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ICT-WEB Alert
August 2009
- Virtual Courseware [Macromedia Flash Player]
As part of a collaborative project between faculty members at the California State University-Los Angeles and the National Science Foundation, the Virtual Courseware website brings together a number of thematic instructional resources for science educators. Some of the resources include activities that deal with earthquakes and global warming. Within each module, visitors will find a number of self-guided tutorials and explanatory materials for instructors to use in their classrooms. One real gem here is the “Virtual Dating” section, as students and educators will get the opportunity to learn how geologists and archaeologists determine the ages of rocks and ancient artifacts. The site also makes the module on earthquakes available in Spanish, titled “Terremoto”. With a mix of activities, assessment exercises, and instructor materials, this website will be a great find for science teachers working with college or high school students
- Online Mathematics Textbooks
More and more instructional materials in the field of mathematics can be found online today, though for several years, it was difficult to find high-quality textbooks in their entirety. Fortunately Professor George Cain of the Georgia Institute of Technology has created this website to remedy that situation. As Professor Cain notes on his site, “The writing of textbooks and making them freely available on the web is an idea whose time has arrived.” Here he offers links to sixty-five different textbooks, including those that deal with multivariable calculus and several introductory texts on probability. Overall, the site is a fine resource, and it will be of use to both budding math scholars and those who teach them.
- The Basics of 3D/4D Ultrasound
Created as part of General Electric’s Healthcare website, this online tutorial addresses the basics of 3- and 4-dimensional ultrasound. This resource is particularly useful for students who wish to become ultrasound or sonography technicians, and the tutorial is divided into ten separate sections. Dr. Nirvikar Dahiya wrote the tutorial, and users will learn about the basic principles of 3D sonography, and also have the opportunity to take a short quiz. Along the way, users will have important operating principles illustrated by figures, drawings, and examples of completed sonograms. Finally, the tutorial also contains a bibliography for future reference
- LearningSpace
Looking back to the late nineteenth century, one can find traces of the earliest distance education learning programs at the university level at places like the University of Chicago and Columbia University. It would take six decades before an entire university was created specifically as a distance teaching institution, and it would happen on the other side of the Atlantic. This school is Open University in Britain, and they have continued this mission for over four decades. Recently, they created the LearningSpace website which contains dozens of different online courses, categorized into disciplines such as education, modern languages, and history. While visitors don’t have to register to use the materials, they may find it useful. Registering will allow visitors to discuss the materials in a forum, write journal entries, and complete different quizzes.
- InterMath
With funding from the National Science Foundation, the Learning & Performance Support Laboratory at the University of Georgia has created this website for mathematics educators. Their primary focus is to build teachers’ mathematical content knowledge through mathematical investigations, and the resources presented here reflect this commitment. The primary mathematical fields covered here include algebra, geometry, number concepts, and data analysis. Within each of these sections, visitors will find “Recommended Investigations”, which are classroom-tested activities. These activities are engaging and well-written, and it is easy to see how they could be incorporated into a variety of lesson plans. Finally, the site also contains an interactive math dictionary that covers everything from absolute value to z-score.
- Cities Around the World
From Carthage to Chicago, this fascinating digital collection from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee presents quite a cornucopia of photographic images drawn from the world’s cities, past and present. The images are from the American Geographic Society Library, and just two photographers, Harrison Forman and the noted urban geographer, Harold Mayer, took the pictures. All told, there are over 5500 photographic images in this collection, and first-time visitors should read over the brief introductory essays on the scope and content of this project before jumping into the materials. By clicking on the “Cities” section, visitors can browse around the cities with the most photographs, and then they may also wish to perform a detailed search. There are some fun surprises here, including an aerial view of the Union Stock Yards in Chicago and the governor’s residence in Dar es Salaam.
- Kohler Art Library: The Artists’ Book Collection.
