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
|