Literature Review in Science Education and the Role of ICT: Promise, Problems and Future Directions

Abstract

Today, what "counts" as science and science teaching is in a state of flux. This, however, is not new - for 150 years there have been debates about the purpose, nature and role of science education in our society. Any designer of resources and tools for the teaching of science therefore needs to be able to understand these debates, and to be aware of the origins and reasons for the changes that are currently taking place.

Full text

Literature Review in Science Education
and the Role of ICT: Promise, Problems
and Future Directions
REPORT 6:
FUTURELAB SERIES
Jonathon Osborne, King’s College London
Sara Hennessy, University of Cambridge

FOREWORD
“Science education in the UK stands
poised to make the second fundamental
change in its nature. Having won the
battle that science education should be a
compulsory element of all children’s
education, it is now attempting to develop
a curriculum which is appropriate for all.”
Today, what ‘counts’ as science and
science teaching is in a state of flux.
This, however, is not new – for 150 years
there have been debates about the
purpose, nature and role of science
education in our society. Any designer of
resources and tools for the teaching of
science therefore needs to be able to
understand these debates, and to be
aware of the origins and reasons for the
changes that are currently taking place.
This review is intended as a useful
component in raising that awareness. It is
a guide to the history, principles, debates
and practices of science teaching in the
21st century and an introduction to the
roles that digital technologies, as key
new resources for scientific endeavour
and communication today, might play in
the changing practices of science
teaching in our schools.
While the importance of informal learning
is recognised, this review describes and
contextualises the changes that are
taking place in science education
specifically in UK secondary schools. It
should be noted that Futurelab’s partner
publication ‘Primary Science and ICT’
(2003) explores the development of
primary science while a further Futurelab
report to be published in early 2004 will
address the key role of informal learning
in science education.
We are keen to receive feedback on
the Futurelab reports and welcome
comments at research@futurelab.org.uk.
Martin Owen
Director of Learning
Futurelab
1
CONTENTS:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2
SECTION 1
PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS
OF SCIENCE EDUCATION 6
THE ROOTS OF
SCIENCE EDUCATION 6
A CONTEMPORARY PICTURE
OF SCIENCE 10
THE PURPOSES OF
SCIENCE EDUCATION 12
SCIENCE EDUCATION
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY 16
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE
EDUCATION 19
THE USE OF ICT TO SUPPORT
SCIENCE TEACHING AND
LEARNING 19
ICT USE AND PEDAGOGY –
AN INEXTRICABLE LINK 28
USE OF ICT IN THE
SCHOOLSCIENCE LAB –
A REALITY CHECK 36
IMPLICATIONS FOR
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT 39
CONCLUSION 40
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 41
BIBLIOGRAPHY 42
Literature Review in Science Education
and the Role of ICT: Promise, Problems
and Future Directions
REPORT 6:
FUTURELAB SERIES
Jonathon Osborne, King’s College London
Sara Hennessy, University of Cambridge

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
WHY DOES SCIENCE
EDUCATION MATTER?
Science education has its roots in the
recognition by Victorian society that it had
changed – changed from an agrarian
society to one dominated by, and reliant
on, scientific and technological expertise.
In1851, the Great Exhibition brought the
realisation that this new society could only
be sustained by ensuring that a body of
people were educated in science and
technology. However, whilst there was little
disagreement about the necessity for
incorporating science into the curriculum,
the form and content of that science
education has since that time been a
matter of considerable debate.
The opposing camps have lain between, on
the one hand, those who would emphasise
the need for science education to develop a
knowledge and understanding of the basic
scientific principles – the foundation on
which the edifice rests – and, on the other,
those who would argue for an emphasis on
the processes of scientific thinking. The
latter contend that the value of science
education lies in the critical and evaluative
habits of mind it develops that are of
ubiquitous value for all individuals in all
domains.
A retrospective view shows that as a rule,
the dominant model of the curriculum has
been one which has seen science
education as a pre-professional form of
training for the minority of today’s youth
who will become the scientists of
tomorrow. This characteristic has arguably
been responsible for the undervaluing of
science within the British establishment
who have historically regarded it as a
lesser form of knowledge than the
humanities which, in contrast, were often
seen as offering an education of the
complete individual.
Current research would suggest, however,
that there are four common rationales for
science education:
• the utilitarian: the view that a knowledge
of science is practically useful to
everyone. However this view is
increasingly questionable in a society
where most technologies are no longer
remediable by any one other than an
expert
• the economic: the view that we must
ensure an adequate supply of
scientifically trained individuals to
sustain and develop an advanced
industrial society
• the cultural argument: the view that
science and technology are one, if not
the greatest, achievement of
contemporary society, and that a
knowledge thereof is an essential
prerequisite for the educated individual
• the democratic: the argument that many
of the political and moral dilemmas
posed by contemporary society are of a
scientific nature. Participating in the
debate surrounding their resolution
requires a knowledge of some aspects
of science and technology. Hence,
educating the populace in science and
technology is an essential requirement
to sustain a healthy democratic society.
THE CHANGING CONTEXT
Two factors have led to calls for change in
the nature of school science education.
2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

a. The changing relationship between
science and society. The past 30 years
have seen a transformation in society’s
view of science. 30 years ago, the then
Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, was able
to offer a vision of the ‘white heat of the
technological revolution’, men were
landing on the moon, and iconic
symbols such as Concorde heralded a
new dawn. In contrast, today, after a
long litany of environmental and
technological disasters such as
Chernobyl, global warming, ozone
depletion, Bhopal, BSE and more,
science is seen as a source of threat as
well as a source of solutions.
In addition, recent research has
transformed our understanding of science
by highlighting the ways in which culture
and values impact upon the development
of scientific ideas and practices. The
perception of scientific progress today is,
therefore, more ambivalent than 30 years
ago both in terms of its ‘impacts’ on
society, and in terms of its claims to act as
a value-neutral domain.
b. In the 1980s, the economic case for
science education was successful in
arguing that science should be a
compulsory part of all school science
curricula in many countries across the
globe. The outcome, however, was the
imposition of a model of science
education designed for the small
minority of children who would go on to
become scientists. In recent years,
however, it has been increasingly
argued that compulsory science
education can only be justified if it offers
something of universal value to all.
Hence, in the last decade the
democratic and cultural arguments
have come to the fore to argue that a
complete science education should give
a much more holistic picture of science,
concentrating less on the details and
more on the broad explanatory themes
that science offers. In addition, a much
more comprehensive treatment of a set
of ideas about how science is done,
evaluated and functions is required.
The most significant product of this debate
so far has been the development of a new
AS curriculum entitled Science for Public
Understanding which has attempted to
articulate a model of school science which
meets these two challenges. This course
addresses a collection of themes in the life
science and physical sciences through a
set of topics which cover the major ideas
of science, ideas about data and
explanations, the social influences on
science and technology, causal links, risk
and risk assessment, and decisions
involving science and technology. This
model is now being extended to the GCSE
curriculum with the development of a pilot
scheme – 21st Century Science – a course
which will consist of a similar, but
simplified core, and then a set of optional
modules for those who wish to continue
with the more academic or applied
science.
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
OF CHANGE
The changes embodied in these courses
are radical. Traditionally school science
has ignored any treatment or exploration
of its nature as such knowledge is
considered to be either largely irrelevant to
its contemporary practice, or to be best
acquired en passant. Hence, the pedagogy
of school science has tended to be
didactic, authoritarian and non-discursive
3
REPORT 6
LITERATURE REVIEW IN SCIENCE EDUCATION AND THE ROLE OF ICT: PROMISE, PROBLEMS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
JONATHON OSBORNE, KING’S COLLEGE LONDON & SARA HENNESSY, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

