ICT
Training for Teachers|
|
|
|
|
Secondary Geography - Teaching and Assessing ICT in Secondary Geography
ICT Teaching Arrangements in the School
The kind of lesson that you can plan that uses ICT is heavily dependent on the ICT arrangements available in your school. And as with all teaching arrangements, there is no one set-up that is ideal for all situations. Above all, you should remember that you too could influence and change any existing arrangements if they don't suit your purpose.
The following arrangements are fairly typical in schools:
This is very limiting, but even so, you can ensure that all pupils, working in pairs or threes, can have a turn at the machine if all you are doing is a short text manipulation exercise, gap exercise or sequencing exercise. If you establish a rota, the pupils will very quickly take their turn without reference to you, and the rest of the lesson can proceed without interruption. For more lengthy work at the computer you will have to book in a session in the school's computer room.
The single machine, if linked to the Internet, or if it has a CD-ROM drive, can have a useful place for very specific work such as when a small group of pupils do an Internet search, or when you want pupils to do some research in pairs.
The single machine can be a very powerful tool for whole class teaching if it is linked to a display tablet and the computer screen is projected onto a large screen by an overhead projector.
Think of other ways that the single machine can be used. Using a mapping skills exercise, for example, can be very powerful when used with the whole class. You might want to investigate the possibility of an interactive whiteboard for this kind of work.
Many schools have a small network of computers in each subject area. There is no reason why the geography department shouldn't have such a network too. Having four or eight machines will allow a third to half of the class (if pairing is used) to work on ICT activities whilst others are working with the teacher or on desk-based activities. Some teachers consider this the ideal, as it forces them to concentrate the ICT activities into a 'circus' of activities, helping to ensure a natural pace and structure to a lesson. It is easier to avoid the temptation, all too prevalent when one is in a room with one computer per pupil, to let the pupils remain on the computers for the whole lesson - ICT lessons need pace and variety as much as any other lesson!
On the face of it, a room full of machines allowing each pupil to work on his or her own would seem to be the ideal. But unless there is space either next to the computers or better still away from the computers for non-computer work, the teacher is more-or-less forced to use the machines for the whole lesson. For the reasons given above, this is not always ideal, and for beginners can be positively disastrous. If you wish to build into your lesson a five-minute revision exercise followed by a three-minute game, and the room is unsuited to whole class teaching, you really do have a problem in how to structure the lesson. 'Borrowing' the room for part of the lesson, perhaps by swapping with a colleague in a similar quandary, is one solution to this. There will, however, be times when the nature of the ICT work does require the whole lesson, or maybe a series of consecutive lessons, to be devoted to intensive and individual ICT work, and here the departmental ICT room can come into its own.
Invite a colleague you trust, to observe and support your lesson using ICT (an extra pair of hands is always welcome!). Following the lesson discuss with them their (and your) observations of the learning and teaching going on. This is good continuing professional development and will greatly help you both.
How do I ensure that the pupils are IT competent?
You are geography teacher and you want to use ICT in your geography lesson; you don't particularly want to be an ICT teacher. The pupils need a minimum of ICT competence to achieve your aims. How can you resolve these two conflicting needs? Giving detailed advice will be difficult, but some general points can be made:
Pupils learn routines quickly, and are happy to stick to them. You might be daunted by the thought that they all need to learn how to use a particular package, but once the whole class has been introduced to it (a good use of the display tablet on an overhead projector or, if you are lucky, the interactive whiteboard) they quickly get used to the idea of taking turns at the machines and getting on with their work. You will need to provide work sheets or instructions on the board if they need to access a variety of programs or files off the server, and handy 'prompt sheets' or 'idiot guides' near the machines (get the pupils to write their own!) can help.
Schools usually have ICT courses for all the pupils giving them the basic skills in how to access and use 'generic' packages such as word processors, spreadsheets and publication packages. Can you take advantage of this?
Some geography departments volunteer to do part of this basic training for all pupils, ensuring that they get a geographical slant into, say, spreadsheets. How would you feel about doing that in your school?
Finding out about Pupil’s prior knowledge:
In preparation for planning ICT activities in Key Stage 3 Geography you will need to think about the following questions:
You might need to talk with colleagues in your department and elsewhere, including teachers of ICT, to build a picture of the skills your pupils actually do have.
Descriptions of attainment levels for IT
To see a copy of the level descriptions (suggested by the DfEE) click here.
They describe the types and ranges of performance that pupils working at a particular level should characteristically demonstrate. In deciding a pupil’s level of attainment at the end of a key stage, teachers should judge which description best fits the pupil’s performance. Each description should be considered in conjunction with the descriptions for adjacent levels.
By the end of Key Stage 1 the performance of the majority of pupils should be within the range of levels 1 - 3;
By the end of Key Stage 2 the performance of the majority of pupils should be within the range of levels 2 - 5;
By the end of Key Stage 3 the performance of the majority of pupils should be within the range of levels 3 - 7;
Level 8 is available for very able pupils, and to help teachers differentiate exceptional performance at Key Stage 3, a description above level 8 is provided.
Provision should be made for the diverse learning needs of all your pupils.
The use of ICT in geography can enhance subject learning for all abilities: see the Inclusion section of the national curriculum for geography.
