Keesings For Schools March08

Overview

bullWhat is Keesingrsquos Record of World EventsbullWhy is Keesingrsquos UsefulbullOnline FeaturesbullKeesingrsquos as a Teaching ResourcebullSummarybullQuestions Hands-on exercises

What is Keesingrsquos Record of World Events

Keesinglsquos is neither a newspaper nor a magazine It is a reference resource recording facts and events in order to form a continuous archive Keesings editorial principles arebull Internationalismbull Accuracybull Permanence bull Objectivity

Why is Keesingrsquos UsefulKeesings is a distillation of political news into easily digestible chunks but written as an ongoing narrative Keesingsrsquo provides clear unbiased facts in an easily accessible form

Keesings Online is the quickest and most rational way of accessing 76 years of Keesingrsquos articles covering every country of the world It is a fully searchable database containing over 100000 reports and something over 70 million words expanding at a rate of over 1500 articles and 600000 words per year

Online FeaturesKeesinglsquos website offers IP controlled access to the 76 year archive in electronic format with 95000 fully searchable articles in PDF format

Users can build up portfolios of articles useful to their research tag interesting information for themselves or to share with others

The site also hosts Breaking History a feature section providing historical analysis and context on todays headlines

Keesingrsquos supports Clusters Clusters are groups of references linked together because they cover the same topic Currently three types of cluster are available countries persons and user-created tags

wwwkeesingscom

Keesingrsquos as a Teaching Resource 1Use Keesings to teach ICT

Use Keesings to teach Citizenship Constitution amp Governance Elections Environment Foreign Relations Human Rights International Organisations

Use Keesings to teach History Constitution amp Governance Disarmament amp Rearmament Disasters Foreign Relations Science amp Technology Terrorism War PEOPLE CLUSTERS NATION CLUSTERS

Use Keesings to teach Government amp Politics Appointments Constitution amp Governance Elections Foreign Relations International Organisations LegislationPolitical Parties

Keesingrsquos as a Teaching Resource 2Use Keesings to teach Economics and Business Studies Economy International Organisations Use Keesings to teach Sociology Social Issues Legal Issues

Use Keesings to teach Law Legislation Legal Issues

Use Keesings to teach English and Media Studies By comparing Keesings articles with other online resources such as online newspaper and TV sites teachers can show how articles are written in different ways for different reasons

Summary

Keesingrsquos provides an International Accurate Objective and Permanent record of world events

It is wholly suitable for classroom teaching private study and research for students from 14+

The online database offers cutting-edge Web features allowing online collaboration between teachers and students

wwwkeesingscom

Hands-on exercises

Questions Citizenship 1Human rights and Young People Child soldiers search for child soldiersldquo sort the results using date newest first Results show articles about Sri Lanka Chad Sierra Leone Central African Republic UN Democratic Republic of Congo httpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_search_phrase=22child+soldiers22ampx=13ampy=11ampkssp_sortby=Newest_Firstampkssp_time_start_value5Bm5D=1ampkssp_time_start_value5By5D=1931ampkssp_time_stop_value5Bm5D=2ampkssp_time_stop_value5By5D=2008ampkssp_date_range_type=publication

This shows the use of child soldiers is a current issue in Sir Lanka

How do we know that children are being recruited httpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=48079n01lkaampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_rspn=1ampkssp_v_id=53

A report published on Aug 6 by the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) Keesings tells you when the report was published and who the group who published the report was - a New York based advocacy group (newspapers often omit this sort of description and just say reports suggest)

Col Karuna denies using child soldiers httpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=47870n01lkaampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_rspn=1ampkssp_v_id=53

In 2000 the UN signed a treaty to prevent the use of child soldiers httpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=43388n01uniampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_rspn=1ampkssp_v_id=46

Questions Citizenship 2Democracy and Justice in the UKThis article discusses two trials and two rulings by the Law Lords It is a good basis for discussing the judiciary and the executive in the UK legislation and the conduct of trials

httpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=48208n01ukiampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_v_id=53amp_apn=2a_toc_2

Key discussion points from the articlebullPrevention of Terrorism Act of 2005 and the 2006 Terrorism Act - what events prompted the government to enact new terrorism legislationbullFirst person to be convicted of Islamist terrorism offences in Scotland - why is Scotland treated separately and not just assumed to be the same as EnglandbullLaw Lords - what is their rolebullHome Secretary - what is her role and how does it relate to the Law LordsbullWhy would an 18 hour curfew be considered a breach of human rights but not a 16 hour curfewbullWhy would suspects want to see key evidence against them Answers2006 Terrorism Billhttpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=47170n01ukiampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_v_id=53amp_apn=2

Questions Citizenship 3Exploring the connections between the UK and the wider world Indian independence Search for disobedience campaign httpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=108n04indampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_rspn=1ampkssp_v_id=i An example of an early article directly quoting from the time search for India independence httpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=8729n02indampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_rspn=1ampkssp_v_id=vi Describes the Indian independence bill as it passed through the British parliamentary process

Questions History 1Chronological understanding Chronology of key events in Haitihttpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_search_phrase=chronologyampx=0ampy=0ampkssp_a_id=45841n03htiampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_v_id=50amp_apn=2 A timeline in a Keesings article outlines key events with cross reference links so that events can be traced in order The basic structure of Keesings encourages chronological understanding with its sort by date options and by the last article link at the end of each article which means you can click back through time following the history of each country through the chain of previous articles

Questions History 2Cultural ethnic and religious diversity MalaysiaEthnic composition of Malaya in 1938 httpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=2965n04xcoampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_rspn=1ampkssp_v_id=iii Post-colonial Greater Malaysia plan where Malaysia was divided partly along ethnic lineshttpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=18392n01cwtampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_rspn=1ampkssp_v_id=7 can be compared with recent ethnic tensionshttpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=48256n01mysampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_rspn=1ampkssp_v_id=53

Questions History 3In the UK

UK population by religionhttpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=45258n02ukiampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_v_id=50amp_apn=6 SignificanceColin Powells presentation to the UN before the Iraq warhttpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=45264n04irqampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_v_id=49amp_apn=3a_toc_2 Would the course of the war on Iraq been different if the US had had full and unequivocal UN support

Or if the US had chosen not to act because of UN reluctance

Questions Economics 1European currency crisis

httpwwwkeesingscomsearchkssp_a_id=39080n01eurampkssp_selected_tab=articleampkssp_v_id=47

PPT screenshots

Articles that Discuss Human Rights in Ghana

Searching for lsquo11-13 Sept 2001rsquo amp lsquoPentagonrsquo

Electoral Mandates in Brazil

Budgets from Around the World

Commodities ndash Uranium Production

The Migration of White People from Zimbabwe

The Acquittal of Omagh Bombing Suspect

The Telegraph Emotive biased language

Compare with Keesingrsquos a similar unbiased perspective

Further bank rate increase

The monetary policy committee of the Bank of England (the central bank) on Aug 5 increased the base UK interest rate from 45 to 475 per cent thus applying the fifth 025 per cent increase since November 2003 [for June increase see p 46080] The Bank said that the further increase was intended to curb inflationary pressures arising from robust growth although it noted signs of a slow-down in rising house prices and consumer spending