with little room for autonomous learning or
the development of critical reasoning. In
addition, science teachers, themselves the
product of the standard model of science
education, often have naïve views about the
nature of science. Teaching about science
rather than teaching its content will
require a significant change in its mode of
teaching and an improved knowledge and
understanding in teachers.
THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF ICT
IN TRANSFORMING TEACHING
AND LEARNING
While there are changes in the views of the
nature of science and the role of science
education, the increasing prevalence of
Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) also offers a challenge
to the teaching and learning of science,
and to the models of scientific practice
teachers and learners might encounter.
ICTs, for example, offer a range of different
tools for use in school science activity,
including:
• tools for data capture, processing and
interpretation – data logging systems,
databases and spreadsheets, graphing
tools, modelling environments
• multimedia software for simulation of
processes and carrying out ‘virtual
experiments’
• information systems
• publishing and presentation tools
• digital recording equipment
• computer projection technology
• computer-controlled microscope.
These forms of ICT can enhance both the
practical and theoretical aspects of
science teaching and learning. The
potential contribution of technology use
can be conceptualised as follows:
• expediting and enhancing work
production; offering release from
laborious manual processes and more
time for thinking, discussion and
interpretation
• increasing currency and scope of
relevant phenomena by linking school
science to contemporary science and
providing access to experiences not
otherwise feasible
• supporting exploration and
experimentation by providing immediate,
visual feedback
• focusing attention on over-arching
issues, increasing salience of underlying
abstract concepts
• fostering self-regulated and
collaborative learning
• improving motivation and engagement.
ICT USE AND PEDAGOGY –
AN INEXTRICABLE LINK
Current research would suggest, however,
that it is not appropriate to assume simply
that the introduction of such technologies
necessarily transforms science education.
Rather, we need to acknowledge the
critical role played by the teacher, in
creating the conditions for ICT-supported
learning through selecting and evaluating
appropriate technological resources, and
designing, structuring and sequencing a
set of learning activities. Pedagogy for
using ICT effectively includes:
4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• ensuring that use is appropriate and
‘adds value’ to learning activities
• building on teachers’ existing practice
and on pupils’ prior conceptions
• structuring activity while offering pupils
some responsibility, choice and
opportunities for active participation
• prompting pupils to think about
underlying concepts and relationships;
creating time for discussion, reasoning,
analysis and reflection
• focusing research tasks and developing
skills for finding and critically analysing
information
• linking ICT use to ongoing teaching and
learning activities
• exploiting the potential of whole class
interactive teaching and encouraging
pupils to share ideas and findings.
THE REALITY OF ICT USE IN
THE SCHOOL SCIENCE LAB
Teachers’ motivation to use ICT in the
classroom is, at present, adversely
influenced by a number of constraints
including: lack of time to gain confidence
and experience with technology; limited
access to reliable resources; a science
curriculum overloaded with content;
assessment that requires no use of the
technology; and a lack of subject-specific
guidance for using ICT to support learning.
While this technology can, in principle, be
employed in diverse ways to support
different curriculum goals and forms of
pedagogy, such constraints have often
stifled teachers’ use of ICT in ways which
effectively exploit its interactivity.
Consequently, well-integrated and effective
classroom use of ICT is currently rare.
Research shows that even where
technology is available, it is often under-
used and hindered by a set of practical
constraints and teacher reservations.
Whole class interactive teaching is also
under-developed. At present, effective use
of ICT in science seems to be confined to
a minority of enthusiastic teachers or
departments.
On the whole, use of ICT in school science
is driven by – rather than transformative of
– the prescribed curriculum and
established pedagogy. In sum, teachers
tend to use ICT largely to support, enhance
and complement existing classroom
practice rather than re-shaping subject
content, goals and pedagogies. However,
teacher motivation and commitment are
high and practice is gradually changing.
The New Opportunities Fund (NOF)
scheme for training teachers in using ICT
in the classroom appears to have had
more success in science than in other
subjects. Teachers are now beginning to
develop and trial new strategies which
successfully overcome the distractions of
the technology and focus attention,
instead, on their intended learning
objectives.
To conclude, teachers are currently
working towards harnessing the powerful
potential of using ICT to support science
learning as far as possible, given the very
real operational constraints. Further
development depends on providing them
with more time, consistent access to
reliable resources, encouragement and
support, and offering specific guidance for
appropriate and effective use. Assessment
frameworks (and their focus on end
products) may also need to change in
order to evaluate – and thereby further
encourage – ICT-supported learning.
5

