e.
Planning the Work of Learners
In
the case study teacher's experience, planning the work of learners
on ICT is quite straightforward. He has access to a room where
his class can use computers and control/logging equipment on a
one-between-two basis, he knows how to use the logging kit and
the spreadsheet, and the pupils have undertaken some work on spreadsheets
in their IT classes.
Your
case might be different. Firstly, do you have access to a room
or lab with the right hardware and software where you can work
on Science lessons of this sort with a full group of pupils? Secondly,
can you rely on the data-logging equipment and the MS Office-based
software living side-by-side on the screen if that is what you
want? There are other, technical questions, but these are less
important than the educational questions. Consider those below
before you start planning the series of lessons in detail.
- How
long will you take to deal with this area of work from start
to finish, including the production of homework if this is relevant?
- How
do you want to order the use of ICT for learning and assessment
- do you want it blocked or staggered, and will you need to
circulate pupils around it in circumstances where not all pupils
can use computers at once?
- How
will you plan to ensure that all pupils are spending time using
ICT for the best purposes in their learning of Science?
- How
will you ensure that pupils do not simply 'copy and paste' from
the resources they use (or from each other), and that they learn
what they should learn about the work?
- How
will you ensure that students avoid simply improving the presentation
of the work with ICT rather than learning better as a result
of using it?
These
questions are crucial at this stage, and you might want to discuss
them with colleagues and/or your mentor before you create a scheme
of work that includes the use of ICT, however rough the scheme
is at the beginning. Once you are happy that you have a plan of
how to use ICT effectively for the work you want to do on in response
to his case study, you should go on to consider some lesson plans
for actually applying it in the classroom.
 Part
2: Teaching with ICT
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