I recently created some ICT activities which have helped KS3 students understand the importance of the expansion of the European Union next January from 15 to 25 member states.
I asked them to research the present 15 member states of the EU and then the 10 new members. They had to find out about country name, capital city, population and national flag. The results were collected on tables with four columns, using a wordprocessor. Part of an outcome table is shown below. It was relatively easy to produce three-part lesson plans for the activities. Here are some useful Euro-facts:
* Current member states: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom The new member states: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia
* These sites have good databases: www.cia.govciapublicationsfactbook www.europa.eu.intindex_en.htm
I used these starter questions: Currently how many countries are there in the EU? What are their names? From January 2004, how many new member states will join the EU? What are their names? What is the population of the UK? What is the capital of the EU? Which EU country has the largest population? Which EU country is the least populated? How many stars are there on the EU flag?
Romeu Barros, ICT teacher,Quintin Kynaston School, Westminster