The Kohler Art Library at University of Wisconsin-Madison presents this illustrated database that indexes roughly 760 titles from its collection of over 800 artists' books. The database can be searched by book title, creator's name, publisher, date, or subjects. Other search terms relate to types of book structures, bindings, medium/technique, and contributors. Each record in the database has either a short description of the book's contents or a complete transcription of the colophon, the short paragraph traditionally placed at the end of a book, that tells about its production. In addition, for slightly more than half the books, several images are included. For example, the colophon for From a housewife's diary, by Claire Van Vliet, states that the "covering is dish towels bound by James Bicknell", and the image included shows that the towels are red plaid.
- Medical Dictionary
For nurses and other health care professionals who seek to distinguish the habitus from the humerus, this online medical dictionary provided by MedicineNet will be a place to bookmark for repeat visits. The dictionary contains well-written explanations for over 16,000 medical terms, and users can go ahead and browse around, or enter keywords or phrases into the search engine that resides on the page. The site also features a “Word of the Day”, and visitors can also look through recent news items that address different health issues and also look over the latest entries to the dictionary. The site is rounded out by a list of the “Top 10 Medterms”, which is also a good way to start exploring the materials here
- Infrared Astronomy
Despite the claims of certain science fiction novels and films, humans cannot see in infrared. As many people know, the primary source of infrared radiation is heat, and the study of infrared astronomy allows scientists to detect radiation emitted from objects throughout the universe. This delightful website (created by NASA and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology) provides a wide range of material on this fascinating area of scientific study. Visitors can lean about the discovery of infrared, learn about the technology that is used in such endeavors, and of course, look over dozens of infrared images and video clips. Educators will be glad to learn that there are a number of activities offered here for use in the classroom, including one that will help students learn how to build a photocell detector
- Moving Image Collections
These days, there are a multitude of websites dedicated to moving images of all types, and it can be difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff. Fortunately, the Moving Image Collections (MIC) has been working on creating such collections since 1994, and they have done so with the kind support of the Library of Congress, the Association of Moving Image Archivists, and the National Science Foundation. Essentially, the MIC contains a number of online collections of different archived media, and in many cases, visitors can view the moving images themselves directly from the site. Visitors can use the “Collection Explore” feature to search the MIC Union Catalog, which lists moving images collected and managed by participating organizations. Fourteen total organizations participate and they include the CNN Library, KYUK-TV, and the Academic Film Archive of North America. A simple search using the word “history” returned programs on archaeology and wine production, beekeeping, and bioterrorism, and visitors can customize other searches as well.
- Tech Nation [Real Player]
With thousands of websites and blogs dedicated to providing the latest technology news, it can be difficult to find a place that contains intelligent and thoughtful conversations about the impact of technology on society. TechNation is a weekly public radio program that fills the bill quite nicely, and visitors can listen to the show on this website. On the site, visitors can learn about the program’s host, Dr. Moira Gunn, and also listen to past shows. Some of the compelling topics in recent months have included explorations of gene therapy and related biotechnology developments and the latest innovations in brain surgery. Overall, the program is a fine way to keep up to date with some of the developments in the world of technology and their broader implications for the general public
- HEALTHmap
Drawing on new and rather novel computer-aided mapping programs, scholars have been able to bring together a number of disparate data sources that deal with a diverse set of disciplines. One such project has recently appeared online, and it is called HEALTHmap. Created by a team of researchers based at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology, the project brings together aggregate data on diseases around the world, and in doing so, has created an important new way to visualize and think about various public health situations and potential epidemics. Specifically, the site draws on data from the World Health Organization, Google News, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Using a series of boxes, visitors can toggle on and off various diseases on the world map, including dengue fever, meningitis, E.coli, and dozens more. Overall, it’s a very good resource for anyone with an interest in public health or data visualization.
- Insights Into Algebra 1: Teaching for Learning
Teaching algebra can be a difficult proposition, and at times, those who have just entered the field of mathematics education can feel a bit overwhelmed. Stepping in to provide a bit of assistance is this series of instructional videos, created by WNET in New York, working with funding from the Annenberg Media Foundation. The program contains eight parts, and interested parties will have the opportunity to explore strategies for teaching a number of topics, such as variables, systems of equations, linear functions, and exponential functions. After visitors complete a free registration form, they will have access to all eight parts of the series. It’s a well-done set of instructional programs, and the exercises draw on a number of practical situations, such as a proposed hot dog vending scheme and other business situations.
