Kennarinn og kennileitin

Örnefni í námsefni og skóla

Abstract

When names of places are the focus of attention in school settings, teachers must be concerned not only to ensure instant recall of as many names of relevant landmarks as possible but also to generate a more general interest in toponyms or placenames; curiosity about their origins, meaning, context or significance in a linguistic, historical or social sense. The same goes for authors and publishers of different curriculum materials. In this article an attempt is made to throw light upon some factors that might help to establish an interesting approach to toponyms in school settings. We reflect upon the role of the teacher, discuss information technology in view of constructivism, line out a few examples of curriculum materials published for use in elementary schools and point out opportunities emerging with new media over the World Wide Web.