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1 Standards Relevant to this Section
The relevant Standards have been listed in brief. For a more detailed look, they can be found in the
Handbook of
Guidance.
S2: Knowledge and understanding
S2.5 They know how to use ICT effectively, both to
teach their subject and to support their wider professional
role.
S2.8 They have passed the Qualified Teacher Status
skills tests in numeracy, literacy and ICT.
S3.3 Teaching and class management
S3.3.10 They use ICT effectively in their teaching.
R4: Quality assurance
All providers must:
R4.2 ensure that trainee teachers have access to the
books, ICT and other resources they need - relevant to the age
ranges and subjects they are training for - to develop trainee
teachers’ knowledge, understanding and skills to at least
the standards required for the award of Qualified Teacher
Status
ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in its
widest sense involves the use of PCs, OHPs, television and
radio but for most people it implies the use of PCs. It is an
increasingly important part of teaching. There is impetus from
the Government, parents, industrialists that pupils need to
learn good ICT skills for their role in society in the future.
There are many reports which highlight the benefit of using
ICT in teaching. For example see the review of research
evidence in Newton, L R and Rogers, L (2001). Impact2
was a major study carried out between 1999 and 2002 involving
60 schools in England and was one of the most comprehensive
investigations into the impact of information and
communications technology (ICT) on educational attainment so
far conducted in the United Kingdom. It can be downloaded from
here.
However, this report also pointed out that there were a
significant number of teachers who made little or no use of
ICT in their teaching. There were also two literature reviews
by a Kings College Research team, available at http://www.becta.org.uk/research/research.cfm?section=1&id=3119.
Terry and Haydn (2004) (paper accessible at http://www.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/bursaries05/
impact_learning.pdf examined the views of initial teacher trainees on various
components of their ‘education’ in the use of new
technology to teach their subject. Their results highlighted
several issues:
- Access
- Availability of a role model; trainees felt
that ‘modelling of ICT by the mentor is vital’
- Negativity about the TTA ICT Skills test,
- Working in groups while acquiring skills.
These were seen to be generally helpful in terms of being
a time-efficient, congenial and stress-free way of making
progress in ICT,
- A role for the HEI - it should provide an
overview of what was available, provide encouragement and
a clear expectation about the use of ICT in school
One of our tasks as ITT tutors is to train teachers who are
confident and competent users of ICT who would be able to use
their expertise in their new schools.
There are two issues to be considered on the ITT course: do
the trainees have the skills necessary to use ICT confidently
and can they use ICT to teach Science? It’s a little
artificial but we will look at these two issues separately.
3 Skills
All trainees need to be able to pass the TTA ICT skills
test. The TTA website gives information about the necessary
skills and there are demonstration tests which trainees can
try http://www.tta.gov.uk/php/read.php?sectionid=275&articleid=1932.
There is a summary of the skills at http://www.chester.ac.uk/~mwillard/ict/skillstest/testskills.htm.
The trainees will arrive with differing skills. The first
task is to find out what their skills are and what they need
help with for example most people will be fairly good at word
processing but few will have much experience of using
databases.
This can be done by carrying out an ICT audit. (For an
example of an audit, visit the following website http://www.uwic.ac.uk/edict/index.htm).
An online document works best as the results can be
collated as the forms are filled in. This would give you an
idea of who needs help with what and what sessions you may
need to organise. The website has an online audit of ICT
skills for primary and secondary trainees. There is an audit
at the start of the course and one at the end. There are also
support materials. There is another example of an online audit
at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/information-for-students/ite/ict-audit.phtml?menu=ict&sub=ict-audit.
A decision needs to be made whether the skills’ sessions
are run generically or by each subject. There are advantages
and disadvantages to both systems. For example running them in
subjects may mean that you can make them directly relevant to
Science teaching but it may mean you have small groups. You
may also have to consider whether there are suitable experts
within your subject area and whether the sessions are
voluntary or compulsory. Getting the trainees to work in small
groups would be beneficial as they can help each other.
4 ICT in Science Education
In the ITT National Curriculum for the use of ICT in
subject teaching (Download 4.1) there are three key
principles which trainees should to consider:
- Does the use of ICT support good practice in
teaching the subject?
- Does the use of ICT in a particular lesson or
sequence of lessons relate directly to the teaching and
learning objectives in hand?
- Does the use of ICT either allow the trainee
or the pupil to achieve something that could not be
achieved without it; or allow the trainee to teach or the
pupils to learn something more effectively and efficiently
than they could otherwise; or both?
Trainees also need to look at practical considerations
before deciding whether ICT should be used e.g. teaching
objectives that could be met very effectively if a suite of
computers were available in the classroom might not be
attainable if there is just one stand-alone computer.
One of the most important things we can do in this area as
in many others is to ensure that our own skills are up-to-date
and we can act as role models for the trainees. We need to
include effective use of ICT in our sessions and be able to
give some specific examples of where use of ICT might enhance
the teaching of a particular topic. We could also model the
use of software and hardware that we expect them to use in
school. This does raise the issue of financial resources. What
do you buy? Do you know what resources your partner schools
use? I believe that this should be a non-issue as if your
trainees become confident users of ICT, they will not be
phased by having to learn the use of different software or
hardware.
There is plenty of advice available on use of ICT in
Science for example at http://www.ncaction.org.uk/subjects/science/ict-ops.htm
and http://www.ictadvice.org.uk/index.php?section=tl&catcode=as_cu_sec_sub_13&rid=2673&wn=1. The TTA also produced some exemplification materials both
for primary science (Download 4.2) and Secondary science
(Download 4.3).