- Cosmic Journey: A History of Scientific Cosmology
Understanding the universe and space in all its complexity has consumed the passions of many people over the millennia. With an interest in bringing material from the world of scientific cosmology to the web-browsing public, the American Institute of Physics and the Center for History of Physics have created this website. The site is divided into two primary areas, titled “Ideas” and “Tools”. In the “Ideas” section, visitors can read essays about the development of cosmology from the time of the Greeks all the way up to the present. And moving over to the “Tools” section, visitors can learn about important related events, including the invention of the telescope and the golden era of refractors. The site is rounded out with a collection of links for further reading, such as the “Cosmology 101” site created by NASA and a 1955 National Academy of Sciences briefing on cosmology.
- SocioSite
Started in 1996, the SocioSite website is a project created by the social science faculty at the University of Amsterdam. During the past eleven years, the site has grown extensively, and it serves as a clearinghouse of important and relevant links to various disciplines within the social sciences. Contained within a simple template, visitors can look through sections dedicated to journals, libraries, news groups, search tools, institutions, associations, and weblogs. For each link, visitors can read a brief summary of its contents, and they may also wish to suggest links via the webform on the site. Visitors who have visited the site before may wish to go directly to the “What’s New” section for the most recent updates. The site is rounded out by a “Funny Stuff’ section, which features sociological-related humor and wordplay.
- Philosophers’ Imprint
A number of disciplines in the humanities have embarked on ambitious and lively forays into the world of online publishing, and philosophy is no exception to this trend. One rather noteworthy online journal is Philosophers’ Imprint, which was started in 2001. The journal is actually a refereed series of original papers edited by the philosophy faculty at the University of Michigan, and published by the University of Michigan Digital Library. First-time visitors should begin by looking over their mission statement, and then they should feel free to browse around the current volume, or those from the past few years. Recent works have included Benj Hellie’s “The Phenomenological Status of Sense-Data”, Stephen Finlay’s “Value and Implicature”, and Richard Holton’s “The Act of Choice”.
- How The Heart Works
Figuring out how the heart functions in a metaphorical sense can be an unending and highly metaphysical process (just ask John Donne), so it’s nice to find a place online where visitors can learn how the heart functions in a literal sense. This website was created by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and begins by answering the basic question: “What is the Heart?” After reading this short and informative piece of writing, visitors can meander through sections titled “Anatomy”, “Contraction”, “Circulation”, “Electrical System”, and “Heart Disease”. Each section provides a brief summary of each topic, complete with graphic illustrations and several digital animations. It’s a well-constructed and user-friendly introduction to this important topic, and one that will be of use to those entering one of the health care professions, or those who are intrigued with various body systems.
- Nanotechnology and Nanoscience
The world of nanotechnology and its related applications is growing quickly, and there are a number of websites that are dedicated to keeping up with the developments in the field. This site falls into that very category, as it contains links to recent news stories about the field, coupled with a database containing nanotechnology-related links to universities, research labs and institutes, and associations. Those who might be new to the world of nanotechnology will want to browse on over to the “Nanomaterials Introduction” section. Here they will find short pieces on the significance of the nanoscale, nanomaterial science, and its current (and future) applications. The site also contains a career center, where interested persons can look over job opportunities in the industry.
- Physlets
Understanding how various concepts and processes in physics can be an exasperating experience for students beginning to study the field, so finding sites like this one can be quite a delight. These Java-based applets were developed at Davidson University by Wolfgang Christian, and they are a real delight. First-time visitors may wish to read through the introduction on using these physlets, and then move on to look through the different sections on the site. In total, there are over 100 physlets here, and they include those that illustrate (or animate) such processes as linear momentum, elastic linear collisions, and the movement of sound waves
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