Q3 - Curriculum knowledge

Week 8 – How a depth of curriculum knowledge also supports the decision making process relating to ICT use in the classroom. Reference to a learning moment in phase two.

Having a clear understanding of the HSIE syllabus made it easy for me to put my resource together and make appropriate decisions on what to include in order to provide an engaging and meaningful resource for students. Exposing students to the key learning area (KLA) of HSIE provides opportunities for students to develop in their thinking skills, values and attitudes and deep knowledge. In addition, students are required to relate their own life experiences and prior learning to new learning as well as improve their understanding of their own society (Reynolds, 2009).

One of the many key learning moments when putting assignment two together was learning and identifying multiple elements of the Weebly website. By having several options at hand to incorporate into the website allowed me to address the content and skills with an engaging and highly interactive ICT resource where students can work at their own pace and monitor their work. By having multiple elements to add to the resource I was able to include different methods of assessment. The NSW Department of Education and Training (2011) outline many current assessment methods that can be used in a HSIE lesson, which include: interviews, observation, performance, self and peer assessment and work samples etc. By being aware of these assessment methods I found ways to include mainly work samples and self-assessment activities to ensure that the students work was not going un-noticed.

The assignment two artifact also introduced me to a large amount of online interactive websites that students can not only engage in but also expand on their knowledge in a fun and significant way. Although I began to worry that I was putting too many links into the website which could distract the students, it was clear that the resources that I included were highly valuable to students learning.

In contrast to this, if I attempted to put my resource together without clear knowledge of the curriculum, the artifact would not make sense and would not engage or benefit the students in their learning. Information provided in the resource would not be significant and the students would not gain a deep knowledge of the content.