b. Deciding Whether to Use ICT

There seems to be a wide range of options for dealing with this topic. The teacher could:

• Use discussion and chalk-and-talk on the area only, and not use any ICT (or other technology) at all.
• Use a word processor package to create worksheets for the topics, perhaps placing some images into the worksheets to promote understanding.
• Use video material of the sort available from broadcast and educational publishing organisations.
• Use a CD-ROM to have students gather information on the topics to form the basis of discussion.
• Use the World Wide Web to gather information - particularly statistical information about demographic change.
• Have pupils present some of their findings using a database such as Access, or a spreadsheet such as Excel, regardless of how data was found.

Of course, any combination of the options is also possible, but we shall discuss them all, and your work will involve using several of the options alone and together.

Questions for Consideration

• How many of the options above do you feel comfortable about at the moment, and could you suggest any others?
• What are the benefits to using the published print and broadcast material?
• What are the pitfalls as you see them to using the World Wide Web to gather background information?
• Look again at the objectives for this case study - do you think any of them match up with the options listed?

Keep a short record of your responses to these questions for discussion with your mentor.

c. Selecting ICT Resources