The Skill of Describing, SmArtHistory, a multimedia web-book about art

Wandering through SmArtHistory again, found a few introductory videos, including this, The Skill of Describing

Thinking back to mine own education, can't remember anyone really describing a work of art, let alone describing the skill of describing! (We did make it to the National Art Gallery by HS, so maybe it happened there).

What I'm wondering today is, surely this site would make at least a quarter's credit for any and every HS student in the nation. How, though, to evaluate? This beautiful and rich site has so much--and yet, a teacher has to assess somehow. Write their own?

If anyone has seen assessments based on SmArtHistory, We'd love to see them!

Mr. Roughton's Class 2.0
Can't tell if this is a trend yet. Having grown up gamers themselves, many teachers are turning to gameplay for help in reaching their students. As we've documented here, this can be hit and miss as far as covering any particular content.

The next step to some teachers is to make the entire class a game. Rather than waiting each week for the assgnments to be announced on Monday, with all work done or else by Friday, teachers are allowing students to accumulate points in different manners and times.

We'll look at this more later. For now, have a look 'round Mr. Roughton's digital classroom, check out some of his resources, and see how he assigns/offers lessons and grants points.

Online history lessons - history and ICT - www.SchoolHistory.co.uk
It's been awhile since we looked around SchoolHistory.co.uk. Those who have been around the digital History frontier know it's one of the oldies. Fling the Teacher goes way, way back. They've modified it a bit. (Of course students can "skin" their chosen teacher.) Some 2665 questions on 68 possible topics are available.

Another eight game types are available, including Hangman, Noughts and Crosses and Hoopshoot. I like Walk the Plank. In all, some 6500 questions on 235 topics are available.

And that's not all to SchoolHistory.co.uk!

learninreturn | Robotics
Learninreturn offers nice lessons relating to real science and engineering projects. I know as a hs student, the most memorable work I did was a simple term paper on what here in the boondocks seemed science fiction, stuff that was actually out of the labs and into the field.

The interactive and assessment part runs more in the worksheet vein, though it is online. Still, cool content...if it inspires to do the hard work of science discipline and math.

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Ben Robinson on Prezi
Have you seen Prezi?! Think of a presentation where you guide the audience around a whiteboard, focusing in here and there.

It's a free service for the basic web-based creator; more if you want extras, or a desktop-based editor.

Here's a very nice example. There's a video embedded, too. (You can add Flash swf's).

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World on Prezi

Astronomers challenge - Mesopotamia!
This challenge from the British Museum accompanies a number of interactives on Assyria, Babylonia, and Sumer. Haven't got to play in depth yet, but my they are gorgeous.

Another is Trading Places: 'Your relations are all merchants and they want you to learn their trade. You will work for three different people, buying goods from other merchants in Anatolia, Dilmun and Susa. Your challenge is to be as good a merchant as possible.'