Norman C. Borg
Introduction
Lesson Particulars
Tasks and Related Web Pages
Further Considerations
Introduction
Within the next couple of years, the Internet will be fully integrated
in all state primary schools. This will face teachers with a number of
new challenges, not the least of which will certainly be time and classroom
management, and the need for developing new strategies for embedding the
new technology within the existing curriculum.
There are practically millions of sites out there on the Internet, some
particularly more relevant to our profession than others. The teacher's
first challenge must be that of selecting the really effective from the
absolutely useless. The Education Division's firewall system is there
to filter sites which will be accessible on school computers, and the
'white list' of available sites will narrow the teacher's search.
However, there are still too many sites to consider, and the content will
not always be exactly the way you would want it to be to cover a particular
topic with a particular class. At the end of the day, the individual teacher
will have to select which sites fit best to particular learning situations.
Selecting a site to fit a topic is only the first step. The teacher must
then decide on the strategy of how and when to introduce the site in the
classroom. Will it require an introduction during a whole-class session?
Should the class be divided into groups to work on the site? Are there
various aspects in the site that can be tackled by different groups? Will
multiple sessions across a period of time be necessary to ensure that
all students are properly exposed to the site?
What role will the site have in the coverage of the target topic? Will
I use it as an introduction to the topic? Does it contain enough information
to serve as reference for eventual project work? Does it contain interactive
elements that can be used as classroom activities? What further teaching
aids are required to complement the site content?
The example presented below covers one topic in the Year Six Social Studies
Syllabus (Maltese Prehistory) and is centred on a locally created website,
"The Megalithic Temples of Malta". It is quite exhaustive, well
equipped with interactive elements (including virtual reality animation)
and has up-to-date information through newspaper 'cuttings'. It is highly
recommended that you should go through the site thoroughly before actually
sitting down and start planning a lesson.
In this particular example, the Internet session should be part of a series
of sessions covering the subject, and may be covered at the end as a general
follow-up. Arrange the class into groups and give each group one particular
page in the site to read over and discuss or use as a reference to complete
related worksheets. Some examples of group tasks follow.
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Lesson: MALTESE PREHISTORIC SITES
Target age group: Year 6
Subject: Social Studies – Prehistory – Megalithic Temples
Type of Activity: Internet Session
Curriculum targets: Knowledge of Maltese prehistoric sites - National
heritage awareness - Teamwork
ICT abilities covered: Internet search / browsing
Resources: Internet address (URL) - http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/
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After entering the Home Page, click on ENTER to access the various topics.
Give a task to each group in the class. It is very probable that the tasks
will have to be covered over a number of similar sessions. Using Print
Shop or Microsoft Word, create cards for each task, to be distributed
to the groups at the start of the sessions. Groups may cover more than
one task, depending on the time available and the group's ability in completing
the tasks assigned.
You need not necessarily make use of all the tasks suggested below, or
you may wish to change some of the details. Alternatively, you may find
other information on the site that may justify the creation of further
tasks. It is also quite possible that some items listed below may eventually
be unavailable due to changes in the site. In that case you may need to
adjust the tasks accordingly.
TASK: Mnajdra Vandalised
http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/mnajdest/vanmnajdra.html
TASK: National Museum of Archaeology
http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/museum/title.html
- Scroll down the main page and observe the Hours of Admission of the
Museum;
- Click on the Plan of the Museum button to go to the Museum Plan Page
- http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/museum/plan.html
- Move over the plan and note down the contents of the different halls
and rooms;
- Click on the Big Statue from Tarxien and the Sleeping Lady statuette
rooms to see the photos.
TASK: Temple Building Reconstruction
http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/archi/archipics.html
- How did the temples look in prehistoric times?
- Instruct the group to look at the photos of imaginary views of the
temples;
- Draw their attention particularly to the two Ggantija reconstructions.
TASK: Hagar Qim Temple Alignments
http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/qimalign/qimoalin.html
- Scroll down the page to observe the diagram of the sun and moon alignments;
- What does it tell us about these prehistoric people?
TASK: Prehistoric Timeline
http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/linetime.html
- Scroll down the page to observe the timeline;
- Which temples belong to which period in Maltese prehistory? – Especially
Ghar Dalam, Hal Saflieni and Ggantija?
- Observe the Neolithic Phase, The Temple Phase and the Bronze and Iron
Age.
TASK: Map of Maltese Prehistoric Sites
http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/bigmalta.html
- Give the group a sheet with an outline map of Malta and Gozo: Mark
where on the map are particular temples and remains situated;
- Instruct the children to view the map on the web site in order to
find the positions.
TASK: Ggantija and Hal Saflieni
The Year 6 syllabus specifically covers these two particular temples.
From the index page, go to the separate pages of the temples (you will
have to scroll down the left frame of the page):
http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/ggant/ggant.html
http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/hypo/hypo.html
- Encourage the children to see the Ggantija virtual reality video (click
on the revolving red arrow);
- Encourage the children to explore the different levels of the Hypogeum,
and check out where the Sancta Sanctorum, and other interesting parts
of the temples, are situated. Virtual reality videos can be seen here
as well.
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- You can save the Timeline Image (see TASK: Prehistoric Timeline,
above) and load it into Print Shop to print as a banner, as follows:
- Go to the Timeline web page;
- Scroll down and move mouse over the graphic;
- Right click and select Save Picture As;
- Select a folder and save the picture;
- Run Print Shop, and start a new Poster/Banner project;
- Select Import Graphic and locate the saved picture on the hard disk;
- Enlarge the image to fit accordingly and save as a Banner project.
You can do likewise with the Hypogeum Levels (http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/hypo/plan.html).
Save the graphic and insert into a Poster project for later printing.
Make sure you follow carefully the site's copyright notices
before reproducing any graphics.
- You can access the URL pages from your laptop and show some of the
pages on the large monitor (especially some of the photos and virtual
reality movies). These can serve as incentives for whole-class discussion
before the group activities.
- If you want to make use of the Virtual Reality movies available in
the website (especially effective in whole-class sessions) you may need
to download the Quicktime Viewer from http://www.apple.com/.
A link to the site is available at the Megalithic Temples website.
- You can access the site offline. This means saving all necessary files
on the computers, so that next time, children will be able to access
it without having to go on the Internet. You can prepare this beforehand
so that no time is wasted during the sessions while the pages download.
- This can be done from Internet Explorer in two ways. The first option
enables you to save the home page and all the pages linked to it as
a single website.
- Click on Favorites > Add to Favorites;
- Check the Make Available Offline box;
- Click the New Folder button and create a new folder with a name
like Megatemples, or something similar;
- Click the OK button.
The second option requires you to go to each web page one by one and
save them separately. This way, you can have separate pages on separate
computers for the groups to use, but the pages will not be interlinked.
Simply go to File > Save As… and make sure the Save as Type option
is Web page, complete. Select a folder where to save the page and
click Save. All related graphics will be saved with the page. To view
the page, double click on its icon.
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