INSET Courses for Primary School Teachers

The tasks provided here were an integral part of the course Using the Internet n the Primary Classroom addressed to Year 6 teachers as part of their In-Service training in July and September 2004. The aim of the tasks was to provide particpants with examples of Internet-based activities that can be organized in the classroom. They provide children with the opportunities to engage in hands-on browsing as an integral part of lesson implementation. Although the course was addressed at Year 4 teachers, the tasks included vover the following items of the Syllabus for ICT in the Primary:

• 4.1.2 - Accessing the World Wide Web
• 4.1.3 - Using e-mail
• 4.4.2 - Selecting relevant information
• 4.4.3 - E-mail netiquette
• 5.1.2 - Uploading and downloading from the Internet
• 6.4.3 - Selecting accurate and relevant information
• 6.4.4 - Internet safety awareness

The tasks can therefore be aadapted for Year 5 and 6 classes as well.

Concept

The tasks are based on what we term as cyberhunts. Through these activities learners are directed in the use of the Internet. Usually a cyberhunt works in one of two ways:

1. Learners are directed to one particular website asddress, and then asked to glean inofrmation to be used in their projects; or
2. Learners are to use keywords to look for particular items. These keywords are either provided on the cyberhunt sheet to thought up by the learners themselves as part of the exercise. Learners are then to select the most useful websites from the results provided.

One aspect of these tasks which is of major relevance is the fact that they complement various areas of the Curriculum, from languages to social studies, from mathematics to crafts.

Some of the Tasks used for this courseware ave been extracted in whole or adapted from copyright-free photocopiable material available in the following titles:

• Finding Information (Internet Projects for Pirmary Schools Series), by Frances Thomas and Michael Strachen, A & C Black, 2001
• Using E-mail (Internet Projects for Primary Schools Series), by Frances Thomas and Michael Strachen, A & C Black, 2001

All other material is the original work of the course compilers, namely James Callus, Catherine Carabott, Jeannette Cardona and Tania Gatt.