| Topic based learning is a great way for children to | | | | use. The sites that present the material mainly rely |
| learn. They get engaged quickly and easily, especially | | | | on advertising and as a result you'll find the pages are |
| if the topics are written specially for children. Unlike | | | | filled with adverts. These kind of pages aren't really |
| more traditional methods of teaching topic based | | | | the sort of teaching material you want in school (or |
| learning allows for multidisciplinary learning since many | | | | at home). |
| subjects can be taught using a subject. | | | | When you find sites that are advert filled it's often |
| Planets and the Solar system is a great example of a | | | | possible to copy and paste the material into a word |
| topic that can allow for teaching many subjects | | | | processor removing the adverts. This can be |
| without "forcing" or "coercion". It's easy to ask | | | | sufficient to allow use by children. However you |
| students to write some prose about being a space | | | | might also find that the material is written more for |
| man or perhaps a poem about the coldness of space. | | | | adults than for children. The material may be written |
| If literacy isn't the focus then it's easy to ask about | | | | by a university professor, who whilst well meaning |
| maths. Perhaps calculate the time to travel to the | | | | and well informed, isn't great at writing material for |
| moon or the difference in temperature between the | | | | children. |
| Earth and Saturn. Finally arts and crafts can easily be | | | | However despite the difficulties the Internet can still |
| introduced with the building of a model solar system. | | | | prove an effective source of material for teachers. |
| If you think about it the literacy, numeracy and art | | | | You might have a fair bit of research and rewriting |
| and craft subjects (along with most of the other | | | | but it can still be a good way forward. |
| subjects) can easily transfer between topics. If | | | | The other way to tackle topic learning is to use a |
| you've a source of great topic material then building a | | | | specialist site like Learning Huddle. Sites like this |
| suite of lessons that are fun and engaging is pretty | | | | contain well researched topics that are written just |
| simple for an experienced teacher. | | | | for children and so can significantly reduce the |
| A great way to find topics is to use the Internet. | | | | amount of work you need to do to get up and |
| The Internet is a gateway to a vast amount of | | | | running. Often you'll find that they allow you to focus |
| information and a good source of inspiration for | | | | on the teaching rather than the "searching". |
| topics. You can often find quite easily material on the | | | | Whichever way you decide to go, topic teaching is |
| main subjects that interest children of all levels and | | | | definitely one of the new and most exciting way to |
| capabilities. However often you'll find that the material | | | | teach children. |
| will need to be downloaded and sorted out before | | | | |