Effective Use of ICT in science teaching and learning
ICT and Science Education
QTS Standards:
Q: 17 Know how to use skills in ICT to support their teaching
and wider professional activities
Q: 25 (a) use a range of teaching strategies and resources
including e-learning
Effective Use of ICT in science teaching and learning
History: UK National Grid for Learning
(Massive investment in late 1990s)
• Schools infrastructure
- £700m
• Library and community infrastructure and content - £200m
• ICT Learning Centres
- £400m
• Training for teachers and librarians
- £250m
• Content digitisation for the NGfL and libraries
- £50m
OVER £2.3 BILLION IN TOTAL UP TO 2004
and £350+m for ‘digital content’
Effective Use of ICT in science teaching and learning
Is continuing investment worthwhile?
Building Schools of the Future (in its first year (2005-6))
- £2.2 billion spent (not all on ICT) yet …
What evidence is there to support continuing use of ICT?
Effective Use of ICT in science teaching and learning
Impact 2 (2002-2004)– Any
answers?

75% primary pupils, 90+% secondary pupils have a computer at
home

Use in school subjects – never or hardly ever

5 from 13 subjects show a small positive correlation between ICT
use and added value of attainment

Use at home seems to correlate to improved attainment in school

There is no consistent relation between the average amount of ICT
reported for any subject at a given key stage and its apparent
effectiveness in raising standards.
Effective Use of ICT in science teaching and learning
Impact 3 Becta’s Landscape
review 2007 – Still no answers?

the evidence on attainment is somewhat
inconsistent, although it does appear that, in some
contexts, with some pupils, in some disciplines,
attainment has been enhanced.

It therefore seems likely that the type of
involvement is all-important.
Effective Use of ICT in science teaching and learning
Where do you think that ICT
can be used most effectively in
science teaching?
•
•
•
•
•
Having a Smartboard for every lab
Having specific computer labs
Having a laptop trolley for the science dept.
Having a class set of iPads or iPods
Having the pupils bring in their Smartphones
Vote now at www.easyvote.co.uk/vote
(the poll name is ICT)
Effective Use of ICT in science teaching and learning
Pedagogy for using ICT
effectively in science includes:
• ensuring that use is appropriate and ‘adds value’ to learning
activities
• structuring activity while offering pupils some responsibility,
choice and opportunities for active participation
• prompting pupils to think about underlying concepts and
relationships; creating time for discussion and reflection
• focusing research tasks and developing skills for finding and
critically analysing information
• exploiting the potential of whole class interactive teaching and
encouraging pupils to share ideas and findings.
From Science Education and the Role Of ICT: Promise, Problems
and Future Directions (Osborne & Hennessy, 2003)
Effective Use of ICT in science teaching and learning
Role of ICT in Science (McFarlane
and Sakellariou, 2002)
Word-processing or
desk-top publishing
in presenting an
investigation or
writing up
Using IT in prior
research on a topic e.g.
CD-ROM, WWW
( i ) ASK
QUESTIONS
PREDICT AND
HYPOTHESISE
Word - processing in
planning
HOW SCIENCE WORKS
( iii ) INTERPRET
THEIR RESULTS
AND EVALUATE
SCIENTIFIC
EVIDENCE
WWW
( ii ) OBSERVE,
MEASURE AND
MANIPULATE
VARIABLES
Organising, presenting
and recording results
e.g. spreadsheets,
data- analysis software,
databases
Data- logging
Effective Use of ICT in science teaching and learning
See Chapter 9.
“The Role of ICT”
in How Science
Works edited by
Rob Toplis.
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
ICT for Data logging
• Flash loggers and probeware
• iPad and iPhone accelerometers
• Roger Frost’s overview and ideas site
– http://rogerfrost.com/
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
ICT for Simulations
• Very popular with science teachers
– Atomscope
– Multimedia Science School
– Boardworks
• What are the “affordances” (what kind of
simulation affords what kind of learning) ?
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
Sites with simulations
•
chalk

http://phet.colorado.edu/

http://www.echalk.co.uk/
•http://www.furryelephant.com/
•http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/schools/index1.htm

http://www.explorelearning.com/
•http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/cloning/clickand
clone/
Effective Use of ICT in science teaching and learning
Simulations are based on models
“A model is a simplified representation of a system, which
concentrates attention on specific aspects of the system.”
Ingham and Gilbert (1991)
• Are they all they are made out to be?
• See this interview from the Interactive Education Project
(Sutherland et al, 2005)
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
Data from the Interactive Education
Project: Science Teacher B
Interviewer: So that in both your projects as it turned out … because
you planned it in the second one but you didn’t plan it in the first one
… there were some discussions around the fact that the students’
understanding of the topic was actually in conflict with what was
being represented in the simulation.
B. I think that getting students to check incorrect science is actually a good
way of helping them learn the correct way. It’s something that I haven’t
used an awful lot and I think it’s something I could develop.
They have to be critical. They’re being more active and proactive in their
learning, rather then just reacting to what they’re seeing in front of them
and automatically grabbing it off the web because it looks pretty. They’re
being critical. And teaching critical thinking has got to be a good way
forward.
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
ICT for Creating: e.g. making
your own animations and videos
• See the animations from the e-scapes project
on the wiki
• See Bioethics Live! On www.beep.ac.uk for
guidance
• See http://www.slowmation.com/
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
ICT for Communicating and
Sharing
• SmartBoard resources
– http://exchange.smarttech.com/search.html?subject=Science
• Is it really an Interactive White Board? See
http://dialogueiwb.educ.cam.ac.uk/
• Use for whole class teaching (voting systems)
– http://www.easyvote.co.uk
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
Communicating and
Sharing
• Online discussion
between lessons
• See
http://www.beep.ac.uk
• Try making podcasts
or VoiceThread
http://voicethread.com/
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
Communicating and
Sharing
• Wikis
• Googledocs etc
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
ICT Magic Wiki
a useful Wiki that links to ICT resources on
the web eg
http://www.videojug.co
m/
http://www.storybricks.co
m/
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
Other useful ICT web
resources
http://www.polleverywhere.com
/
http://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysi
cs
Look out for http://www.imvoto.com/
an assessment tool using mobile phones
Effective
The
Use
potential
of ICT in
roles
science
of ICT
teaching
in education
and learning
Communicating
and Sharing
• Teacher trainee
Skyping from school
science lab to
university tutor
• Online whiteboard to
look at ideas together
http://www.twiddla.com/