Welcome to What's New on EdNA Online
What's New
What's New provides a selection of materials from within Australia and internationally which have recently been added to EdNA Online. What's New also contains items and information relating to specific events or themes important to the different educational sectors.
Each year in consultation with the various sectors we put together a calendar for What's New. We encourage you to consult this calendar to see how you can use this What's New section and the items or information in it when you are planning your events or activities. You can also use the calendar to access past What's New items.
New sector-specific sites: Higher Education, School Education, Vocational Education and Training
New in Early Childhood - quality links for those working with children 0-8 years old.
What's New Calendar
Check the calendar to see the special events and themes we hope to cover in the What's New postings for this current year—many of them align to special events or dates in the education and training year. Use this calendar in your publicity or teaching program.
What's New Archives
You can also check out previous years' lists. What's New archives past postings according to the What's New Calendars.
Subscribe to Email Alerts
To receive EdNA's What's New Email Alert and New in Early Childhood Email Alert
EdNA Online's Christmas Page Featuring EdNA Online School Categories and Pages Additions to School Education in last 7 days Calendar for Australian Schools 2003 New Online Projects on OzProjects Registering new online projects This week's highlighted new approved projects are: Fairy Tale - An Online Collaborative Project Community Landmarks - What's Special In Your Community? How's the weather up (down) there? Opportunities Building Bridges: Literacy Development in Young Indigenous Children Letters to Santa Live Webcast of Eclipse Other eclipses sites to check: NASA Animation ABC Eclipse page- Total Solar Eclipse Key Dates for the next month Coast Care Week, begins 1 December General sites added to EdNA Online Australian sites Eclipse Science Hallet Cove Virtual Excursion Indonesian Games Just a Little Bit - Education Resource Linkages Between Secondary and Post-secondary Vocational Education and Training in China and Australia Realising Australia's Commitment to Young People - Scope, Benefits, Cost, Evaluation and Implementation World War Two Nominal Roll International sites 21st Century Skills Class Size Reduction - CSR Critical Issues Directory - Pathways to School Improvement International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) Multicultural Pavilion - Teacher's Corner Tools For Understanding Web Research Guide - ClassZone Welcome to the Web Updated 29 November 2002
This week's theme - Christmas is Coming
Christmas seems to come upon us very quickly at a time when teachers have many other things to do. The aim of EdNA Online's Christmas Page is to give many links, all tested for their active status, suitable for classroom use, from the evaluated resources in the searchable EdNA Online database. The sites have been arranged in categories. Users will find that many sites are very comprehensive, often going beyond the category headings. The page includes a category 'Australian School's Christmas pages'. If your school has a Christmas page, let me know and I will add it to this list. If you are developing a page please let me know when it goes online. Send an email to ksmith@educationau.edu.au
This feature at EdNA Online allows visitors to check what has been added to the EdNA Online database in the last 7 days. The link above relates to additions to the School Education part of the database. For additions to the whole database in the last 7 days use http://www.edna.edu.au/discover/recentitem.html
The Calendar for Australian Schools is now available as a Word document and as an Excel spreadsheet. Just click on the file that you want and it will open in the application where you can save it.
Each event in the document is linked to the EdNA Online noticeboard where more information is available.
This Australian site celebrates online curriculum projects and the world of unique learning opportunities.
We are coming to the end of another active year at OzProjects and it is now time to add new online projects.
How:
1. Go to OzProjects http://ozprojects.edna.edu.au/
2. Go to the Project Registry and click on 'Register to add'
3. Fill in form and click on 'Okay'
4. Click on "Add a new project"
5. Fill in project details and click on 'Okay'
EdNA Online looks forward to receiving new online projects for next year.
This is an online collaborative project for elementary students from around the globe. The focus of the project is to read and learn about fairytales and then to submit an activity or activities to the project leader. Year level range: Pre - Year 5
This project encourages sharing globally on what's special about your town. Is it the town clock or a special monument or perhaps a Danish Windmill? Tell us about it as we learn about different communities. The project targets Years 1-6.
This online project links two schools in opposite hemispheres to compare climate and seasons. What affects regional climate? A good chance for students to learn about another culture while learning Science. The project targets Years 8-12.
The Minister of Education, Hon. Brendan Nelson has announced a new initiative to improve the literacy of young indigenous children. Building Bridges: Literacy Development in Young Indigenous Children was developed by the Australian Early Childhood Association. It includes a book and video and features Indigenous families from remote and urban metropolitan preschool centres in different parts of Australia. Building Bridges stresses the importance of recognising the cultural knowledge that children bring with them to the preschool learning environment. It also stresses the vital role that parents and families play in making the connection between the children and the learning environment. The publication and the video are available from the Australian Early Childhood Association on telephone (02) 6241 6900 or facsimile (02) 6241 5547.
This page, created by teachers at Patterson Lakes Primary School Australia, contains an opportunity for children to write to Santa.
The majority of Australia will not see a total solar eclipse on the afternoon/evening of 4 December 2002 because they don't live in the right location for viewing. CSIRO will be conducting a live webcast from Ceduna, SA, of the eclipse so everyone can see the event first hand.
