Secondary trainees’ use of ICT in science teaching: case studies of practice

1. Secondary trainees’ use of ICT in science teaching: case studies of practice BERA Conference, 8th September 2006

2. The project • Collaboration between Brunel University, University of East London, Anglia Ruskin University • Supported by ESCalate (Higher Education Academy) • February to May 2006 • A research and development project

3. Project aims To explore: • What types of ICT trainees use in science classrooms • How they use it • Why they use it

4. The literature: uptake • Less than expected - or hoped for: ‘few schools have yet been able to integrate all three into their science teaching’ (OfSTED, 2002: 5). [the three being instrumentation for practical work; data-projectors and interactive whiteboards; interactive software or information retrieval] ESRC, 2005)

5. The literature: why use ICT? Osborne and Hennessy (2003): • expediting and enhancing work production • increasing currency and scope - up-to-date tools and resources • support exploration and experimentation • visualise processes and trends - focus on overarching issues • foster self-regulation and collaborative learning • motivation and engagement

6. The literature: changing pedagogy • Need to change pedagogy identified by Becta (2003) • Opportunities of ICT requires additions to knowledge base used in teachers’ pedagogical reasoning and practices (Webb, 2005) • But: Traditional roles maintained (McGhee and Kozma, 2001); the ‘grammar of schooling’ (Wellington, 2005)

7. The literature: successful ICT use with teachers 1 The InterActive project, Bristol • Can transform teachers’ own knowledge; expand, develop and adjust teaching repertoire. • Generate ideas for embedding ICT ; scaffold work in the classroom • Rapid feedback to pupils • Supported pupils’ engagement over time • Less successful: belief that the technology would do the teaching

8. The literature: successful ICT use with teachers 2 The Cambridge work: • Effecting working processes and improving production • Supporting processes of checking, trialling and refinement • Enhancing variety and appeal of classroom activity • Fostering pupil independence and peer support • Overcoming pupil difficulties and building assurance • Broadening reference and increasing currency of activity • Focusing on overarching issues and accentuating important features

9. The sample • Fifteen trainees from across the three university providers • Three were trainees on a Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP), associated with one provider • Ten women; five men

10. The research approach • Case study • Quantitative data collected about types/frequency of ICT use • Observed a sample of five • All fifteen questioned about: their biography; how they used ICT; why they used ICT in science teaching

11. Quantitative data: use of ICT 1=Datalog. 2=IWB-screen 3=IWB-inter 4=multimed. 5=Excel 6=internet 7=Word n =1706

12. Interview data categories • Based on the Cambridge categories • Overcoming pupils difficulties… included teaching concepts of science • Broadening reference and increasing currency included ‘how science works’ • Added a category of ‘trainee survival’