Part 2:
Teaching With ICT

a. Structuring Lessons

In the case study we are dealing with, the teacher has a fairly regular pattern to his ICT-based sessions. He tends to start with a teacher-led introduction to the topic, outlining the area for coverage in the session. In an hour-long lesson, he will restrict himself to just one topic. From the introduction, he will set pairs or small groups work to do, using printed worksheets, a CD-ROM or specific investigations on the World Wide Web. This work is structured, and he monitors progress around the class until he can get them to report back to the whole group on their progress, or summarise their progress in small groups to feed back in the next session.

Again, you might not work in exactly this way, but you probably do have a pattern that you favour as a teacher. Characterise this pattern to yourself now, and consider how the use of ICT as a resource might fit into it.

Over something like a six-eight week period of work on this set of objectives, spending two hours a week on the topic, the teacher in the case study has wanted to introduce the ICT based work in the second week. First let's recall the main learning objectives the teacher has for his pupils in this area:

  • Describe the main events leading to the outbreak of the Second World War
  • Distinguish between influences and causes in History and in relation to specific events prior to the Second World War
  • Evaluate some of the causes of the war and their actual and alternative effects
  • Describe the impact of the main features of war on those not directly involved in conflict
  • Provide alternative accounts of events based on different models

Below is a summary of how weeks two-four are structured to use ICT to meet some of these objectives, specifically those relating to cause and effect, modelling and considering alternatives. Take a look at this summary and then produce your own account, and your own lesson plans, showing how you would use the ICT resources we have been discussing to do the same job on the topics. You might wish to extend or contract the time, and to fit the plans, duration and work around your own experience of working with this type of activity.

Case Study Lesson Structure
World War Two - Cause, Effect and Modelling

Week 2 - Two Hours - Setting War in Context - Causes and Effects.

  • Class introduction - summarise work done in week 1 (recap work on printed primary material).
  • Bullet-point general summary - causes of war - class discussion.
  • Use of World Wide Web and CD-ROM to establish causes of war. Whole class set into pairs/threes to investigate:
    • World War 1
    • World War 2
    • Vietnam
    • The Falklands Conflict
    • The Gulf War
    • Regional conflicts - Northern Ireland, The Middle East, India-Pakistan, etc.
  • Findings fed back to group - confirm account of causes of war and describe patterns.

Week 3 - Two Hours - World War 2 - Causes and Participants.

  • Class introduction - recap week 2.
  • Use Web and CD-ROM to determine:
    • Immediate events determining conflict - National, Political, Social, Economic.
    • Background facts and patterns with contribution - 1936-39.
    • Participants and points of entry.
    • Key events 1939-1942 (For this exercise the class split into National groups - GB, Germany, Italy, Japan, USA, and USSR - and given tasks based on their Nation's involvement).
  • Findings fed back to group - summary picture of causes and participants.

b. Managing Learning in the Classroom