Part of the NASA Eclipse site, this animation shows why people are going to Ceduna to see the eclipse. There is an excellent explanation.
This site contains more information about what people are doing to prepare to watch the eclipse, as well as links to other sites.
World AIDS Day, 1 December
International Day for Abolition of Slavery, 2 December
International Day of Disabled Persons, 3 December
International Volunteer Day, 5 December
Idul Fitr (Islam), 6 December
International Human Rights Day, 10 December
Simpson Prize, entries close 13 December
Christmas Day, 25 December
Kwanzaa, 26 December
For other dates see our Calendar for Australian Schools
This CSIRO website contains information about how, why, when and where an eclipse occurs, as well as information on how to view an eclipse safely. It relates particularly to the total solar eclipse of 4 December, 2002.
This website explains the geology of the rocks seen at Hallet Cove, South Australia. It introduces students to the concepts of geological time scales and gaps in the geological record.
A number of online resources have been developed by the Department of Education, Tasmania including a set of 5 traditional Indonesian games: Hom Pim Pah, Sut, Kubuk, Galah Asin, and Congklak. This link provides access to (free) downloads for each of the games, and teaching notes. These games could be used by students of Bahasa Indonesia from Grade 5 up.
The 'Just a Little Bit' resource from the Australian Dairy Corporation encourages students to adopt nutritious eating habits and a healthy, active lifestyle every day. Teacher website pages contain some useful support material to help make the teaching of nutrition easy and fun. Student website pages include fun activities, nutrition facts and figures, and the 'five food groups', an Interactive Nutrition Quiz and Healthy Teeth Word Search, and some jokes and riddles to share.
This report describes the major features of the vocational education and training sectors in China and Australia, and their strategies and reforms, with emphasis on links between secondary and post-secondary vocational education and training.
This paper has been prepared for the Dusseldorp Skills Forum by Applied Economics. It looks at issues such as: What is the scope of Australia's learning and work commitment to young people? What is the level of investment required to achieve it? Who will benefit and by how much? How can it be delivered? The study examines the benefits of providing every young person with guaranteed access to 12 years of learning and access to decent work.
This Australian Department of Veteran Affairs website contains the service record details of individuals who served in Australia's defence forces and the Australian Merchant Navy during World War Two. It contains an overview of Australia's role in World War 2, a glossary of ranks, and is searchable by name, place of birth, locality on enlistment, or place of enlistment, service number and honour.
21st-Century Skills from NCREL (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory - USA) is a research-based discussion of the skills required of the Knowledge Economy's workforce, written by Cheryl Lemke. The skills are Digital-Age Literacy, Inventive Thinking, Effective Communication, and High Productivity.
Class-size reduction (CSR) is one strategy researchers have found that increases student achievement and, in many cases, reduces the achievement gap. This publication summarises findings from several major state-level CSR initiatives, including Tennessee's Project STAR, Wisconsin's SAGE program, and California's CSR initiative. It also provides an overview of the US Department of Education's CSR program and examines CSR implementation and results over time in two North Carolina districts. The publication includes conclusions and recommendations for CSR implementation, project design, classroom instruction, professional development, and research and evaluation. It offers information for a variety of audiences, including policymakers, parents, and state-, district- and school-level educators.
From NCREL (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory - USA). A critical issue is an online, multimedia document that synthesises research on an issue critical to educators working to improve their schools. It sets goals and an action plan for stakeholders who are engaged in a specific school improvement issue. It provides examples of schools that have succeeded in implementing similar action plans on their pathway to school improvement. The Critical Issues are organised in 10 categories: Assessment, At-Risk Students, Family and Community, Instruction Leadership, Literacy, Mathematics and Science, Policy, Professional Development, and Technology in Education.
A 5-year research project to develop innovative software and a collection of books that specifically addresses the needs of children as readers. Interdisciplinary researchers from computer science, library studies, education, art, and psychology are working together with children to design this new library. Currently, the collection includes materials donated from 27 cultures in 15 languages.
This site aims to provide resources for educators, students, and activists to explore and discuss multicultural education; facilitate opportunities for educators to work toward self-awareness and development; and provide forums for educators to interact and collaborate toward a critical, transformative approach to multicultural education.
This site is intended for educators who teach mathematics and are interested in integrating common technologies into their daily instruction. The target audience includes intermediate and middle-grade teachers (particularly those who teach remedial math classes) and secondary special educators. While much of this site focuses on mathematics, there are a number of lessons and activities that are intended to blend mathematics with writing and make use of mathematical reasoning in other content areas such as social studies.
Web Research Guide is designed to help students explore the ins and outs of conducting effective research on the web. Included in the Web Research Guide: using various types of search tools to locate web resources; conducting thorough, systematic web research; judging a website's usefulness and reliability; citing electronic sources; and understanding basic Internet terminology.
A set of online resources which teach children about different aspects of the Internet. Once students have been through the five aspects of the Internet, each section supported by printable materials, there is web Challenge for them to complete. These pages are part of a site called 'Teaching Ideas for Primary Teachers'.