I have been very fortunate to have been given the time and space during my two week Practicum to plan and teach a lesson on How Ideas Spread – As an introduction to World Religions. The goal for this activity was to really look more specifically at the methods used to spread ideas about religions around the world. I used this video as a visual resource to investigate and illustrate for the students some of the different methods including: trade, written works, conquest, migrations, missionaries, the media, governments, personal choices, face to face conversations and places of worship to name a few.
From my Experience I would suggest to anyone else I include visuals as much as possible. But I would also add (having taught to two different classes) that you should really look at what you are hoping for students to get from your visual and teach to that end. To quote one of our teachers:
“technology doesn’t teach, teachers teach”
this was really evident for me in using this video. The video itself does not give enough information to the students to allow them to learn without you as the teacher being engaged in the teaching process. I would suggest that choosing videos that don’t fill all the knowledge gaps is a valuable lesson for teachers because it lets you fill the gaps.
In many ways by using visuals or technology with knowledge gaps in them you are building an inquiry mindset into students. They will ask “what are those lines, why did that religion spread so quickly”. And many other question which creates a space for you and your students to explore those answers.
