IT not TV?

Recent Channel 4 research report – A Beta Life – has uncovered some surprising facts about young people’s (12-24) relationship with new technology. Read some of the findings on the channel’s blog spot.

Interesting points include:

• They personally own 8 devices (including MP3 player, PC, TV, DVD player, mobile phone, stereo, games console, and digital camera)
• They frequently conduct over 5 activities whilst watching TV
• 25% of them agree that “I’d rather stay at home than go on a holiday with no internet or phone access”
• A quarter of young people interviewed text or IM (instant message) friends they are physically with at the time
• They have on average 123 friends on their social network spaces
• And the first thing the majority of them do when they get home is turn on their PC

Sustainable Energy – without the hot air

David Mackay is Professor of Physics at Cambridge University who has devoted most of his time public teaching about energy. This is a link to  the electronic version of his book, which is available to download for free.It’s claim to fame is that it is clearly written, cuts through a lot of the political babble and leaves you to find your answers. Check out the reviews on Amazon

TUC and Womens Equality

This link contains information on legislation and policies for women in the workplace and includes, abortion rights, childcare, violence against women, equal pay and much more.

Internet Archive

The Internet Archive exists to collect and offer access to digital information so they are not lost to history. Browse text, including e-books and articles, web archives, live music, film and audio files.

British Film Institute Screenonline

The BFI’s Screenonline Education Zone offers features like the Cutting Room, where you can use the editing tool to create your own short films, using the archive and your own video and sound. The Lesson Bank contains clips for every subject area. The curriculum relevant lesson ideas and resources are linked to feature films and TV programmes. For example a film from 1935 exploring   slum housing at the time can be used as part of a GCSE or A level unit. It’s an excellent site to just explore for hidden gems.

The Naked Scientists

They are  group of scientists from Cambridge University who are well known for their interactive radio 5 shows. The aim of the website is popularise science, make it clear, less threatening and boring. It’s easy to navigate and contains podcasts, experiments, articles and interviews.

The Encyclopedia Earth

The goal of Encyclopedia Earth is to be the largest reliable information resource on the environment in history. This is an outstanding online encyclopedia that covers just about everything on planet earth, from Acid Rain to the Signs and Symptons of Scabies. The resources are in the form of free searchable articles, conference papers, speeches and e-books, written by scholars, professionals and educators and other experts in their respective  fields.

NGfL Cymru

The National Grid for Learning Cymru is a library of interactive resources for teachers and learners at all levels.The website contains 3,000 high quality download-able educational resources which support all Key Stages of the curriculum, from Early Years to Post 16.

Dr Mel Comics

Mel Gibson is a comic sholar who runs training events about comics and graphic novels. Her website offers links that help with the development of graphic novel and manga collections in libraries.

The Write fantastic website also contains some useful links and resources covering the genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy.