The
Internet has become one of the ‘basic tools of the trade’ and its content is
growing at a rapid speed. It is vital that we are able to search and teach our
pupils to search the internet in the most efficient way possible.
It is
important to remember that Google is not the only search engine – although, in
my opinion, it is still the best. You should however consider using other
search engines, where appropriate. These should include:
Searchmash – Google traditional search +
blog, wikipedia, news, image and video search in the right side bar (this is my
current search engine of choice).
Quintura – I visual search, ideal for
student project work.
Clusty – specialises in searching the deep
web.
Here is a
screencast of an in-service I ran on searching the internet:
You can
also find more detailed on-line notes here.
2. Using Images
Geography
is all about images and using images are the best way to put a sense of place
in the classroom. When looking for images, don’t forget to use the Google advanced
image search and alternative photo sharing sites such as flickr.
Below is a
screencast that I produced on using and finding images in the classroom:
You can
also find more detailed
on-line notes here.
3. Presentation Tools (PowerPoint)
For every
thing that you need to know about PowerPoint and other presentation tools
(including Captivate) visit SWict.com.
Death by PowerPoint is not an
uncommon phrase in schools and conferences these days. PowerPoint is a powerful
presentation tool but you need to be careful how you use it as a teaching
resource.
Remember to involve pupils in the
design and aesthetics of slides. What might look great to you might look awful to a 14 year
old. After you have shown a presentation to a class gather some feedback on it
(see idea 15 or idea 2). Ask pupils what they though of the presentation, not
the topic. Was there to much text, what did they think of the pictures, what
were the animations like etc...
In the past I have given students
PowerPoint presentations to take home and edit for me.
Use flash animation in your
presentation.
As long as your computer is connected to the internet you can get flash to play
directly from a web site to your PowerPoint presentation. Click
here for tutorial telling you how you can do this. Now all you have to do
if find some animations on the web, below is a summary of some good places to
start looking.
- The Guardian’s Education website offers a whole
range of excellent ‘Interactive
Guides’ which include flash animation http://www.guardian.co.uk/interactive
- The BBC News also offers some good flash resources.
- For S1, S2 and beyond try Brainpop. You can get
a free 14 day trial for this excellent resource.
You can search on for Shockwave
Flash Files on the web by putting the subject you are looking for into the
search box followed by a space then filetype:swf. For example try typing
Hurricane Katrina filetype:swf into Google.
There are also a number of
commercial resources available which include flash files. Check out Boardworks and order a
free sample CD.
Include catch up slides (if getting students to copy things down from the board):
And think about using PowerPoint for differentiation:
Link difficult words and terminology
to sites like wikitionary.
This can also provide useful tangents and discussion points.
BBC Picture of the Day is a useful resource, ‘The
Day in Pictures’
4. Using Video
To find out
how to download YouTube and Google Video have
a look at this article. I am currently recommending Ares Tube (formally Itube)
to do this.
Digital video is one of the most
powerful tools we have as classroom teachers to increase motivation and it is
also a powerful learning tool. Digital video cameras are now not very expensive
you can buy a good one for under £200. But you can also make digital video by
collecting footage from mobile phones, digital camera or even web cams. You can
buy a web cam for about £10 and this can be used for smaller projects. Have a
look at Noal’s trail idea over on the digital geography blog.
You can edit digital video on your
computer in different ways. Have a look at Jump Cut, it’s a fairly new web site which allows you to
share and edit videos for free on-line. By using jump cut it is possible for
you to up-loads some footage at school and then each student edits it
themselves at home. It’s a resource that has great potential.
I’ve not included all of the video
that I showed at the conference due to permissions.
Use digital video as a motivation
tool. I showed
an example of how you can film students presenting the weather in front of a
whiteboard. A map of the UK
was drawn on the board. Students map weather symbols, write a script and then
present the weather. They stick the symbols on as they go along.
Use Digital video to re-enforce
practice. I
showed an example of a video was produced by some students to re-enforce their
learning about cloud types. You can download a copy of this video here.
Use digital video to promote cross
curricular links: Modern Languages. I showed an example of a weather forecast that had been
produced in German. The software used to produce the maps and symbols was from Kudlian Soft.
This is another example of how other departments should be consulted when
developing courses. You can download a copy of this video here.
Use digital video to promote cross
curricular links: Media Studies. I showed an example of a weather forecast that had been
produced using a chroma key. The weather map was superimposed nest to the
pupil. Again this was produced using Weather and Geography package from Kudlian Soft.
Its only £20, but incredibly powerful.
Other points. If you want to find out more about
digital video have a look at the Digital Imagery section of the Learning and Teaching
Scotland ICT in Education Website.
Also don’t forget to check out Geography at the
Movies.
Finally, don’t forget you can share
PowerPoint presentations by using slideshare.net
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