Using multi-media to enhance history education: Glasgow, A Tale of Two Cities? and Tiree, Famine and Clearance 1840-1900

Advances in information technology raise issues central to history education. Debates have focused on how pupils learn history by emphasising the development of critical thinking which in turn provides the basis of a theoretical framework for the use of IT in history. Martyn Wild identifies seven areas of teaching and learning enhanced through IT ranging from child-centered learning to pedagogy. James Schick argues that appropriate software brings out the absorbing, fascinating and enjoyable nature of history. This article discusses how multi-media computer programs, Glasgow, A Tale of Two Cities? and Tiree, Famine and Clearance 1840-1900 enhance the delivery of history in Scottish Primary and Secondary Schools within the criteria established by Martyn Wild. These programs relate to recent curricular changes in Scotland and help satisfy current demands for more Scottish history within overall history syllabuses. Moreover, it will be argued that appropriate software motivates pupils and enhances the central role of the classroom teacher.