Domesday Resource Booklets

Contents

Introduction

The Doomsday resource booklets are a series of 7 documents that are designed as guides for educators when using the Domesday system for various teaching topics.  The booklets include both exercise examples for pupils and extensive notes for teachers.  There are seven booklets in the series covering Projects and Topics, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Art; Craft Design and Technology, Environmental Education, Geography and In-Service Training.

The Domesday Resource Booklet covers

The following sections provide some of the introductory text from the booklets and links to PDF versions which can be downloaded.

Projects and Topics

Why was this booklet written?

Even before the Domesday System was completed it was realised that material in addition to the Domesday Video Disc User Guide would be useful and necessary for educational users. The BBC invited groups of teachers who had been involved in the collection of the data for the Community Disc to investigate the potential of the complete Domesday System for use in schools.

Two areas were initially identified as being important: a quicker introduction than the Domesday Video Disc User Guide and suggestions for classroom use of both discs, based on the practical experiences of teachers given the opportunity to use the system in a classroom environment.

Aims of the booklet

To enable the novice user to become familiar with the operation of the system, to illustrate some applications for teachers using the system with pupils in the seven to sixteen age range and to indicate some further avenues for investigation.

PDF for download

Projects And Topics Domesday resource booklet

Mathematics

Why was this booklet written?

This booklet demonstrates some of the uses of Domesday in the mathematics classroom. It is addressed to the teacher, with two distinct sections, one for each disc, the Community and the National.

Community Disc pupils' notes

The Community Disc section is further sub-divided into two parts. The first is a series of pupil worksheets which can be photocopied if required. The first of these, Community Cross-Number, is not intended for an individual pupil to work through from beginning to end,. but is  intended as a class activity for small groups of pupils contributing to its solution over a period of time.

In fact as a general principle, most of the activities in this booklet can be carried out by small groups. The 'on system' activity will initiate a great deal of 'off system' investigation and follow up work. The experience gained in the classroom so far indicates that the use of interactive video can lead to a great deal of discussion between pupils. The teacher, not superfluous in this type of learning situation, acts as a consultant or adviser, with particular emphasis on efficient problem-solving strategies.

Community Disc teachers' notes

The second part of the Community Disc section is a detailed set of teachers' notes for each worksheet with mathematical solutions and precise 'Domesday routes' to those solutions. Also included are details about mathematical content, suitability by age and ability, any relevant definitions, and references to other resources.

National Disc notes

The section relating to the National Disc is organised somewhat differently. Initially there arc some notes and references about sampling, followed by a set of questions using the chart data available. These arc not intended to be photocopied as there is a mixture of questions covering a large range of age and ability. A guide to the suitability of these questions is included. The detailed solutions to these questions are backed up by relevant notes and a worksheet, followed by some suggestions for further investigation. These questions can be used in a number of ways, depending upon the prior experience of the user. If the user is inexperienced on the National Disc, then carefully working through some of the solutions will be a great help. The questions themselves are supposed to demonstrate the types of questions that could be asked. A great deal of discussion should come out of this and the following section.

The second part of the National Disc section on mappable data follows a similar pattern to the chart data section. There are also some ideas for further investigation.

PDF for download

Mathematics Domesday resource booklet

Social Sciences

Why was this booklet written?

The aim of this booklet is to demonstrate some of the ways in which the BBC Domesday Discs and Advanced Interactive Video System (AIV) can be used to enhance the teaching of Social Sciences in both primary and secondary schools.

The term 'Social Sciences' is relatively easy to define in the context of secondary education. All GCSE syllabuses in Social Sciences have clearly stated aims and, whilst there is some individualism in the various examining boards, there is a consensus regarding content.

In primary schools, however, Social Studies or Sciences is less easy to identify in terms of its input into the curriculum. It is doubtful, for example, that it appears on the timetable of many primary schools but in terms of project work, particularly in Environmental Studies and the Humanities, much of the content would come within its ambit.

In fact the catholic nature of the subject raises particular problems when considering the use of the Domesday System. There is a vast amount of information on both the National and Community Discs and much of this can be placed within the context of the Social  Sciences.

This booklet, therefore, considers how the Domesday System can help in the teaching of Social Sciences in secondary schools with particular reference to the GCSE syllabuses. It also examines how the Domesday System can enhance project work in primary schools with specific reference to three case studies dealing with 'Housing', 'Work and Unemployment', and ·Decision Making in Society'. These projects also have relevance for the secondary school curriculum.

PDF for download

Social Science Domesday resource booklet

Art; Craft Design and Technology

Why was this booklet written?

The aim of this publication is to demonstrate some of the ways in which the BBC Advanced Interactive Video System and the Domesday Community and National Discs can be used to support the teaching of art, craft, design and technology in schools. The chapter headings indicate that a topic has been structured for a particular age group, but the subject matter can be modified to suit other age groups. The emphasis throughout is to use the Domesday Discs as a stimulus to heighten the students' perceptions and to encourage them to discover for themselves other resources for creative activities.

