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

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

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

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)

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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’