Part 1:
Preparing to Use ICT in Teaching

a. Aims and Objectives

The teacher's aim for the sake of this case study is to develop work in Key Stage 3 RE in the area of Sacred Texts. In this case the learners are KS 3 pupils in a mixed gender comprehensive school - the gender balance is roughly equal, but the ethnic/cultural/religious balance is very predominantly white Christian, and the pupils largely have little or no contact with the sacred text from their own religious culture. As we meet the teacher, he has previously used a variety of methods of dealing with this area, including discussion, chalk-and-talk, paper based materials and some examples of the texts themselves in printed form.

Specifically, the teacher wants the pupils at this phase of work on RE to:

• Name the key sacred text(s) for a range of World religions, from:
  • Christianity
  • Judaism
  • Sikhism
  • Buddhism
  • Islam
  • Hinduism
• Name the key protagonists from at least two of the texts.
• Identify the dates and regions of appearance of at least two of the texts.
• Describe the geographical extent of the influence of at least two of the texts today.

Questions for Consideration

• How do you currently deal with this area of work in the classroom?
• Do you use any ICT based methods to gather and present information, and how do you manage use of these?

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

b. Deciding Whether to Use ICT