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 newspapers and 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.

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 Historical 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 a CD-ROM to have students gather information on the topic to form the basis of discussion and individual work.
Almost any CD-ROM encyclopædia will give you background information on the second World War, though many are still written from essentially a North American point of view. You probably know about Encarta and Britannica, and other products such as Hutchinson and Compton provide inexpensive if inconsistent sources of data. The point here is that you are not looking for thorough, exhaustive and expert treatment of the topic, but for well presented materials that will enable your pupils to develop their own sense of Historical criticism.

Use the World Wide Web to gather information.
The following web addresses provide interesting background resources:

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWW.htm
The First World War.

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/vietnam.htm
The Vietnam War.

www.nara.gov/exhall/powers/powers.html
World War II posters.

www.openstore.com/posters/
World War II posters.

www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/index.html
The effects of the atom bomb.

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/chatback/
First-hand accounts of World War II.

In this case study, you might also want to find the sources themselves, and the following search engines can provide a useful starting point:

Use examples of time-lines from popular CD-ROM's and History web sites to get pupils to produce their own time-lines using word-processors with changes in key events to see the effects of these changes.
If you have ever looked at the standard CD-ROM products available, you will have seen the time-lines they use. These are graphical presentations of the events of History, often with the facility on the CD-ROM to click on the event described to get further information. I have included some of these for your reference over the next few pages. Look carefully at them and my notes, since the case study will suggest that you do something with them later on.

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 page after the time lines, 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.

Examples of Timelines