As a teacher have you ever thought of giving assignments which students keenly look forward to do? Yes, assignments which will allow them to connect to the internet and browse different websites.
If so rest assured; the web has a lot of tools which makes learning exciting and fun filled. As for assignments it could be topics related to the class syllabus or that which will complement it.
More important is that the given assignment should help kindle the curiosity of students for knowledge, urge them to probe further on the topic on their own and provide impetus for self-learning.
The type of assignment could be varied from developing language skills to reading maps to learning science by watching videos.
*For instance if you are thinking of giving assignment with a view to develop language skills, ask students to make a list of English words which people often mispronounce, (example- colonel, bourgeois, etc.) or a list of English words derived from Indian languages,(example- guru, pariah, etc.)Give them the link to the resources viz., http://dictionary.reference.com/, http://www.howjsay.com/.
Another interesting and educative assignment is to ask students to use the Google Translator tool to translate basic conversations like how are you? Can you help me? Thank you, etc., from English to other languages like French, Germany, Spanish, etc.
Another assignment is to form simple sentences with Sanskrit or Hindi words by watching videos, teaching languages from YouTube.
*With regards to subject like geography, assignment could be in the form of making a list of pilgrimage places situated along river Ganga or the important ports along the eastern coast of India with a brief write-up. The resources to be used are Google Search, Google Maps, www.earthalbum.com, Bing Maps and Wikipedia.
*Another assignment could be in the form of collecting pictures of women scientists, Bharat Ratna awardees, native rulers during the British Raj, famous Indian environmentalists and writing a note on their contributions. Resources to refer are Google Search, Google images, Flickr, Wikipedia.
*Give information about websites like http://www.about.com/, http://www.kids-fun-science.com/, http://www.sciencedaily.com/, www.wwf.panda.org, www.science.discovery.com, etc. where free newsletters of high quality and content on various subjects can be received. Ask students to subscribe to newsletters from those sites and also to search similar sites and share it with their classmates. Ask them to make important points of the contents of the newsletter and discuss it the class with you the teacher acting as the moderator.
* What is seen is retained in the memory much longer than what is heard. Hence watching educational videos help children understand concepts better and learning interesting. Regarding assignments
* Form groups of five to six students and allow each group to select a topic related to their class syllabus in subjects like physics, chemistry and biology. After watching educational videos related to their topic, on an appointed day each student will have to give a presentation in the class for 10 minutes and clarify any doubts raised by their classmates.
*In another activity after watching educational videos (of topics decided by the teacher), students are asked to write the transcript of the video they had watched.
Provide links for websites for carrying out the above activities, viz., http://science.discovery.com/videos, http://www.neok12.com/, http://freevideolectures.com/, http://www.learnerstv.com/, http://www.watchknowlearn.
org/, http://www.untamedscience.com/, etc.
There are a number of websites which students can go through to complete their assignments like http://www.britannica.com/ http://www.reference.com/, http://www.encyclopedia.com/, http://www.physics.org/, http://www.chemeddl.org/, http://www.howstuffworks.com/ and http://www.wisegeek.com/.
There is much more of such sites in the web and students could be encouraged to find it.
If so rest assured; the web has a lot of tools which makes learning exciting and fun filled. As for assignments it could be topics related to the class syllabus or that which will complement it.
More important is that the given assignment should help kindle the curiosity of students for knowledge, urge them to probe further on the topic on their own and provide impetus for self-learning.
The type of assignment could be varied from developing language skills to reading maps to learning science by watching videos.
*For instance if you are thinking of giving assignment with a view to develop language skills, ask students to make a list of English words which people often mispronounce, (example- colonel, bourgeois, etc.) or a list of English words derived from Indian languages,(example- guru, pariah, etc.)Give them the link to the resources viz., http://dictionary.reference.com/, http://www.howjsay.com/.
Another interesting and educative assignment is to ask students to use the Google Translator tool to translate basic conversations like how are you? Can you help me? Thank you, etc., from English to other languages like French, Germany, Spanish, etc.
Another assignment is to form simple sentences with Sanskrit or Hindi words by watching videos, teaching languages from YouTube.
*With regards to subject like geography, assignment could be in the form of making a list of pilgrimage places situated along river Ganga or the important ports along the eastern coast of India with a brief write-up. The resources to be used are Google Search, Google Maps, www.earthalbum.com, Bing Maps and Wikipedia.
*Another assignment could be in the form of collecting pictures of women scientists, Bharat Ratna awardees, native rulers during the British Raj, famous Indian environmentalists and writing a note on their contributions. Resources to refer are Google Search, Google images, Flickr, Wikipedia.
*Give information about websites like http://www.about.com/, http://www.kids-fun-science.com/, http://www.sciencedaily.com/, www.wwf.panda.org, www.science.discovery.com, etc. where free newsletters of high quality and content on various subjects can be received. Ask students to subscribe to newsletters from those sites and also to search similar sites and share it with their classmates. Ask them to make important points of the contents of the newsletter and discuss it the class with you the teacher acting as the moderator.
* What is seen is retained in the memory much longer than what is heard. Hence watching educational videos help children understand concepts better and learning interesting. Regarding assignments
* Form groups of five to six students and allow each group to select a topic related to their class syllabus in subjects like physics, chemistry and biology. After watching educational videos related to their topic, on an appointed day each student will have to give a presentation in the class for 10 minutes and clarify any doubts raised by their classmates.
*In another activity after watching educational videos (of topics decided by the teacher), students are asked to write the transcript of the video they had watched.
Provide links for websites for carrying out the above activities, viz., http://science.discovery.com/videos, http://www.neok12.com/, http://freevideolectures.com/, http://www.learnerstv.com/, http://www.watchknowlearn.
org/, http://www.untamedscience.com/, etc.
There are a number of websites which students can go through to complete their assignments like http://www.britannica.com/ http://www.reference.com/, http://www.encyclopedia.com/, http://www.physics.org/, http://www.chemeddl.org/, http://www.howstuffworks.com/ and http://www.wisegeek.com/.
There is much more of such sites in the web and students could be encouraged to find it.