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Aims
The overall aim of this strand of the project was to investigate the effect of a range
of ICT applications on pupils' learning about science.
Particular Aims were:
- teachers in partnership with researchers to develop science design initiatives;
- to focus on learning outcomes in science using general and science-specific ICT
applications;
- to investigate the relationship between productive pedagogies and learning in science.
Subject Design Initiatives
Much work of the science team centred on the use of software to simulate practical
work. This was an important focus, because teaching and learning in school science is
traditionally rooted in the hands-on, learning-by-experience strategy of the
laboratory-based "experiment". Fundamental questions about the nature of school
science and its pedagogy are raised by the possibilities offered by new technologies to
simulate experimental apparatus and procedures as well as methods of data gathering and
analysis.
How real is real? Is school science the same as scientists' science? Is an idealised
data set more or less valid for teaching and learning scientific concepts?
Toby Tyas from the science department of Filton High School used
PowerPoint and Multimedia Science School simulation software to investigate terminal velocity. His top set was finding it
difficult to grasp the relationship between terminal velocity and the concept of balanced forces. The beauty of
the simulation was that it allowed a slower 'investigation' of terminal velocity. The pupils then used Power Point to present their initial ideas and record their understanding.
Joe Sharp of Fairfield High School used Focus Education simulation software in an
assessed practical investigation of the effect of temperature on digestive enzymes. One of his classes did the
investigation in the traditional, laboratory-based way in vitro, whilst a parallel class undertook the investigation in silico. Joe liked the fact that the simulation practical demonstrated classic rates of reaction principles but also showed that heat denaturation of proteins caused loss of reactivity. It lent itself to differentiation and cross-discipline teaching. The nature of data collection from the in vitro experiment made it more difficult to derive the concluding point. The in silico version provided adequate data provision along with 'real time' graph plotting:factors which in combination allowed the students to gain a greater depth of understanding.
Bryan Berry of John Cabot CTC carried out three different design initiatives. His first design was based on the Multimedia Science School CD-ROM for a Year 10 GCSE Physics Radioactivity topic. In particular he used the Radiation Penetration activity to reinforce demonstrations of the penetrating power and particle emissions of various radioactive samples. The second design involved the simulation package Electricity Explained. This was used with a high-achieving GCSE class as a preparation for a Sc1 investigation into the factors affecting the resistance of a circuit . Bryan wanted to find out how well the students understood the content of the CD-ROM and whether this would develop or hinder their understanding of charge flow in electrical circuits.
Bryan's third design focussed on Y12 AS students using the Internet to research and present good examples of simulations which they felt enhanced their understanding of the Photoelectric Effect.
See what Bryan and his students thought about these designs...
Alan George of Sir Bernard Lovell School used Crocodile Clips software to introduce mixed ability 11-12 year-olds to the idea of current in an electrical circuit. The class used both practical apparatus and the software to construct and test their circuits.
Other activities of the science team involved using a range of more generic software in
creative ways:
Raj Bhakerd from Fairfield High School used software to create
concept maps with hypertext links to make his teaching materials available to pupils on
the school's Intranet. He filmed himself
doing demonstrations of practical work to incorporate into the concept maps as movies.
Dave Badlan from Filton experimented with using Powerpoint as a
teaching/learning aid with students with a history of
achievement in science but who were negative towards ICT interventions on the grounds
that they wasted time.
Baldev Singh and Ian Davies, both from John Cabot City Technology
College worked together to develop website teaching. They made a quantitative
comparison between this and a traditional classroom approach. Baldev wrote some web
pages containing hyperlinked diagrams and text for teaching about liver function with KS4
and 16+ classes. This was made available to pupils on the school's Intranet, so they could work
on the topic and then do a self- assessment on-line. In comparison, Ian taught the
topic traditionally, and administered a paper-based end-of-topic test.
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