CONCLUSION
To meet the new aims for science
education, the science curriculum is
poised to move in a new direction. The
approach taken by the proposed new
science curriculum for all pupils is
eminently well-suited to the supportive use
of interactive digital technology. As the
school curriculum begins to forge links
with the external scientific and social
communities, opportunities arise for ICT
use to play a central and core role in
supporting development of scientific
reasoning and critical analysis skills.
Those in the process of developing new
digital tools for use in the science
classroom need, therefore, to engage with
the new aims of science education and the
science curriculum, and to develop
resources that can be used by teachers
both in facilitating key aspects of scientific
thinking and in building bridges between
schools and with the wider social and
scientific communities.
1PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS
OF SCIENCE EDUCATION
THE ROOTS OF SCIENCE EDUCATION
The Great Exhibition of 1851 was a
significant milestone in Victorian society.
The technological marvel displayed both in
the structure of Crystal Palace, and the
exhibits within, brought home to society at
large the transformation that had occurred
in their society in the past 100 years from
an agrarian to an industrial society. The
very landscape itself had been
transformed by the arrival of railways,
canals and the factories that were to
become the foundation of the world’s
leading economy and its expanding
Empire. However, then, just as now, there
were significant worries about how this
prosperity could be sustained. Other
nations, such as France, appeared to have
more advanced systems of scientific
instruction that provided for the mass of
the population. Great Britain, in contrast,
had no universal system of education for
its young and, even where it did exist, there
was no requirement for any science
education.
Such concern led the government of the
day to propose that science education
should form part of the elementary school
curriculum. The form that it should take
was one that emphasised the ‘science of
common things’ – essentially an education
which should aim to ‘foster a taste for
science’. Lyon Playfair, the then senior civil
servant in the Department of Science and
Art (there being no Department of
Education at the time), argued that “the
sciences of observation such as zoology,
botany and physiology, are more suitable
to the children of primary schools”. The
principal aim of such an education was to
6
in the Victorian
era the principal
aim of such a
‘scientific’
education was
to “educe a love
of nature”
SECTION 1
PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS
OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

“educe a love of nature”, and the only
intellectual development recognised as an
objective for science teaching was a
training in observation (Layton 1973). Any
aspects of physical science were
considered inappropriate.
Such a view was controversial then, as it
would be now. Thomas Huxley and others,
in contrast, saw the function of science
education as a means of intellectual
development providing opportunities to
engage in the exercise of reasoning by
analysing and interpreting data, and using
evidence-based arguments for appropriate
scientific theories. In addition, it also
permitted the testing of speculation. For
Huxley then, science offered a discoverable
order revealed by the application of
standard processes. What mattered was
not so much the content of any science
education but the unique capacity that
science offered for a training of the mind –
in short that the process of engaging with
scientific enquiry was much more
significant than the content per se.
Such debates, between the value of the
content of science versus its processes, ie
scientific modes of thinking, were to play
themselves out repeatedly in debates
about the function and purpose of science
education. They can be seen in
Armstrong’s advocacy of the significance of
process (Armstrong 1891), in particular, in
his advocacy of an approach to teaching
which came to be known as ‘guided
discovery’, and were to emerge again in
the 1980s (Millar & Driver 1987). However,
100 years later, writing a personal view of
UK primary science from 1950-82, Jean
Conran provides a view of elementary
science education which is still remarkably
consistent with Playfair’s view.
“We started the year with a ‘Seaside
Room’. Ready beforehand were displays of
shells, pebbles, and sand; aquaria with live
crabs and sea anemones; seaweeds; boxes
and tables for collections made during the
summer holidays; drawing materials,
paper for labelling and selection of named
specimens, reference books and pictures.
We then followed the seasons with an
ever-changing set of exhibits, a growing
family of resident plants and animals, and
a flow of temporary visitors brought in by
the children. They marvelled at the
unfamiliar and became confident in
handling and caring for the familiar...
Animals and plants were kept at home and
books were purchased or borrowed from
the library. Research was undertaken into
cats and dogs. Diaries were kept.
Expeditions to parks, museums and zoos
were made on Saturdays and the children
brought along parents, siblings and
friends.” (Conran 1983, p18)
In secondary education, in contrast, the
arguments for the centrality of science in
education met the combined opposition of
advocates of the Classics and of
Christianity who argued that the
humanities were to be more highly valued
than scientific and technological education
for the development of a rounded
individual (Barnett 2001). From the
Victorian era, until at least the 1970s, this
view was forcefully articulated, particularly
by the public school community.
Thus, in spite of the centrality of science
and technology to the success of two world
wars and the industrial revolution, the
values that predominated in formulating
the school science curriculum echoed
Matthew Arnold's view that scientific
training as a form of education would
produce only a 'useful specialist' and not a
7
for Huxley,
scientific enquiry
was much more
significant than
the content
per se

truly educated man. Over this period,
science education and its curriculum
were predominantly seen as essentially
a pre-professional preparation for those
who were interested in pursuing scientific
or technical careers and had no value
as part of the cultural education of the
rounded individual.
The science education, essentially a
scientific ‘training’, which emerges from
such a view inevitably emphasises the
foundational or vocational aspects of the
subject and offers a curriculum that
consists of the fundamental concepts of
well-established, consensually-agreed
science. However, as was argued recently:
“In focusing on the detail (for example, by
setting out the content as a list of separate
‘items’ of knowledge as does the English
and Welsh National Curriculum), we have
lost sight of the major ideas that science
has to tell. To borrow an architectural
metaphor, it is impossible to see the whole
building if we focus too closely on the
individual bricks. Yet, without a change of
focus, it is impossible to see whether you
are looking at St Paul’s Cathedral or a pile
of bricks, or to appreciate what it is that
makes St Paul’s one the world’s great
churches. In the same way, an over
concentration on the detailed content of
science may prevent students appreciating
why Dalton’s ideas about atoms, or
Darwin’s ideas about natural selection, are
among the most powerful and significant
pieces of knowledge we possess.
Consequently, it is perhaps unsurprising
that many pupils emerge from their formal
science education with the feeling that the
knowledge they acquired had as much
value as a pile of bricks and that the task
of constructing any edifice of note was
simply too daunting – the preserve of the
boffins of the scientific elite.”
Beyond 2000: Science Education for the
Future (Millar & Osborne 1998)
Such a ‘training’, as opposed to an
education, is essentially dogmatic and
authoritarian, requiring its young acolytes
to learn and assimilate a body of well-
established knowledge which is essential
for understanding the nature of the
discourse and the contemporary problems
facing scientists. In addition, it neglects
any exploration of the nature of the subject
itself or its history. The former is ignored,
as it is assumed that such knowledge will
be acquired en passant, and the latter
neglected as it is assumed that the
retrospective study of the history of
sciences and its methods offers no
insights into the questions that will face
the prospective entrant to the scientific
community. In short, such a science
education is dominated by an emphasis on
the content or ‘facts’ of science rather than
its processes consisting, at its worse, of a
‘frogmarch across the scientific landscape’
(Osborne & Collins 2000). Where any
exploration or teaching about the
processes of science does take place, it
tends to give the impression that there is a
singular scientific method (Bauer 1992;
Hodson 1996). Not surprisingly, therefore,
the evidence suggests that most students
emerge from such a science education
with very naïve views of the nature of
science (Driver et al 1996; Lederman 1992)
where science is seen as a process of
conducting experiments to derive data
from which unambiguous generalisations
or laws are made.
Unfortunately, the dominant view that
science education is a pre-professional
preparation for a scientific career has been
unwittingly reinforced over the years by
8
SECTION 1
PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS
OF SCIENCE EDUCATION
‘a frogmarch
across the
scientific
landscape’