Collaborative working
Many teachers have found that pupils work well in pairs at the computer, and that the interaction between them can stimulate good oral work, or lead to deeper understanding of the work. It is a good idea to plan for paired work or even for three at the keyboard (more gets a bit crowded!), but you do need to be sure that all pupils are working. Boys in particular can either dominate the use of the keyboard, or opt out completely.
Work at the computer is as much part of the lesson as other work, and the lesson plan should show the link between the constituent parts of the lesson. You need to be prepared to intervene to see if the pupils are doing the work, and that they understand the work. There is a temptation to think that, because the pupils are busy at the keyboard they are busy learning; this is not necessarily the case! All those intervention tricks which you employ when the pupils are doing written or oral work apply with ICT work: questioning, pointing (at the screen, rather than at the course book or other prompt), repeating, getting the pupils to tell you what they are doing, to repeat details, to write or draw to show understanding, etc.
Some ICT work will arise spontaneously from the lesson. Just as you might ask pupils to check words or a glossary in a reference book, so you can use ICT reference materials such as CD-ROM dictionaries in a lesson. Vocabulary exploration lessons can be greatly enriched by the planned use of these aids, perhaps with different groups using different (ICT and non-ICT) resources and comparing notes afterwards.
The very attractiveness of ICT and the ability of pupils to 'fiddle' can lead to problems if the ICT resources are too close to the location of the non-ICT activities, particularly if you don't actually want them to use or be distracted by the machines for some of the lesson. Some thought needs to be given to how you will seat the pupils. In the same way, pupils working on the computers need to be able to work without being distracted by the other activities in the classroom.
Help with Assessing Progression
The following progression is based on the old National curriculum level descriptions and the SCAA’s Exemplification of Standards in Geography and Information technology at Key Stage 3. The QCA have promised new guidance on the exemplification of standards for Curriculum 2000 ICT in the spring of 2001.
|
|
Key progression elements within ICT |
Key progression elements within geographical ‘enquiry’ |
|
Level 2 |
Use ICT purposefully, present findings |
Select and use information from resources provided |
|
Level 3 |
Use ICT to save data and access stored information, follow straight forward lines of enquiry |
Use skills, use sources of evidence to respond to some geographical questions. |
|
Level 4 |
Add to. Amend and interrogate stored information, understand need for care in framing questions, interpret findings, question plausibility |
Use range of skills to investigate, begin to describe geographical patterns and processes, suggest suitable geographical questions |
|
Level 5 |
Select information for purposes, check its accuracy, organise and prepare it for computer processing, demonstrate rigour in the work carried out. |
Select and use appropriate skill, identify relevant geographical questions, describe and begin to offer explanations for patterns, reach plausible conclusions |
|
Level 6 |
Use complex lines of enquiry to test hypotheses, us information from a range of sources, develop and refine it |
Identify relevant geographical questions and suggest appropriate sequences of investigation, describe and offer explanations, present conclusions consistent with the evidence |
|
Level 7 |
Select and use suitable information systems, identify the advantages and limitations of different data-handling applications, consider limitations of information sources and results produced |
Select and use accurately a wide range of skills, with growing independence identify geographical questions and establish a sequence of investigations, begin to reach substantiate conclusions |
|
Level 8 |
Select appropriate ICT for the task, design successful means of capturing, preparing information for computer processing for others to use. |
Select and use accurately a wide range of skills, show independence in identifying appropriate geographical questions, implement an effective sequence of investigation, reach substantiated conclusions. |
Pupils could be asked to reflect on their work by completing a diary: to download a sample click here.
When assessing the pupils’ work you will need to take into consideration both their geography level and their ICT levels. Select six pupils, two upper-ability, two middle-ability and two lower-ability from the class or year group. Using your knowledge of their past performance and the work produced as a result of your lesson, record the level of their work on a sheet (or in your mark book).
Click here to download a sample sheet for recording individual pupil’s work. Include in your portfolio a sample from each ability level, a copy of their work with annotated comments to inform your assessment.
How can you assess progression in both geography and ICT?
Identify key formative and diagnostic assessment objectives and use national curriculum level descriptions of attainment targets to see how overlaps might be exploited for summative assessment.
Assessing the use of ICT in geography teaching
We devote the whole of the next section to the Evaluation of how geography has been enhanced by the use of ICT. Here we shall concentrate on how to assess the use of ICT in the geography lesson.
You should begin by looking through the materials on Planning and Assessing ICT in Module 5 of the Primary Core. When you reach Task 12 you should return here for the Activity.
Task 7
Review any lesson in which you have used ICT and think about how you can apply the Assessment ideas that you have just studied. What kind of assessment would be valid for that activity?Can you reach an opinion about the ICT level that the pupils were working at? (You may need to talk to your ICT co-ordinator.)Write a brief summary of the lesson, with particular reference to the ICT component, and your assessment of the quality of the ICT work. If possible, give your assessment of the ICT level that the pupils are working at.
What kind of format would be best for recording and monitoring progress?
This should allow pupils' development in ICT to be tracked, monitored and success recorded and evidenced for formative and diagnostic reasons as well as summative reporting at the ends of key stages.
Considerations such as clarity of intentions, ease of use and explanation, relationship with assessment policies and existing practice, and overall effectiveness are important here.
What were the strong points of the format you designed for recording and monitoring progress? What were the weaknesses?
Discussion 
Activity