Geography and ICT

Geography is a frequent partner to ICT but what opportunities do you provide for using ICT to enhance learning in geography?

The use of ICT can enhance teaching and learning of geography. It also contributes to the development of pupils’ ICT skills.

Children can use ICT to:

• support investigations and enquiry
• communicate and present ideas in different ways
• access different sources of information to enhance their geographical knowledge
• recognise patterns and relationships using different databases and spreadsheets and multimedia
• understand how ICT influences communication, leisure and the world of work

			Bright idea
		School links Children can compare their locality with another by linking up with a school in another part of the country. By using fax or email, they can send data, photographs and other information to find out differences between the two localities. You could establish a link with a school overseas.

			Bright idea
		Travel plans To appreciate the importance of ICT in lives today, children could visit on-line travel agents to plan a trip to a locality overseas. They could compare websites to find out how they could travel there at the best price and the most convenient times. They could also find out possible places to stay and things to do once they get there to create an itinerary for their trip.

		More developed ideas Local flood ('The Dirty Don!') Developing ICT skills in an investigation of a local flood Improving the school grounds Developing ICT skills in the context of a micro-climate enquiry Mountain environments Developing ICT skills in the context of an investigation of mountain environments in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world These three examples are all on the National Curriculum in Action website. Search for pupils' work in geography in key stage 2 using ICT. Creating a local study website Children in years 3 and 4 design their own website as part of a study of their own locality PDF 52Kb | RTF 14Kb | Help How can we get to Mirpur, and how much will it cost? Using an electronic atlas and database to enhance the investigation of a contrasting locality. PDF 30Kb | RTF 12Kb | Help River features and processes Using video, word processing software and a data logger in an investigation of river features and processes. PDF 31Kb | RTF 12Kb | Help A field visit to Scarborough A coastal investigation making use of digital mapping, the internet and a geographical information systems (GIS) package. PDF 34Kb | RTF 14Kb | Help European collaboration Use of email, video conferencing and digital cameras to exchange images of their localities with children in a linked school. PDF 31Kb | RTF 13Kb | Help

Other information

The Kent NGfL website includes examples of good practice in developing ICT skills through geography, and links to on-line resources.

The BECTa website includes examples of activities to achieve children's entitlement to ICT through geography at key stage 2.

The NGfL website includes ideas to develop ICT skills through geography, such as sequencing, sorting and matching, and improving children's research skills using the internet or a CD-ROM.

The Hugo Meynell Primary School website includes an example of how ICT can be used to foster children's awareness of distant localities in a stimulating way.

Through interactive activities children can investigate how technology has changed the way we communicate and learn about global inequalities in access to technology in the Autumn 2002 edition of Global Eye Primary.

ICT Advice offers advice on using ICT in geography. In addition to an 'Ask An Expert' session on ICT and geography in October 2003, the site contains an online ICT Advice in Geography newsletter. It includes links to websites, practical advice on integrating ICT throughout a unit of work on the global fashion industry, accessing and using still and moving images with ICT in geography, and a host of ideas for using GIS and online mapping activities.