|
The wonderful world of LISTSERVs!
LISTSERV is actually a brand name (owned by L-Soft, which
markets the list management software), but it has fallen into general use to
represent email discussion lists. Like a lot of the older Internet and
e-communications software, LISTSERV was originally developed by university
folks, and the all-caps name came from a time when computer users often just
left the caps-lock key down!
For
this issue, The
Partnership Help
Desk has derived all of its resources from
one LISTSERV - EDTECH, the educational technology discussion list, managed by
H-Net out of Michigan State University. The oldest educational technology list,
EDTECH sports a membership well past 3,000. It is moderated, and its discussion
feeds a presence in the Google Usenet.
| On-line
lesson planning |
Lesson
Plans from the IMSA 21st Century Information Literacy Portal
http://wizard.imsa.edu/teach/lesson A
project of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, this portal
offers a wide range of classes and other services...not for free, of
course. But this collection of lesson plans, grouped by
elementary/middle/high, directly addresses the use of information
technology. Plans are in PDF format, are tied to ISTE
information technology standards, most are teacher-written, and they're
free.
|
| Content Area
Resources |
| The
Arts |
The
Art Exchange
http://www.ccproject.org/artexchange.html
Creative Classroom Projects, a part of the nonprofit
Creative Connections, hosts this international art exchange. The
Creative Connections Project is a sponsored project of The New York
Foundation for the Arts, a non-profit organization, and some of their
resources require the payment of a small registration fee. However,
there are sample
free teacher resources, and there are extensive student art
examples from several corners of the world. A great idea!
|
| Mathematics |
Interactive
Mathematics
http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/nav/vlibrary.html From
Utah State University, with funding from the National Science Foundation,
comes the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives for
Interactive Mathematics. Tied to the National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics standards, and complete with lesson plans and helps, the
site's virtual manipulatives cover a variety of subjects on all grade
levels. These tools are low-tech by web standards, requiring nothing more
than Java in almost any current browser. Great online tool! |
| Practical
Living and Career |
Body
and Mind
http://www.bam.gov/ Sponsored
by the U.S. Government's Center for Disease Control, BAM is a site full of
activities for kids on the subjects of mental and physical health, as well
as illness and nutrition. There's a section with some limited teacher
resources, with links to other education-related health sites. |
| Reading |
The
Literacy Center
http://www.literacycenter.net/ This
free website service was originally funded by a U.S. Department of Education
Small Business Innovation grant. It is dedicated to providing simple, free
learning tools for young learners (it's appropriate for K-2) with a focus
on early ESL. All games and activities are Flash driven. |
| Science |
The
U.S. EPA's Air Now
http://www.epa.gov/airnow/ The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides this visual database of U.S.
air quality, including teacher materials and instructional ideas (look for
"Environmental Education" in the "For Teachers"
section). There's even some online activities for elementary school kids. |
| Social
Studies |
Congress
for Kids
http://www.congressforkids.net/
This project from the Dirksen
Congressional Center in Illinois has information pages on the
history of the U.S. Constitution, the branches of federal government,
the electoral process... and all with regular formative quizzes along
the way to encourage learning. It looks like it's aimed at middle to
early high school. The content is high quality and well laid out, but
it's primarily text based, and I couldn't find any teacher's
resources.
|
| Writing |
MidLink
http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/ North
Carolina State University, with support from SASInSchool, and the
University of Central Florida, bring this online literary magazine for
students from 8-18. There are instructions on how student writing can
be submitted, an archive of past editions, and a teacher resource
section with lots of links to sites in support of writing. |
|
| Software Sources |
Family
Gameshttp://familygames.com/ The
work of Canadian programmer Nick Sullivan, Family Games offers computer
games for young children, some of which is educational, all of which is
downloadable, and many of which are free! Included in the last category
are simple geography games for Africa, Europe and the U.S., as well as a
music note tutorial. |
|