politicians concerned by the so-called
‘flight from science’ of contemporary youth
(Dainton 1968; House of Commons Science
& Technology Committee 2002). For the
basis of their concerns lies in the threat
posed by the poor recruitment to the
supply line of scientific and technological
personnel, rather than a concern that one
of the greatest cultural achievements of
Western society fails to engage the interest
of young people.
Nevertheless, during the 1980s, policy
arguments (DES 1987; DES/Welsh Office
1981; 1982) made both here and in
other countries, managed to persuade
politicians that science was so central to
contemporary culture that it should be a
compulsory element for all children from
age 5 to 16. This process culminated in the
implementation of compulsory ‘science for
all’ in the first version of the National
Curriculum (DES 1989). Science now found
itself at the curriculum high table (House
of Commons Science & Technology
Committee 2002; Osborne & Collins 2000)
alongside mathematics and English. Yet
this structural change had been
undertaken without any explicit
consideration of the aims and values of
science education. The model of scientific
training that had been reasonably well
suited to the minority who chose to
continue with science post-14 of their
own accord was, overnight, imposed on
all children.
Arguably, however, the only justification for
a requirement for all children to study
science can be if the science curriculum
offers something that is of universal value
to all children. The failure to consider what
might be appropriate to their needs laid
the seeds for the failings and discontents
of the next decade.
Another contextual factor that has driven
the shape and nature of science education,
and which has arguably undermined its
quality, has been the development of a
system of measuring the performance of
schools through their examination results.
The current system, which emphasises
pencil and paper tests, gives pre-eminence
to that which can be easily assessed –
essentially students’ knowledge of the
content of science. However, as has been
pointed out, when an indicator is selected
for its ability to represent the quality of the
service, and then used as the sole index of
quality, the manipulability of these
indicators destroys the relationship
between the indicator and the indicated
(Wiliam 1999). In short, the high stakes
nature of the assessment distorts the
nature, and quality, of the experience that
is offered to pupils. Teachers feel under
pressure to deliver the curriculum, and as
a corollary over-emphasise content over
process, removing or minimising
opportunities to discuss issues raised by
students or explore the more marginal but
potentially interesting parts of the
curriculum. The consequence is that
testing, rather than being an integral
component of science education with a
benign effect on pedagogy has, instead,
begun to have a malign effect on the
teaching of science (Hacker & Rowe 1997;
Wadsworth 2000).
A particular problem confronting the
science curriculum has been the
requirement to both undertake practical
work and assess students’ competence
and skill in this domain. The first version
of the National Curriculum embodied a
model of scientific enquiry that, in the light
of contemporary scholarship, was far too
limited and restrictive. As Donnelly et al
(1999) argued:
9
science, one
of the greatest
cultural
achievements of
Western society,
fails to engage
the interest of
young people

“The central elements of the model of
science embedded in the 1991 Order are
descriptive headings and quasi-algorithmic
protocols. Professional scientists, or those
who actually do experimental work, no
doubt undertake activities which could be
called 'hypothesising', 'observation' and so
on. No doubt they also make use of
variable handling schemes of various
kinds. But there is nothing about such
approaches which is specific to science,
and thus explanatory of its power.
Characterising the practice of natural
science requires an altogether more com-
plex framework, if indeed it can be done.”
Such then is a brief picture of science
education and some of its discontents at
the turn of the millennium. Some of the
dissatisfactions voiced in this account
have emerged from the increasing
understanding of science and its practices,
which is emerging from the burgeoning
body of scholarship in the field known as
science studies. It is to this research we
shall now turn in order to explore its
implications for the teaching of science in
secondary schools.
A CONTEMPORARY
PICTURE OF SCIENCE
In contrast to the picture commonly
presented in school science, the reality is
that there is no singular method in
science. A fundamental division exists
between those working in the exact
sciences of physics, chemistry, and to
some extent biology, where the
hypothetico-deductive method
predominates, and where the aim is to
develop explanatory models of the physical
and biological world, and those sciences
which are attempting a historical
reconstruction of the past such as
evolutionary biology, cosmology and the
Earth sciences (Rudolph 2000). The goal of
these sciences, in contrast, is the
construction of a set of chronological
sequences of past natural occurrences.
The immediate goal is not the development
of a model, but rather the establishment of
a reliable record of what has occurred and
when. At a more detailed level, the
methods of the paleontologist and the
nuclear physicist are as different as chalk
and cheese, sharing in common only a
commitment to evidence as a means of
resolving disputes. And, moreover, as
Norris (1997) has pointed out, “merely
considering the mathematical tools that
are available for data analysis immediately
puts the study of method beyond what is
learnable in a lifetime”.
The other transformation of our
understanding of science that has
occurred in the past four decades is a
consequence of the work of historians,
philosophers and, in particular,
sociologists of science. 40 years ago, the
last lingering remnants of logical
positivism – essentially the view that
science was a set of logically deducible
statements derived from observable
entities – still held a strong influence
within the scientific community. However,
the work of Popper (1959), who argued that
theories were believed not because
experiments confirmed them but because
they survived simply through scientists
failing to falsify them, began to change
both scientists’ and the wider public’s
understanding of science. The real
transformation in our understanding of
science came with the work of Kuhn who
argued that the work of scientists was a
cultural product. In essence, scientists
were portrayed as working in paradigms
10
SECTION 1
PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS
OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

