c. Selecting ICT Resources

The teacher in the case study is completely at home with the skills behind most of the options we have looked at above, and has used a variety of Web and CD-ROM based materials to teach the subject area. He has used videos, he already has some word-processed materials, he has seen some good sites on the World Wide Web, and he knows how to use a CD-ROM and a spreadsheet package.

You may not be in the same position as he is, so we shall look at the options in the context of your school and your experience. Think about the following points as they apply to you:

Use teacher-led discussion on the topic only, and not use any ICT (or other technology) at all.
I have a bit of a problem with this (I would say that, wouldn't I?) in as much as my own experience of working with discussion alone is that it can be hugely enjoyable, but that learners often have little general or even current affairs knowledge on which to build Geographical skills. Especially in terms of the objectives set for this case study, there is such a wealth of material available from the World Wide Web and CD-ROM that I really would want to get the most out of the curriculum, the technology and the pupils by combining some of the options.

Use a word processor package to create worksheets for the topic, perhaps placing some images into the worksheets to promote understanding.
Here the question is one of how much the pupils will develop their skills if the teacher spends his time on creating stimulus material using a word-processor, and how much they would have done so anyway. My own view is that the use of well organised stimulus material will help learners focus on the topic in hand, as well as giving them examples of how information can be found and managed. It also seems likely that the time spent on creating high quality resources of the sort the teacher wants is likely to be returned in the adaptability and re-usability of the resources.

Use some video or print material showing aspects of the topic.
This isn't strictly an ICT option, but it would be if it were done in conjunction with the word-processed worksheets or some work on the World Wide Web looking at the topics. The best thing about it is that looking at video or print material provides a range of stimuli to the learner, and looking at material produced contemporaneously with events under discussion will improve chances of empathy and imaginative understanding.

Use the World Wide Web to gather resources and data for modelling purposes.
The web sites identified below offer a range of forms of information in this area. Some give educational or academic definitions and descriptions of population growth, and some provide data for specific counties and regions of the world. Take a look at as many as you want, and you might also find in their links areas some useful examples and sites:

www.unescap.org/pop/data_sheet/data99.htm
Population and Development Indicators for Asia and the Pacific, 1999.

www.census.gov/ipc/www/world.html
United States Census Bureau.

http://geography.about.com/science/geography/cs/
worldpopulation/index.htm
Discussion, statistics and maps for the population of the United States and the world.

www.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special/report/1999/06/99/
world_population/newaid_381000/381043.stm
News reports on the topic of population.

www.mapsofindia.com
Information and maps for India.

www.undp.org/popin/wdtrends/wdtrends.htm
United Nations population statistics and projections.

www.popin.org/pop1998
World population estimates and statistics.

Gather data from a variety of real and virtual sources, and use a spreadsheet package to generate the models from the data.
You have been provided with a spreadsheet for this purpose, and you can of course acquire or fabricate the data according to what you want to achieve with the exercise. Once you are familiar with the spreadsheet product, you can also add your own elements and make the model behave however you think it should. Your Geography mentor, as well as your own colleagues in school and elsewhere in the project will obviously help with this development. The factors currently built into the spreadsheet are:

• Base population
• Use of contraception
• Birth rate
• Death rate

When you've looked at my ideas about the options available, you need to make your own choices. The teacher in the case study has decided to use all options mentioned, and to combine two or more in particular sessions over a three-four week period out of a total of six-eight weeks spent on the topic. You need to plan to do something of this sort. On the next page, make a copy and fill out the summary to help you get focus on what you will do. I've put in some suggestions - you can use these as you like. Think of some uses of your own, and make a short note on what you will have to do to make it work, what you expect the benefit to be to your pupils, and what difficulties you expect to encounter when you do it in the classroom.

Resources Selected for Work on Population