There is an enormous amount of stimulus material about the environment on both the National and the Community Discs. The idea of developing a more positive approach to the environment through art education has steadily increased in recent years. In 1975, Malcolm Ross commented that "an art department without effective and vital links with its environment will suffer progressive breakdown" (Art and the Adolescent). More recently, the Art and the Built Environment Project has shown that "art based study offers an appropriate and powerful medium for education in this crucial area of our lives" (Eileen Adams, 1984). In addition, the discs provide a valuable resource for other art and design activities including ceramics, photography, graphic illustration, textiles, product design, fashion, painting and
sculpture. The new G.C.S.E. syllabuses emphasise the relationship between art education and culture stressing that art is not the product of culture but also the context in which we form our opinions. The Domesday discs provide an exciting way of introducing students to the work and ideas of artists, craftsmen and designers.

Finally it is important to stress that no resource, however understanding, can act as a substitute for direct experience and observation upon which so much art and design work is based. Nonetheless, it would be foolish to ignore the vast amount of information, both visual and textual contained on the discs. They are a tremendous resource which can act as a support to both teachers and students.

PDF for download

Art; Craft Design and Technology Domesday resource booklet

Environmental Education

Why was this booklet written?

The basis of environmental studies is firmly in the children's first hand experience of the environment. The primary resource must be outside the school. However, good quality artefacts, reference materials and good visual sources for further research and interpretation within the classroom are always needed. The Domesday System offers an excellent classroom resource for environmental studies in its potential to supply copious amounts of information very readily. Children must be encouraged to seek out information in a
range of ways. However, immediate classroom access is satisfying and stimulating. Al a general educational level the National Disc is excellent for route plotting/finding activities. In particular the picture sets and, to a lesser extent, the data sets allow of such activities as comparison of weather which would be extremely time consuming, if at all possible, if tackled in another fashion. On the Community Disc information of particular benefit in the field of comparative studies is readily available. The text on the Community Disc is also very readable and its organisation allows browsing and viewing of related pictures and maps.

Although methods of retrieving information from the Domesday System are individually fairly simple there is such a wealth of different kinds of information, and of ways into that information, that it can take some time to master the processes. What follows is an account of an attempt to plunder the discs for all the information they contain on the topic of the seashore. The account exemplifies the many and varied facilities available and is followed by a section suggesting possible strategies for the use of material selected from the trawl. We suggest that following our path through the options available would be useful to a teacher entering the Domesday System for the first time, with the intention of assembling resources.

PDF for download

Environmental Education Domesday resource booklet

Geography

Why was this booklet written?

This booklet provides a basic introduction to the use of the BBC Advanced Interactive Video System and the Domesday Discs (known collectively as the Domesday AIV System) for geography teachers.

The technology of AIV allows vast amounts of information to be stored in compact form. Much of this information can be used for teaching and for project work by pupils, but teachers first need to develop a familiarity with the Domesday System by using the In-Service Resource Booklet in this series.

This Geography booklet provides a simple guide that focuses on finding information and in particular on using the mappable data software. This geographical information system can then aid learners to explore, test hypotheses and support project work.

Although you will gain a general understanding of the Domesday System by reading right through this booklet, you will only gain experience and familiarity by working through the examples on the machine.

Geography and the Domesday Discs

Geography seeks to develop a better understanding of the landscape and of the organisation of human societies within that landscape. It provides the opportunity for students to appreciate the complex inter-relationships between man and the environment, and the social and economic mechanisms which control the use and distribution of resources.

Much labour can be involved in the collection of information from field observations and archive sources, followed by the painstaking examination of associations and relationships in order to explore, develop and test new ideas that will provide both a better insight and a means of analysing the processes by which the landscape and societies within it are changing. Most traditional geography lessons still therefore consist of teachers presenting the information that they have managed to collect from sources that are very limited and often seriously out of date.

The Domesday Discs bring together so much information that for the first time it becomes possible to investigate many topics in geography by analysis of the data available on the disc. This investigation can be used by the teacher to prepare lessons and by pupils using 'discovery learning' methods.

PDF for download

Geography Domesday resource booklet

In-Service Training

Why was this booklet written?

The advent of the micro-computer in the 1970s has had an important and lasting effect on society. It has transformed mundane tasks and made computer technology available to the general public. Children introduced to computers at an early age often through toys and games, have already come to accept them as part of everyday life: Despite the important implications for people and society, education has found it difficult to respond to this rapid change. While there is evidence of some outstanding examples in all sectors of education, in many cases microcomputers are still novelties even in schools which possess them.

Interactive video, combining as it does the latest video and micro-computer technology, offers a new potential and challenge to the education system. It provides opportunities for the extension of already established computer assisted learning methods. It offers scope for introducing computer based techniques in topics where hitherto the inability to deal with images and sound has been a limiting factor. The acceptance and introduction of new educational technologies has been slow and patchy due to a combination of three factors: a lack of training and understanding amongst teachers, prohibitive costs, and inadequate educational thought surrounding their uses, particularly in relation to the development of software.

To a large extent, the success of the Domesday Project in the school context is dependent upon overcoming these three prohibitive factors and an effective in-service training programme for users can go some way to addressing these issues.

PDF for download

In Service Training Domesday resource booklet