where ideas were so radically different as
to be incommensurable. Every so often,
the thinking of scientists would undergo a
paradigm shift. Kuhn’s essential
contribution was to highlight that science
was not the disinterested study of the
natural world, as scientists would have it,
but that science was indistinguishable
from all other cultural activities consisting
of a set of social actors embedded in a
body of social networks and governed by
sets of implicit and explicit rules. Once
perceived this way, Kuhn’s work opened
the floodgates to the sociologists to study
science in much the same way that such
lenses had been applied to other social
activities (Bloor 1976; Collins & Pinch
1993; Gross 1996; Latour & Woolgar 1986;
Pickering 1984; Taylor 1996; Traweek
1988). The view of science that they offered
was radical and contentious – at its most
extreme some researchers argued that
scientific knowledge was socially rather
than objectively determined (Gross & Levitt
1994). This led to an acrimonious debate
that at its height in the mid 1990s was
characterised as the ‘science wars’.
Now that the dust has begun to settle, the
outcome is one where the social
dimension of science is clearly recognised.
Science is a cultural activity, albeit an
important one, which is governed by a set
of structures and agencies that have well-
defined mechanisms for inducting and
accrediting its members (such as the
Royal Society) and for communicating and
recognising new knowledge claims
advanced by its members (such as peer
review). This is not to suggest that science
is a social construct but merely to
recognise the social dimension in the
construction of scientific knowledge.
Historical and sociological studies show
that such aspects are particularly salient
for science-in-the-making. This last point
is particularly important, as most of the
political and moral dilemmas posed by
contemporary science are a product of the
uncertainties surrounding new scientific
knowledge – eg the mechanism for the
transmission of BSE, the effects of GM
crops on the environment or the long-term
impact of mobile phones. Steve Fuller
(1997), a prominent sociologist, goes
further to argue “that most of what non-
scientists need to know in order to make
informed public judgments about science
fall under the rubric of history, philosophy,
and sociology of science, rather than the
technical content of scientific subjects.”
Given that school science education all but
ignores this dimension of science, such a
perspective offers a different vision of the
aims and function of science education.
What then are the differing functions and
purposes of science education?
THE PURPOSES OF
SCIENCE EDUCATION
Broadly speaking, there are four
arguments for the purposes of science
education which can be found in the
literature (Layton 1973; Millar 1996; Milner
1986; Thomas & Durant 1987). These are
called the utilitarian argument, the
economic argument, the democratic
argument and the cultural argument.
The utilitarian argument
This is the view that learners might
benefit, in a practical sense, from learning
science – that is that scientific knowledge
enables them to wire a plug or fix their
car; that a scientific training develops a
‘scientific attitude of mind’, a rational
mode of thought, or a practical problem-
11
the political and
moral dilemmas
posed by
contemporary
science are a
product of the
uncertainties
surrounding
new scientific
knowledge

solving ability that is unique to science and
essential for improving the individual’s
ability to cope with everyday life. It is also
claimed that science trains powers of
observation, providing an ability to see
patterns in the plethora of data that
confront us in everyday life. Such
arguments may well resonate with the
reader — they are after all the stock-in-
trade responses that are part of the
culture of science teaching. Sadly,
however, they do not stand up to close
examination.
First, there is little evidence that scientists
are any more or less rational than the rest
of humanity. As Millar (1996) argues,
“there is no evidence that physicists have
fewer road accidents because they
understand Newton’s laws of motion, or
that they insulate their houses better
because they understand the laws of
thermodynamics.” Second, the irony of
living in a technologically advanced society
is that we become less dependent on
scientific knowledge, for the increasing
sophistication of contemporary artefacts
makes their functional failure only
remediable by the expert, whilst
simultaneously their use and operation is
simplified to a level that requires only
minimal skill. Electrical appliances come
with plugs pre-wired whilst washing
machines, computers, video recorders, etc
require little more than intuition for their
sensible use. Even in contexts where you
might think that scientific knowledge
would be useful, such as the regulation of
personal diet, recent research on pupils’
choice of foods shows that it bears no
correlation to their knowledge of what
constitutes a healthy diet (Merron &
Lock 1998).
The inevitable conclusion to be drawn
from such work is that a utilitarian
argument for knowledge is open to
challenge on a number of fronts. In short,
an argument that does not justify science’s
claim to such a large slice of precious
curriculum time.
The economic argument
From this perspective, school science
provides a pre-professional training and
acts essentially as a sieve for selecting the
chosen few who will enter academic
science, or follow courses of vocational
training. The ‘wastage’ is justified by the
fact that the majority will ultimately benefit
from the material gains that the chosen
few will provide. The data on the skills and
proficiencies needed for the world of work,
however, raises some concerns with this
argument. In the most systematic and
comprehensive analysis of what scientists
or scientifically-based professionals do in
the UK, carried out by the Council of
Science and Technology Institutes (1993),
46 occupations where science was a main
part of the job (such as a medical
technician), or a critical part of their job
(such as a nurse) were itemised. Some 2.7
million people fell into these categories, a
figure which represents only 12% of the UK
work force. A further million people have
their work enhanced or aided by a
knowledge of science and technology.
Coles (1998) estimates that the needs of
this group represents, at most, a further
16% of the total UK workforce.
Coles’ analysis of scientists and their work,
their job specifications and other research
summarises the important components of
scientific knowledge and skills needed for
employment as:
12
there is little
evidence that
scientists
are any more or
less rational than
the rest of
humanity
SECTION 1
PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS
OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

• general skills
• knowledge of explanatory concepts
• scientific skills:
–application of explanatory concepts
–concepts of evidence
–manipulation of equipment
• habits of mind:
–analytical thinking
• knowledge of the context of
scientific work.
Coles’ data, collected from interviews with
a range of 68 practising scientists,
suggests that a knowledge of science is
only one component amongst many that
are needed for the world of work.
Furthermore, his data shows that
knowledge that they do need is quite
specific to the context in which they are
working. The scientists in this research, in
contrast to the need for specific content
knowledge, stressed the importance of the
skills of data analysis and interpretation;
and general attributes such as the capacity
to work in a team and an ability to
communicate fluently, both in the written
word and orally.
Yet these are aspects which are currently
undervalued by contemporary practice in
science education. Baldly stated, it would
suggest that even our future scientists
would be better prepared by a curriculum
that reduced its factual emphasis and
covered less but uncovered more of what it
means to practice science. Coles’ findings
suggest that the skills developed by
opportunities to conduct investigative
practical work, such as that required in the
UK – the ability to interpret, present and
evaluate evidence, the ability to manipulate
equipment, and an awareness of the
scientific approach to problems – are
outcomes which are to be valued as much
as any knowledge of the ‘facts’ of science.
The cultural argument
There is an argument that science is one
of the great achievements of our culture –
a shared heritage that forms the backdrop
to the language and discourse that
permeate our media, conversations and
daily life (Cossons 1993; Millar 1996). In a
contemporary context, where science and
technology issues increasingly permeate
the media (Pellechia 1997), this is a strong
argument, succinctly summarised by
Cossons. Essentially this view would
contend that the distinguishing feature of
modern Western societies is its scientific
and technological knowledge base which,
arguably, is the most significant feature of
our culture. And, in order to decode that
culture and enrich our participation –
including protest and rejection – an
appreciation/understanding of science
is desirable.
The implication of such a view is that
science education should be more of a
course in the appreciation of science,
developing an understanding not only of
what it means to do science, but of what a
hard-fought struggle and great
achievement such knowledge represents.
However, understanding the culture of
science requires some science history,
science ethics, science argument and
scientific controversy — with more
emphasis on the human dimension and
less emphasis on science as a body of
reified knowledge. In short, a reduction of
the factual emphasis with more emphasis
on the broad ‘explanatory themes’ that
science offers and the development of a
better understanding of a range of ‘ideas-
about-science’ (Millar & Osborne 1998).
13
the ability to
interpret,
present and
evaluate
evidence, the
ability to
manipulate
equipment, and
an awareness of
the scientific
approach to
problems
are to be valued

