d.
Developing Your Own Knowledge of the Resources
Having
made decisions about using some of the resources and opportunities
in tandem, it is important for the teacher in the case study to
get to know the resources well enough to feel confident about
using them in the classroom. It is also important that the pupils
will feel comfortable about using the resources.
We
can focus on this with an exercise that should provide some focus
on the relationship between the resources you can find on the
web and the spreadsheet supplied with this case study. Firstly,
take a look at as many of the web
sites indicated earlier as you have time to look at.
Then
answer the following questions - just to give you some focus to
begin with:
- How
useful are the statistics and descriptive information in the
sites?
- Do
you know how to copy and paste elements of the sites to your
own worksheets, and are you aware of the legal constraints on
the activity in this respect?
When
you have done this, take a look at the spreadsheet supplied with
this case study and answer the following questions:
- Are
satisfied that the main variables are factored into the spreadsheets,
and that they are factored in at appropriate rates?
- If
not, what would you change?
- Where
do you intend to acquire data for insertion into a spreadsheet,
and how far do you want your pupils to be involved in the data
collection?
When
you have looked at the spreadsheet and the web in the light of
these questions, and perhaps written some worksheets of your own
to go with these resources, you should discuss with your mentor
what you want to do with the material in the classroom. This can
be done in a mentor visit, over the telephone or by email and
should serve merely to satisfy you that you are on the right track
with your use of the materials.
 e.
Planning the Work of Learners
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