c. Helping Learners Develop Their Own IT Capabilities

Whenever the pupils in the case study are using a computer to learn, they are of course not only developing their General Science skills but also their ICT skills. It is important to distinguish between one thing and the other, and also for us as General Science specialists to know when a pupil is learning to use ICT as well as learning to understand General Science.

If pupils used all possible resources - and maybe one or two extra that you thought of - the very least they would have developed is the following range:

  • Loading software - a CD-ROM
  • Accessing the World Wide Web
  • Searching for information - on the CD or the World Wide Web
  • Basic skills of mouse and keyboard manipulation
  • Printing - if the pupil was allowed to print from the CD or the World Wide Web
  • Using e-mail - for the expert/peer investigation/exchange
  • Using a word processor - if pupils undertook copy and paste activities
  • Using a presentation package - if pupils created a PowerPoint presentation for the final phases of the lessons

It might be interesting to look back over your own lesson plans to see where these things happened, and even to look at the IT curriculum as it applies to pupils at Key Stages three and four, to see what they are doing in your subject that is contributing to their development in the IT arena. All case studies in all subjects in this series make this same statement, so crucial is the pupil's awareness of and use of ICT to his or her own learning in other subjects using it.

It is worth trying this exercise:

  1. Identify what pupils are doing with ICT in the General Science tasks you have set them.
  2. Identify whether what they are doing is a basic motor skill such as moving a mouse, a technique where they have to follow steps or a higher order skill where they have to plan and make decisions.
  3. Identify the areas of the IT curriculum at the pupil's key stage to see whether work you are doing with him or her can be linked to learning in the IT area.

    d. Assessing Learning