Just go with the flow

26th April 2002, 1:00am

Share

Just go with the flow

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/just-go-flow-0
Rivers - Landforms and Management. ‘TV-Rom’, CD-Rom, Channel 4Learning

TV, video and film have for many years provided geography teachers with an opportunity to show the dynamic effects of water on the landscape. Through animation, film-makers have enabled students to view the processes influencing the creation of landforms. However, many teachers will have struggled, within the context of a lesson, to select small, relevant clips of video to support a particular objective, without showing the whole programme. It has also been a challenge to find ways in which video can be used by students to support their own learning opportunities.

This “TV-Rom” from 4Learning, Rivers - Landforms and Management, offers the teacher the opportunity to access quality video clips for specific objectives. It has two sections, one related to river processes and associated landforms, and another exploring the issues related to The Three Gorges Dam project in China. The clips are between 30 seconds and four minutes long and, through the use of the lesson plans provided on the disc or linked into the teacher’s own planning, can be used as part of a whole-class lesson. Video clips are complemented by screens offering additional information, and key words are linked to a Wordbank glossary.

Although the lesson plans provided encourage teachers to show the relevant video clips within the context of the lesson, prior to the students attempting the tasks, the CD can be used as a resource for the students’

independent study of the topic. The material is easy to navigate with Rivers and Landscape aimed at Years 7-9, and The Three Gorges Dam material aimed at Years 10-11. There are two interactive activities and, although the decision-making activity on the Three Gorges Dam may have been better at the end of the section, when all the information had been accessed, these do add another dimension. It would have been valuable to have more of these activities. The animation of waterfall formation and retreat in section one is very clear and justifies the use of ICT to good effect.

Following a lesson plan allows the teacher to structure the pupil tasks through the tasksheets provided. These are differentiated to three levels and students can prepare presentations while working on the CD. Unfortunately, the task interface design is poor and incomplete, leading the ICT inexperienced teacher into potential problems that would not easily be resolved without help. Interaction between the software and the student should be easier to make the most of this facility. The large amounts of information on the disc mean it would benefit the students to make notes as they read the information, and have these available for reference as they prepare their presentation. For some pupils, having to refer back to the information would lengthen the exercise to the extent where a task may not be completed in the time available.

The TV-Rom is a welcome concept as more and more teachers have the opportunity to use ICT for whole-class teaching through the use of projectors and interactive whiteboards.

Janet Davies

Want to keep reading for free?

Register with Tes and you can read two free articles every month plus you'll have access to our range of award-winning newsletters.

Keep reading for just £1 per month

You've reached your limit of free articles this month. Subscribe for £1 per month for three months and get:

  • Unlimited access to all Tes magazine content
  • Exclusive subscriber-only stories
  • Award-winning email newsletters
Recent
Most read
Most shared