ICT Training
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Secondary Geography - Introduction
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Module 1 |
Contents |
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Module 1: Secondary Geography – Introduction
Information and communication technologies (ICT) can be used to enhance learning and teaching in the secondary school Geography curriculum. For students this is best achieved where ICT experiences are carefully planned and fully integral with the Geography learning and opportunities for assessing pupils' information technology capability are included alongside their achievements in Geography.
A pupil’s entitlement to ICT in secondary geography
Pupils studying geography are entitled to use ICT:
The use of ICT can enhance learning in geography by:
Work in geography can contribute substantially to the development of a range of ICT capabilities, particularly in the areas of data handling, use of communication technologies and information sources and modelling.
Geography and ICT: A Practical Checklist
The Geography ICT Support Project (a DfES funded initiative managed by the Geographical
Association and Becta) prepared a publication to outline a pupil’s entitlement.
To read the full document go to: http://curriculum.becta.org.uk/docserver.php?docid=1216
In it there is a useful checklist, which is reproduced in part below. There are some suggested topics in which ICT has been of benefit. This is not an exhaustive list. Download a blank copy of the checklist and complete it for your school. Use the conference site to share ideas and advice with other geography departments.
In their booklet: The Use of ICT in Subject Teaching: Identification of Training Needs, Secondary Geography, the TTA provide an overview of the use of ICT in teaching secondary geography. Click here to see an extract of Using Information and Communications Technology to meet teaching objectives in secondary geography. Click here to download a blank copy of a departmental overview, based on the TTA’s expected outcomes, for a geography department to prioritise its ICT training strategy.
As a department, discuss the examples and suggested topics. Review your schemes of work and identify your own examples and topics.
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Reason |
Example |
Suggested topics |
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Collect, keep and use their own or class collected data |
Use a spreadsheet to present environmental impact scores derived from fieldwork |
(e.g. local housing issues, environmental quality, traffic survey, spheres of influence surveys) |
| Use a data-handling package to analyse information collected from a land use survey in an urban area. | ||
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Explore and extract relevant information |
Use a CD-ROM of UK census data to extract information about population trends, housing conditions, unemployment trends within the home region. |
(e.g. within the London borough of Lewisham use SCAMP database which breaks down the statistics by ward) |
| Use the Internet to explore the impact, causes and effects of an earthquake somewhere in the world. | (e.g. recent earthquakes in Kobe (Japan), India, Turkey: start by looking at the Volcano World site) | |
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Create and use appropriate maps |
Use a mapping package or GIS to present comparative socio-economic data about an European region. |
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| Use a mapping package to investigate the local area | (e.g. to present changing traffic flows on major roads in an urban area; use the site www.multimap.com for street map and aerial views) | |
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Create and use appropriate graphs |
Use a spreadsheet to present graphs |
(e.g. climatic data related to latitude, traffic survey data) |
| Use a database with graphing facilities to display information about global economic development in graph/chart form. | (e.g. North / South divide) | |
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Present geographical ideas |
Use a desktop publishing package to produce a leaflet. |
(e.g. promoting the case for or against a local by-pass; to examine the harmful effects of deforestation in the Amazon basin) |
| Use a multimedia or web-authoring package to present a coursework report (using text, maps and graphics) |
(e.g. about a third world country; farming; river study, coastal fieldwork) |
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Predict and solve problems |
Use a simulation package to investigate the effects of migration on population change in a region. |
(e.g. the development proposals for a derelict site) |
| Use a spreadsheet to calculate the costs of alternatives | (e.g. the costs of different schemes for protecting a coastal area) | |
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Monitor the environment |
Use an automatic weather station to explore changes in weather conditions during the passage of a depression. |
(e.g. weather explorer) |
| Use weather satellite images from the Internet | (e.g. to investigate the daily timing of equatorial rainfalls) | |
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Pupils should also be able to explain the impact of ICT on geographical patterns, processes and events |
Explain the influence of new technology on employment patterns in a particular area, as a result of increased home working. |
(e.g. sending local environmental information to investigators across the world - try theglobe.com) |
| Explain how remotely sensed information is used to monitor agricultural land use for EC subsidies. | (e.g. using remote sensors to alert environmental organisations about levels of burning in rainforest areas) |
Task 1
Write, in an electronic form that you feel is most appropriate, a clear rationale for using ICT in your own Geography context.
In this you should give a clear indication of how you see ICT enhancing teaching and learning within the Geography curriculum. You should include existing good practice and opportunities you consider possible using the information above.
Optional additional task:
Design a web page including your document and use electronic mail to send it to the tutor for publishing on the T@LENT intranet.
What ICT resources do you have available for the geography department?
In order to assess your school’s resources an audit of hardware and software is recommended. This audit should be kept in the departmental handbook and used with the departmental development plan.
Click here for suggested Proforma for the audit:
Explore, and report on, other resources not immediately available in your department but which would fit into the lists above. Include information sources on CD-ROM and the Internet in your search. See Module 2 and Module 3 for suggestions.
Task 2
Audit and list ICT resources available to support learning and teaching Geography in your context.
You might wish to use the forms given above to classify resources.
ICT Training Portfolio and Diary
Keep a portfolio of evidence of your use of ICT in your lessons. This may be helpful when having a professional management review, when applying for additional threshold awards or for future inspections by the Ofsted inspectors. Click here to download a diary of NOF ICT training by the T@lent consortium.
Useful Publications Referred to in the Modules:
The Use of ICT in Subject teaching: Identification of Training Needs – Secondary Geography. TTA
Ideas for Integrating ICT into the primary and secondary classroom Edited by Gill Deadman
Internet & E-Mail: Ideas for Integrating ICT into the primary and secondary classroom, vol 2 Edited by Gill Deadman
Using IT to enhance Geography: Case Studies at Key Stage 3 & 4 NCET 1995
Investigating Weather data: a resource booklet for teachers. NCET 1994
Shopping and Traffic Fieldwork: a resource booklet for teachers. NCET 1994
Delivering and Assessing IT through the curriculum: Practical schemes of work for Key Stage 3 NCET 1998
Differentiation: A practical handbook of classroom strategies, NCET 1993
Discussion 
Activity