblyer
addresses these
and other questions as she summarizes research on how
multimedia may
affect learning, what design and delivery charactersitics are
most effective,
and whether current products actually support learning. Read
one of
the articles she summarizes).
Electronic Portfolios:
Students Documenting
Their Best Work
by Pamela Hanfland
Electronic portfolios can be an easy and authentic way to
start teachers
using technology in their classrooms. Begin with an easy
template that
they can adapt for their needs, but be sure to follow with
staff training.
Pamela Hanfland offers a quick and easy HyperStudio
template.
The Works: Updating a
Classic
by Carol Truett
Carol Truett, editor of the Computing Librarian column,
reviews a book
about using Microsoft Works to manage your media center.
The Works
for Library and Media Center Management was written by
Janet Naumer
and Glenda Thurman, and updates Naumer’s 1984 work
Media Center
Management with an Apple II. Find out more about the book
at www.lu.com.
Mining the Internet
Online
by Glen Bull, Gina Bull, & Judi
Harris
Mining the Internet is an ongoing column in L&L.
Frequently
the Internet changes substantially in the six months between
the time
that a column is submitted and the time it appears in print.
The Mining
the Internet Web site will provide a location for updates to
each issue’s
column. It will also provide a way to offer active links to
Internet
locations mentioned in the column and a place for material
that would
not fit in the confines of a four-page column. The column will
therefore
become a hybrid mix of print materials that will appear in
each issue
of L&L and supplementary materials that will be
placed on
the Web each month.
