Planning the lesson

Planning the lesson

support the teaching and learning of science, the teacher needs to be com-

When making any decision as to whether or not ICT should be used to

pletely clear as to why it is being used, as well as being convinced that its use will actively enhance the teaching and learning experience. There is little point in using ICT if the intended teaching and learning outcomes could be more easily and efficiently achieved by not using the computer. We have already stated that the use of ICT should not replace the practical experience of handling scientific equipment and engaging in genuine scientific investigation and discovery. There is also a ‘value added’ com- ponent to this aspect – there is little point in using £1,000 worth of ICT hardware and software to make a teaching point that could just as easily be achieved with a set of plastic beakers costing 10 pence.

So what clear advantages can the use of ICT bring to the teaching and

POSSIBILITIES AND PRACTICALITIES

learning of primary science? First, quite apart from being a great motiv- ator, there is the ability of ICT to act as a means to encourage and facilitate collaborative and active learning. A very powerful feature of the computer is that it can act as a focus for group work, where raw data is transformed into information through the use of graphs, tables and charts, or where the reports of scientific investigation can be created and presented, per- haps by the use of presentation software incorporating still and video digital imaging, text, sound and animations. The capacity, speed, range and automatic function of a computer enables large amounts of different kinds of data and/or information to be handled quickly, automatically and in an integrated way. It enables the removal of the ‘manual’ element from work, so pupils can access higher levels of intellectual engagement and learning. For example, rather than spending a significant proportion of the lesson drawing and colouring in histograms, the computer can pro- duce these charts for the pupils, thus enabling them to spend the time saved in engaging in the higher-order scientific thinking skills of reflection and analysis. It is the computer’s ability to act as a word processor, desk-top publisher, database or spreadsheet, as well as acting as a vehicle for the Internet and e-mail, that gives it its pedagogical power and potential. Add- itionally, when used for more specialised scientific applications, such as data logging and control technology, it can truly provide opportunities for primary age pupils that would have hitherto been impossible. And where laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs) or handheld data loggers are used, ICT is no longer confined to the classroom or the specialist sci- ence lab. The pupils can take these ‘real’ pieces of hardware outside into the real world and can use them in a realistic and meaningful context. Indeed, within the school grounds, they may be able to access the Internet through the use of a radio network, giving them ready and immediate access to a whole range of online opportunities, from researching key sci- entific concepts, ideas and knowledge, to e-mailing experts in universities or museums ‘on the spot’.

So, bearing the above in mind, what, as teachers, do we need to consider when we plan any science lesson where ICT is to be used? What are the key

features of an effective lesson?

Above all, the lesson should be interactive. Active learning is a crucial part of any lesson, but particularly in ICT and science. The pupils must interact with the computer in that they should not be passive recipients of the data or information on the screen. They must be in control of the computer, not the other way round. Additionally, it is critically impor- tant that the teacher should interact with the pupils and the computer. It is when the teacher intervenes by asking key questions that pupil learning is greatly extended. The questions asked need to be sufficiently focused to ensure that the pupil thinks carefully about the concepts being taught, but also sufficiently open-ended to ensure that considerably more than a simple yes/no answer is required. This will invariably mean