The Web may be one of the first mediums to encompass several learning styles. Consider the following example:
The teacher is in at the front of the class, delivering a talk on marine life, when she notices that one or two of her kids seem to be having trouble understanding what she's talking about. She's an excellent lecturer, and she has some visual aids to help her out. Knowing, however, that some of the kids tend to be tactile learners, she put these kids on the computer. Deciding that she would like them to use a Discovery and Inquiry approach, she asks them to come up with a 2 page report on Australia, including information about Marine life and conservation programs. As a jumping off point, she gives them the following links:
What has the teacher accomplished here? She has taken children who might not have otherwise had a chance to learn and put them into a learning environment that is a little less structured. This gives the kids a chance to explore their own topics, while still requiring an evaluatory assignment to be handed in. At the same time, she's allowing them to learn several different subjects at once: Geography, conservation, biology, and perhaps even a little history. Along with that, the kids are picking up computer skills, which may aid them in other subjects. The initial link to Australia contained no obvious information that would have helped the student write the paper, the students would have had to explore for themselves and coallate the information from several different, and apparently unrelated, resources.The same format could be used for:
This integrated approach to a lesson plan can be used for a variety of subjects and topics. As we can see from the examples of the museums and Australia, the Web can be used as a means of meeting divergent needs. But what about as a supplement for existing lesson plans? Or as means for answering questions, or adding 'spice' to a lesson?
To answer these questions, let move on to the next part of the Tour.