The democratic argument
The essence of this argument is that the
political and moral dilemmas posed by
contemporary society are increasingly of a
scientific nature. For instance, do we allow
cloning of human beings? Should we
prevent the sale of British beef? Should we
allow electricity to be generated by nuclear
power plants? Participation in such debate
requires some knowledge of science and
its social practices. However, as
disciplinary knowledge becomes
increasingly specialised and fragmented,
we become ever more reliant on expertise.
Social systems such as hospitals, railways,
and air travel gain a complexity beyond the
comprehension of any individual. Consider,
for instance, the number of individuals and
systems involved in ensuring the safe flight
of one aircraft between London and Paris.
In such a context, trust in expert systems
and their regulatory bodies is an essential
requirement in our faith that they will
function effectively (Giddens 1990).
Worryingly, though, the increasing reliance
on expertise undermines a basic tenet of
democratic societies that all citizens
should be able to participate in the process
of decision making. Yet, this is only likely if
individuals have at least a basic
understanding of the underlying science,
and can engage both critically and
reflectively in a public debate. As the
European Commission (1995) has argued:
“Clearly this does not mean turning
everyone into a scientific expert, but
enabling them to fulfill an enlightened role
in making choices, which affect their
environment and to understand in broad
terms the social implications of debates
between experts.” (p28)
Most contemporary scholarship would
argue that public debate about socio-
scientific issues would benefit if our future
citizens held a more critical attitude
towards science (Fuller 1998; Irwin 1995;
Norris 1997) – essentially one which,
whilst acknowledging the strengths of
science, also recognised its limitations and
ideological commitments. However, it is
difficult to see how this can be done by a
science education which offers no chance
to develop an understanding of how
scientists work, that fails to explore how it
is decided that any piece of scientific
research is ‘good’ science, and which, in
contrast to the controversy and uncertainty
that surrounds much contemporary
scientific research, offers a picture of
science as a body of knowledge which is
“unequivocal, uncontested and
unquestioned” (Claxton 1997).
SCIENCE EDUCATION FOR
THE 21ST CENTURY?
Faced with these competing functions,
science education is effectively caught
between a rock and a hard place, neither
fulfilling the task of educating the future
scientist nor the future citizen very well
(House of Commons Science & Technology
Committee 2002). What kind of science
education would be more appropriate to
the diverse needs of its students and the
expectations of society?
The radical view advanced in the influential
report, Beyond 2000: Science Education for
the Future, was that the needs of the
majority, who will not continue with formal
science education post-16, must be
foremost in formulating a curriculum.
For the majority of young people, the
5-16 science curriculum will be an
end-in-itself, which must provide both
a good basis for lifelong learning and a
14
SECTION 1
PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS
OF SCIENCE EDUCATION
understanding
the culture of
science requires
some science
history, science
ethics, science
argument and
scientific
controversy

preparation for life in a modern democracy
– essentially a course which aims to
develop ‘scientific literacy’. Its content
and structure must be justified in these
terms, and not as a preparation for
further, more advanced study.
This position is radical as, so far, all school
science curricula have been dominated by
the needs of the scientific community.
Thus the content of science A-levels has
been determined by the needs of university
undergraduate courses and, likewise, the
content of GCSE has been determined by
the requirements of A-level. Whilst it is
worth noting that the UK system is quite
successful at this form of education,
achieving high rankings on both the recent
TIMSS (Beaton et al 1996) and PISA
(Harlen 1999) international comparisons of
achievement in school science, the
substance of the case against the status
quo is that this form of education is not
appropriate to the needs of the majority.
Nevertheless, school science does need to
cater for those young people who choose
to pursue the formal study of science
beyond age 16. Meeting the heterogeneous
needs of young people requires a choice
amongst science curricula, as it does for
other personal and socially valuable
choices and interests, rather than a one-
size fits all homogeneous offering. In
short, the mantra of the science education
community ‘science for all’ does not mean
one science for all.
What kind of education would help our
future citizen to decide, for instance,
whether cloning of human cells should be
permitted? Gee (1996) argues that
becoming ‘literate’ means becoming
knowledgeable and familiar with the
discourse of the discipline. That is the
“words, actions, values and beliefs of
scientists”, their common goals and
activities and how they act, talk, and
communicate. Such knowledge has to be
acquired through exposure to the practices
of scientists and explicitly taught so that
children can become critically reflective.
Rather as learning a language requires
children to develop a knowledge of the
form, grammar and vocabulary, so
becoming scientifically literate would
require a knowledge of science’s major
explanatory themes, the reasons for belief
in at least some of its content and, in
particular, its uses and abuses.
The articulation of these ideas have been
developed first in the AS course Science
for Public Understanding (AQA 1999) and
its associated textbook (Hunt & Millar
2000). At the time of writing, it is this
course which is likely to form the
framework for the new GCSE ‘21st Century
Science’ (further details of which can be
found on http:// www.21stcenturyscience.
org/home/) which will be offered initially as
a pilot in 2003, and then universally to all
schools in 2005. Contrary to reports in the
press, this does not mean that it will be
compulsory, but merely one option
amongst several. Hence separate GCSEs
in the sciences will still be available as will
double science GCSEs. This innovative
course includes a single GCSE core aimed
at providing students with a ‘toolkit’ of
knowledge to help them make sense of the
modern world.
The AS course consists of two basic
components – a set of ideas about science
and a set of science explanations which
are taught through a set of teaching topics.
Fig 1 shows how these are interrelated.
The science explanations, which are the
major explanatory components underlying
much of science are:
15
future citizens
should hold a
more critical
attitude towards
science

