1. Supporting the Use of Web-based Materials by PGCE Secondary Science Students
John Twidle (Loughborough University)
Ann Childs (The University of Oxford)
Molly Dussart (Canterbury Christ Church University College)
Janet Godwin (The Nottingham Trent University)
Peter Sorensen (The University of Nottingham)

2. “Secondary schools with better ICT resources achieved, on average, better results in the 1999 Key Stage 3 tests in English, mathematics and science. This difference was also true for Key Stage 4 and held true for the 2000 test results”.
(Becta 2002 P.7)

3. “….know how to use ICT effectively, both to teach their subject and to support their wider professional role.”
(2002 Standards for the Award of Qualified Teacher Status)
“the students’ ability to select, access and customise remote data-bases and use these materials with pupils.”
(2002 non-statutory guidance)

4. Subject Specialism
Biology 64.1% Chemistry 25.8% Physics 10.1%
Age
21 – % 31 – % %
Gender
Male 39.8% Female 60.2%

5. Home Access to the Internet
Access 82.7% No Access 17.3%

6. Use of the Internet Outside the Classroom
Background Research (%)
Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently
At home
At school
Preparing self-study packages for pupils (%)
At home
At school

7. Use of the Internet Outside the Classroom
To prepare interactive study packages for pupils (%)
Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently
At home
At school
For personal interest (%)
At home
At school

8. Connection Between Different Categories and Internet Use
Between home access and use in the classroom (%)
Access No access
Used in a lesson
Never used
X2 =
Between subject and use in the classroom (%)
Biology Chemistry Physics
Used
Not used
X2 = 0.28

9. Connection Between Different Categories and Internet Use
Between age and Internet use (%)
21 – –
Used
Not used
X2 = 1.47
Between gender and Internet use (%)
Male Female
Used
Not used
X2 = 0.14

10. Competence With Search Engines (%)
Novice Competent Expert
Search engine
Search phrase
Frequent Infrequent
Frequency of use
None Rarely Sometimes Usually
Success

11. Search Engines Used Engine used Number of replies Google 98 (78.4%)
Yahoo 39 (31.2%)
Ask Jeeves 28 (22.4%)
Lycos (10.4%)
Alta Vista 9 (7.2%)
BBC Search 5 (4.0%)

12. Use of the Internet by Existing Teachers (%)
How often have you observed other science teachers using the Internet while on teaching practice?
Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently

13. Use of the Internet Inside the Classroom
Used the Internet Never used the during a lesson Internet
during a lesson
81.6 % %

14. What uses have you had for the Internet?
Yes No
As a demonstration tool % %
Extracting information from % %
Specified sites
For individual pupil % %
research

15. Which Internet Activities Were Most Successful?
Activity Number of replies
Pupil research 30 (29.1%)
Revision tasks 14 (13.6%)
Work on solar system 10 (9.7%)
Work on geology 6 (5.8%)
Periodic table exercises 3 (2.9%)
Work on energy 3 (2.9%)

16. Factors that have prevented students from using the Internet in school
Lack of computer room / resources 25 (23.6%)
Booking difficulties (21.7%)
Technical problems / unreliability 16 (15.1%)
Slow server (12.3%)
No Internet access 7 (6.8%)
Site blocks (6.8%)
Administration / lack of pupil passwords 5 (4.9%)
Pupils accessing inappropriate sites 4 (3.9%)
Volume of sites / lack of time to research 4 (3.9%)
Lack of knowledge 3 (2.9%)
Curriculum demands restricting time 3 (2.9%)
Pupil misbehaviour / lack of control 2 (1.9%)

17. Development That Would increase Your Use of the Internet For Teaching
More / better resources / computers 24 (27.0%)
Improved knowledge of suitable sites 24 (27.0%)
Better / faster access (20.2%)
More guidance / instruction on Internet use 13 (14.6%)
More control of access 6 (6.7%)
Suitable references in QCA scheme of work 5 (5.6%)
Better pupil search engines 2 (2.2%)

18. To date
PGCE students from 4 HEIs have reviewed several hundred sites and, for appropriate ones, have completed a standard pro-forma.
Tutors from the institutions are currently categorizing the reviewed sites and constructing a web site that contains:
A site map;
Guidelines for new users of the Internet;
Teaching and learning with the Internet, including sample lessons;
Generic tools (such as Hot Potatoes and Puzzlemaker);
Subject resources – a catalogue of vetted sites to be categorized by Key Stage and National Curriculum area;
Some sample lessons have been identified;
Workshops for PGCE student and tutors have been arranged for the ASE conference in January.

19. Future plans Further research into PGCE students’ use of the Internet;
Continued development of the web site;
Use and evaluation of the developing web site by students.