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Aims
The overall aims of this strand of the project were:
- to identify similarities and differences between subject cultures in respect of both
their pedagogies and students' approaches to learning which incorporate ICT;
- to investigate the different reciprocal relationships that develop between subject
cultures and ICT;
- to investigate the range and consequences of different 'subject-based' ways of
incorporating ICT into teaching;
- to investigate the differential effects of this on student learning in different
subjects;
- to investigate the relative 'value added' by the use of ICT for teaching across subject
cultures;
- to develop understanding of the nature and importance of subject cultures in teaching so
that teachers can make use of this knowledge to enhance their use of ICT.
Background
Subject cultures have been usefully defined as 'identifiable structures which are
visibly expressed through classroom organisation and pedagogical styles'; we might say
that it is subject cultures that enable pupils to know that they are doing English or
History, for instance, while for one science teacher on the project 'The culture of the
prep room is the centre of science teaching'. At the start of the project, existing studies showed a range of
subject-based differences in teacher interest in and use of ICT, and of the conditions
under which it had been most effectively deployed.
Dimensions of Subject Culture Variation
Four major dimensions across which subject cultures might differ significantly in
respect of their relationship with ICT were investigated:
'Sunk costs' refers to the the material and symbolic investments teachers have
consciously or unconsciously made in conceptions of the content of the subject, its
purpose, how it should be taught.
Modes of learning. This refers to the characteristic processes, demonstrations
and outcomes of learning within the subject culture. Equally taken for granted are what
counts as success in the subject, how it is achieved and how it is known.
Relationship to Wider Contexts. Subject cultures are differently
situated in terms of their wider contexts and how they relate to them. The most important
of these contexts are the National Curriculum and the subject's place in the pecking order
of the school, both of which may impact critically on their access to and use of ICT'.
Relationship between Technology, Pedagogy and Content. This is the most
directly relevant dimension and constitutes in some respects the sum of the others. It has
been usefully seen as made up of four principles; 'teachers first; complementarity (with
existing practices); workability (efficiency); and equity.
Theory and Method
The work of this strand was informed by literatures on subject cultures and content
based pedagogy, and on their relationship as it is historically and currently constituted
through ICT.
Methods included: quantitative studies of the differential use of ICT, types of
hardware and software available, and basis of access to them; qualitative studies of
teachers' conceptions of subject cultures, elaborating the InterActive Project team
members conceptions through interviews, and analysis of video and audio tapes.
Implications
Our findings contribute to a much more nuanced and robust understanding of the range
and consequences of ways of using ICT to contribute to learning.
Understanding subject cultures is a valuable resource in that it offers greater recognition of the nature of the
practices and purposes of teaching and learning that tend to be taken for granted.
Project Team
Roger Dale
Peter John
Graduate School of Education
University of Bristol
35 Berkeley Square
Bristol BS8 1JA
University of Plymouth
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