• the particle model of chemical reactions
• the model of the atom
• radioactivity
• the radiation model of action
at a distance
• the field model of action at a distance
• the scale, origin and future of
the universe
• energy: its transfer, conservation
and dissipation
• cells as the basic unit of living things
• the germ model of disease
• the gene model of inheritance
• the theory of evolution by
natural selection
• the interdependence of living species.
Whilst such a list is open to contention, for
instance there is no treatment of the Earth
Sciences, it represents a list of the broad
themes that hopefully a young person
would carry away from their experience of
school science.
The ‘Ideas-about-Science’ component
consists of four sub-components which,
because of their relative unfamiliarity,
are listed in more detail in Table 1.
Evidence that it is an understanding of
these aspects of the processes and
practices of science that matter comes
from a series of studies conducted with the
public in different contexts, eg sheep
farmers resolving how to deal with field
contaminated from the fallout from
Chernobyl (Wynne 1996); parents of
Down’s syndrome children dealing with
16
the mantra of
the science
education
community
‘science for all’
does not mean
one science
for all
Fig 1: Diagram showing relationship between the teaching topics and the two major
themes of the Science for Public Understanding course – Science Explanations and
Ideas-about-Science
Science
Explanations
Cells
Germ
theory
Gene
model
Particle
model
Radiation
model
etc
Teaching
Topics
Infectious
diseases
Health
risks
Genetic
diseases
Fuels and the
global environment
etc
Ideas-about-
Science
Data and
explanations
Social influences
on S&T
Risk and risk
assessment
Causal
links
Decisions
about S&T
etc
SECTION 1
PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS
OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

the doctors (Layton et al 1993); the
community around Sellafield and their
attempts to understand the dangers posed
by radiation (Layton et al 1993). Much of
the implications of this work has been
well-articulated by Irwin (1995) in his book
Citizen Science. Further evidence comes
from interview studies conducted with
scientists and science educators by Abd-
el-Khalick and Lederman (2000), and a
Delphi study undertaken by Osborne et al
(2001). All of these latter studies show that
there is consensual agreement that what
might be termed a ‘vulgarised’ account of
the nature of science should form part of
the compulsory school science curriculum.
An evaluation of the AS Science for Public
Understanding Course conducted by
Osborne et al (2002) has shown that the
course has been successful in attracting
more girls than boys – a remarkable feat
for a course, which contains a large
component of physical science – and that
overwhelmingly students enjoy the course.
This can be seen a considerable
achievement in the light of the strong
negative reaction to much of GCSE science
(House of Commons Science & Technology
Committee 2002; Osborne & Collins 2000).
However, the course poses significant
pedagogical challenges for many teachers,
demanding a more extensive knowledge
base and requiring the use of unfamiliar
techniques such as the management of
small group discussion.
Thus, science education in the UK stands
poised to make the second fundamental
change in its nature. Having won the battle
that science education should be a
compulsory element of all children’s
17
the new
AS course
attracted
more girls
than boys
Theme Details
Data and The idea that any measurement always has an element of
Explanations uncertainty associated with it and that confidence is increased
with repetition and replication.
The idea that any experiment requires the identification and
control of variables.
That explanations require the use of creative thought and
invention to identify what are underlying causal relationships
between variables. Such explanations are often based on models
that cannot be observed.
That the goal of science is the elimination of alternative
explanations to achieve a single, consensually agreed account.
However, data shows only that a single explanation is false not
that it is correct. Nevertheless, our confidence in any explanation
increases if it offers predictions which are shown to be true.
All new explanations must undergo a process of critical scrutiny
and peer review before gaining wider acceptance.
Table 1: The components of ‘Ideas-about-Science’

18
Theme Details
Social Recognise that the focus of much research is influenced by the
Influences on concerns and interests of society and the availability of funding.
That scientists’ views and ideas may be influenced by their own
interests and commitments.
That the personal status of scientists and their standing in the
field is a factor which, wisely or not, is often used in the
judgement of their views and ideas.
Causal Links To recognise that many questions of interest do not have simple
or evident causal explanations. Rather, that much valuable
scientific work is based on looking for correlations and that such
a relationship does not imply a causal link.
To recognise that confidence in correlational links is dependent
on the size of the sample and its selection. Events with very low
frequency are particularly difficult to explain causally.
To recognise that eliminating causal factors for a correlational
link is highly problematic. Rather that much scientific work relies
on the identification of plausible mechanism between factors
which are correlated.
Risk and Risk To have a knowledge of different ways of expressing risk and an
Assessment awareness of the uncertainties associated with risk measurement.
To be aware that there is a variety of factors which impinge
on people’s assessment of risk.
That risk assessment is central to many of the decisions raised
by science in contemporary society.
Decisions about To recognise that whilst the application of science and technology
Science and has made substantial contributions to the quality of life of many
Technology people, there has been a set of unintended outcomes as well.
That technology draws on science in seeking solutions to human
problems. However, a distinction should be drawn between what
can be done and what should be done. Decisions about technical
applications are subject, therefore, to a host of considerations
such as technical feasibility, economic cost, environmental
impact and ethical considerations.
That certain groups or individuals may hold views based on
deeply held religious or political commitments and that the
tensions between conflicting views must be recognised and
addressed in considering any issue.
Science and
Technology
SECTION 1
PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS
OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

education, it is now attempting to develop
a curriculum which is appropriate for all.
The history of curriculum change is
undoubtedly strewn with all kinds of false
tracks and failures. The outcome of this
reform remains to be seen – but it is at
least attempting to steer the ship of
science education, which behaves more
like a supertanker than a dinghy, in a more
morally justifiable direction.
2THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION
THE USE OF ICT TO SUPPORT
SCIENCE TEACHING AND LEARNING
So far, this review has attempted to
summarise the differing perspectives of
the aims of science education and the
significant choices that have to be made of
what and how we teach. Currently, the
curriculum is still driven by the agenda of
the professional scientific community with
a well-established pedagogy which is
primarily based upon transmission of
predefined, value-free content knowledge.
However, the demands for change
embodied in new curricula such as 21st
Century Science will require teachers to
adapt and adopt a different set of
pedagogic practices. Its goal of fostering
‘scientific literacy’ involves developing a
knowledge not only of the broad
explanatory themes of science but also
of some of the discourse and practices of
scientists, including the processes of
theory construction, decision making
and communication, and the social
factors that influence scientists’ work,
albeit highly simplified.
Another force for pedagogic change in
science education is the new modes of
enquiry afforded by computer-based tools
and resources, now known collectively as
‘Information and Communication
Technologies’ (ICT). The advent of this
educational technology, and its more
widespread access in schools, potentially
has an important part to play in re-shaping
the curriculum and pedagogy of science. In
particular, it offers easy access to a vast
array of internet resources and other new
tools and resources that facilitate and
extend opportunities for empirical enquiry
both inside and outside the classroom.
Thus, in a very real sense, it offers
opportunities to dissolve the boundaries
that demarcate school science from
contemporary science by facilitating
access to a wide body of data, such as
real-time air pollution measurements,
epidemiological statistics, or providing
direct links to high quality astronomical
telescopes, and providing ready access to a
wealth of information about science-in-
the-making.
Access to such secondary resources and
data, however, places greater emphasis on
the need to provide a science education
which gives pre-eminence, as its ultimate
goal, to developing the higher order
cognitive skills of evaluation and
interpretation of evidence requiring critical
assessment of the validity of theories and
explanations. Such an education would
seek to support and develop students’
scientific reasoning, critical reflection and
analytic skills. What, then, is the potential
of using ICT to support and nurture such a
science education? In the following
sections of this review, we now examine
this potential – particularly that envisioned
by the current trend in science education
which seeks to develop scientific literacy.
We also explore the teacher’s role in
exploiting this potential, and the outcomes
19
another force
for change
in science
education is the
new modes of
enquiry afforded
by computer-
based tools
and resources
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