This documentation (Downloads 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3) is from Circular 4/98 and has been included as it has the most explicit set of statements and is still very useful. This was confirmed during a meeting with the TTA.
To encourage debate about use of ICT in Science teaching,
trainees can be presented with a series of scenarios (For an example of scenarios, see Download
4.4) where ICT
has been used and asked about their views on whether it was a
good use of ICT. They can also be asked to prepare lesson
plans which include the use of ICT and justify their use.
The trainees should be encouraged to look at the use of ICT
early on in their placement. Here is a checklist of questions
that they can use while planning for the use of ICT in a
lesson while on TP.
- Does this lesson address something that is
educationally desirable?
- Does the use of ICT in this lesson allow you
and the pupils to achieve something more effectively than
otherwise?
- Do you have the personal confidence and
competence for this use of ICT without it detracting from
the effectiveness of the lesson?
- Do the pupils have the personal ICT
capability to be able to apply the ICT without it
detracting from their learning of science?
- Might the use of ICT mask pupils’
attainment in the subject?
- How will you assess the success of the
lesson?
- How will you assess the learning in science
where ICT has been used?
- Are you familiar with the school's equipment,
how it is distributed and booked?
- Do you know whether the computers are
networked?
- Do you know the acceptable use policy for ICT adopted
by the school?
5 ICT at St Martin’s
There is a qualificatory skills’ development module in
ICT at St. Martin’s College. The skills covered range from
word processing and using email to using databases and
designing webpages. The materials for this are available
online (in PDF and Word Format), as a CD or a book*. The
module is compulsory for all the
primary trainees at St Martin’s. There are 10
X 2 hour sessions covering all the areas. There are exercises
and assessment tasks associated with each area and by the end
trainees produce a portfolio as evidence that they have achieved
the skills. The course has been a little frustrating for those who
already have the necessary skills and we are aiming to make it
more flexible so that
students concentrate on areas where they have weaknesses.
Drop-in sessions are also organised for those who need
extra help. These are open to all trainees and they can drop
in whenever there is a topic that they need help with.
The situation for Secondary trainees is different.
Undergraduates do a skills audit at the start and are expected
to draw up an action plan to develop their skills with the
help of their tutor. Generally, they are expected to use the
online materials or go to the drop-in sessions.
The secondary science course approximately 10 hours of ICT
skills related to their use in Science teaching. In the first
session, there is a short presentation (Download 5.1) and
all trainees carry out an audit. Based on this, several
sessions are organised. Trainees are encouraged to work
co-operatively and to share their skills and resources. If
they need extra assistance, they are encouraged to use the
online materials and the drop-in sessions mentioned above.
Individual tutorials are arranged if necessary. By the end of
the year, trainees are expected to produce a portfolio of
materials showing the development of their skills. This
includes a look at social, moral and ethical issues. (Download
5.2). Trainees also have the chance to review software and
websites. (Download 5.3). This is based on a form
produced by BECTA and used by our Geography Department. One of
the activities they are asked to carry out in school is to
look at the resources available within the school and the
Science Department as this will have a bearing on their
planning and class management. (Download 5.2).
Datalogging has always presented a difficulty as there are
lots of different types of dataloggers available in College
but only one or two of each. To get round the difficulty of
organising whole group sessions, local schools have been
approached to organise sessions. Last year, the trainees had
sessions with a supplier, Philip Harris. Apart from doing the
sessions, they offered us equipment for a discount. However,
other suppliers will do similar sessions as I found out by
asking them at the ASE meeting.
As part of their assessment, the Science PGs are expected
to write a scheme of work incorporating use of ICT. (See
Download 5.4). Download 5.5 contains some examples of work done in subject methodology sessions.
* If you are interested in purchasing these materials, please contact David Murray
(d.murray@ucsm.ac.uk)
at St. Martin’s College.
6 Resources on the Use of ICT in Science
Books
- Byrne J, Sharp J (2002) Using ICT in Primary Science
Teaching. Learning Matters
- Dickinson D. and Jarvis T. (2001) Data Handling in
Primary Science University of Leicester: SCIcentre
- Feasey R and Gallear B (2001) Primary Science and
Information Communication Technology Hatfield: ASE ISBN
0863573193
- Frost, R. (2000 revised) IT in Primary Science
Hatfield: ASE ISBN 0952025736
- Frost, R. (2001 revised) Data logging in Practice
Hatfield: ASE ISBN 0952025744.
- Frost, R. (2000 revised) Data logging & Control
Hatfield: ASE ISBN 095202571X.
- Frost, R. (2000 revised) IT in Secondary Science
Hatfield: ASE ISBN 0952025728.
- D. Sang & Frost, R. (2005) Teaching Secondary Science using ICT London: Hodder Murray
(Roger Frost’s books are supported and extended by his
web site www.rogerfrost.com
which has articles about
ICT, sensors, science and software)
- Newton, L R and Rogers, L (2001) Teaching Science with ICT. London: Continuum
Interesting Articles
Advice on use of ICT
ICT Audit
Electronic Whiteboards
Powerpoint Presentations
Spreadsheets and modelling
Datalogging
Resources
Reviews and Evaluations
(All the websites referred to in this module were downloaded in late July 2005)
Downloads in this document:
Section Prepared by:
Aftab Gujral, St. Martin's College
Aug 2005
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