The Internet

Internet has to be one of the most powerful and effective resources ever developed in this era. The information stored on the internet is unlimited everything you require at your finger tips. The possibilities are infinite with the internet as a teacher it allows me to bring the world into the classroom. Resources such as pod cast, vodcast, youtube, educational games and wikis all are accessed from the internet. The internet is a wonderful research tool it allows students to access information in seconds compared to the traditional books, journals and articles.
Petty states that "The internet links tens of millions of computers, allowing them all to communicate, and to access a colossal and chaotic library including the World Wide Web (www)." Petty (2004, p 375)
Internet is a fantastic tool but as always a good resource does have its disadvantages in the classroom which I have experienced. Students do get distracted from the topic and go on to other non educational sites such as games, facebook, shopping, entertainment and sports sites.
The internet is a unique resource, at the moment we are investigating how volcanoes erupt. It is difficult to explain an eruption via worksheets, handouts and images but with the help of the internet I can access videos of volcanoes erupting this help students that have learning difficulties to understand visually.
Students within my class regularly go on the internet to collect information. Before taking certain students on the internet I provide the class with the heading they need to look for in search engines this gives the learners no reason to be on other sites.
For inclusiveness I use the internet frequently such as playing educational games. Last week the lesson was based on sleep and reaction time, I went online and found a game to check the learner’s reaction time. Everyone took part and it was fun and enjoyable. This game developed the understanding with the link between the eyes and the finger reaction. The reaction timer game determined none of the learners were awake in my class typical that probably explains a lot of things.......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf

Another game I used was the optical illusion all the students took part in guessing what were the objects, the size of them or were they the right way around. this game was fun inclusive and enjoyable.

http://www.at-bristol.org.uk/Optical/SizeConstancy_main.htm


Petty, G. (2004) Teaching Today: A Practical Guide. 3rd Ed, Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes