Increasing engagement

In providing an overview of ways in which science can be made more inclusive for children with learning difficulties, Bell (2002) highlights the value of ‘hands on’ approaches – in other words, of active learning. Chil- dren with learning disabilities are more likely to succeed using these approaches because of the reduced emphasis on the use of texts and abstract textual learning in favour of more concrete experiences and physical interaction with the scientific phenomena. Clearly the use of ICT has

striking visual and moving images, interactive exercises and games, and

a role to play in this context. The use of appropriate material provides

authentic sounds and other facilities, all of which can rapidly secure students’ attention. Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) and digital projectors, in particular provide, extensive opportunities for individual, group or class involvement. The physical engagement of students using an interactive whiteboard to choose objects or select answers enables them to make non-verbal choices whilst developing physical coordination.

Involving children in quizzes can be easily facilitated through IWBs in particular, making the learning fun and improving the level of engagement. Though not yet extensively available to schools (largely due to the costs involved) interactive voting systems have some potential with pupils being invited to ‘press your buttons now’. The immediate feedback opens

MAKING SCIENCE INCLUSIVE

up a variety of possibilities for a teacher to assess the understanding of a group. Furthermore, the anonymity of submitting opinions in this way encourages the less confident to participate and enables the introduction of a range of controversial questions linked to science which pupils may usually feel inhibited from contributing to openly, for example, ‘Should the school canteen sell healthy salads instead of burgers?’.

We cannot stress too strongly the importance of adaptability and flexi- bility in using such engaging resources, since they must be tailored to the needs of the group. It can be very frustrating to discover an impressive Internet-based animation, only to find that insufficient thought has been given to the accompanying on-screen text, which is hard for the user to access. In this sense, there is much to be said for self-created, adaptable presentations.

Vignette 2: Increasing engagement The commercial production of robust, easy-to-use digital microscopes has been

a valuable addition to primary science resources in recent years. When used to capture close up images of a variety of materials, they can both stimulate and engage students, whilst contributing to valuable pedagogic advancements for the students. Such images can be viewed ‘live’ as they happen but can also be stored for use on other occasions.

A particularly useful way to do this and produce tailor-made resources for catching pupils’ attention is through the development of digital presentations using appropriate software, of which PowerPoint is only one. One teacher, having captured a variety of images of everyday materials, produced a PowerPoint presentation with brief appropriate prompts and questions. The materials and objects featured included sand, a wood knot, a lightbulb filament, ice and a tooth. When using the PowerPoint images the teacher had as many as possible of the objects available, so that having discussed the students’ thoughts, their ideas could be related to the real object, making a cognitive link between the image seen and what the object really was (see ASE 2002a for examples).

Increasing engagement