Enhancing the teaching and learning of history and geography through information and communications technology: A Mauritian experience

The introduction of information and communications technology (ICT) in the educational system has brought a new dimension to the teaching of history and geography at the primary level. To make teaching and learning of such subjects fun, stimulating, and at the same time interesting for the curricula, the Virtual Centre for Innovative Learning Technologies (VCILT) has developed an interactive multimedia pedagogical support CD-ROM to be used in Standards 4 and 5 (students aged 8-10) of Mauritian primary schools. In this article, we provide an overview of its development and some of the underlying pedagogical approaches used, as well as the claimed benefits of integrating multimedia into the teaching of history and geography at the primary level. We also provide an overview of the feedback received from the use of the prototype multimedia CD-ROM.