so far, concluding with a consideration of
the implications for further development.
The potential role of ICT in
transforming teaching and learning
Classroom use of ICT became a statutory
requirement in all subjects with the
introduction of a National Curriculum in
1989. This obligation has been somewhat
elaborated with successive curriculum
documents but its role is described in
broad terms, in the form of tentative notes
in the margins of the Science National
Curriculum (and a very brief outline within
the recent framework for Key Stage 3
science: DfES 2002a). Suggestions for
‘opportunities’ in the curriculum include
“pupils could use simulation software to
investigate and model circuits” and “pupils
could use data loggers to investigate
relationships” (DfEE/QCA 1999). Outline
schemes of work produced by the
QCA/DfEE (2000) for ages 11-14 provide
some further non-statutory suggestions
for using ICT.
The established model of using ICT to
support school science assumes an
iterative, investigative approach, as
embedded in the National Curriculum, and
incorporates simultaneous learning about
scientific theory and process (see Frost
et al 1994, for detailed examples of
classroom activities which exploit ICT
in this way).
The main forms of ICT which are relevant
to school science activity include:
Tools for data capture, processing
and interpretation
data logging systems, data analysis
software (eg ‘Insight’), databases and
spreadsheets (eg ‘Excel’), calculators,
graphing tools, modelling environments
Multimedia software
for simulation of processes and carrying
out ‘virtual experiments’ - CD-Roms, DVDs
(eg ‘Science Investigations 1’, ‘Chemistry
Set’, ‘Multimedia Library for Science’)
Information systems
CD-Roms (eg ‘Encarta’), internet, intranet
Publishing and presentation tools
(eg ‘Word’, ‘PowerPoint’)
Digital recording equipment – still and
video cameras
Computer projection technology
interactive whiteboards, data projector +
screen, external monitor or TV
The first category of tools – those which
can support practical activities or
‘scientific enquiry’ – is currently the most
significant form of ICT application for
science teaching and learning (Barton
2002). Its centrepiece is the data logging
system, comprising a set of sensors or
probes to convert the quantity to be
measured (eg temperature, light level,
humidity, sound, time, position,
acceleration, pH, oxygen, current, energy)
into a voltage recognisable by the
computer; an interface to pass information
from sensors to computer; and a computer
program to control the interface and
presentation of data on the screen.
Sensors can be used remotely for
collecting data over time from outside the
laboratory, for example for monitoring
weather. The versatility of the data logging
system means that it can be used within a
range of activities to support any of the
substantive curriculum areas of study
(life processes, materials, physical
processes) as well as the processes
of scientific enquiry.
20
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

Data handling tools (generic or task-
specific) allow pupils to tabulate pre-
stored data or that derived from computer
logging or practical experiments; carry out
calculations using built-in formulae; sort,
search and graph/chart data; generate
new datasets. Spreadsheets and modelling
environments are particularly useful for
both static and dynamic modelling of
physical phenomena; in the first case,
changing a variable in the model (eg
driver’s reaction time) generates a new
output (eg vehicle stopping distance), and
in the second, an iterative calculation
models a system (eg harmonic motion) as
a function of time, while initial parameters
(eg amplitude) can be varied. Specific
modelling environments (eg for exploring
generational trends in predator-prey
relationships) handle complex
mathematical principles more readily than
spreadsheets. Pupils can also use these
tools to predict and test theories,
constructing their own models and then
employing them in their investigations.
The latest generation of data logging
software provides a common interface for
comparing logging- and model-generated
data (Rogers 2002b).
Multimedia software may include video
and audio explanatory sequences,
animated graphics, tutorials or interactive
tasks, slide shows and/or an interactive
database/encyclopaedia (simulations most
frequently concern the solar system, the
human body, the periodic table and
physical forces). Some contain innovative
analytic software which renders the
simulated motion interactive and
quantifiable; pupils can, therefore,
manipulate variables (eg changing
temperature or the mass of a moving
object) or mark points and then process
the data either by calculation or display in
graphical form (see Wellington, in press,
for details). Some multimedia CD-Roms
also offer a virtual microscope enabling
pupils to see exactly what they should see
through a real microscope.
Information systems are typically used to
support conceptual learning in the three
substantive curriculum areas. Intranets
storing a limited range of web content on a
local network server are increasingly being
used to provide an information resource
which is safer, more quickly accessible and
pre-filtered compared to the internet.
Word processing can support an iterative
approach to planning or analysis and
presentation tools can be used to present
findings of research or investigations in
any topic area. A further kind of tool is the
computer-controlled microscope where
still, moving or time-lapse images can be
captured, labelled, enlarged etc and used
in conjunction with laboratory or field work
(eg for live dissection of a micro-organism
such as a seed, or analysis of pond life).
Increasingly popular are multi-purpose
digital still and video cameras. These can
supply images for incorporation in
teaching materials/presentations, or
experiments can be recorded by pupils
themselves. Finally, projection technology
has become central to science education;
access is rapidly increasing and it can be
used with any of the other tools for whole
class interaction – demonstration,
lecturing, or collating and discussing class
results. Interactive whiteboards are a
special case and can encourage new forms
of active student participation in science
activities, as discussed later on.
Other common modes of using ICT include
using a single computer or data logger
with a small group (eg as part of a ‘circus’
of rotated activities in the lab or for
21

entering experimental results into a
spreadsheet); half a class using a few
machines (the other half might use
conventional resources and compare
results); a whole class using a computer
suite or set of portable computers in the
laboratory; and independent use (at home
or in the school library/resource area).
Certain learning purposes and resource
levels clearly lend themselves more to
certain modes of use (Wellington, in press),
and use of particular tools is associated
with certain pupil learning modes, eg
receiver or revisor of knowledge, explorer
of ideas, creator of reports/presentations
(Newton & Rogers 2001, ch3).
Where’s the ‘C’ aspect of ICT in this? For
example, video conferencing? Or e-mail?
Or linking schools/children/scientists
together to discuss? Or ‘mass’
experiments linking numbers of different
computers together? There are examples
of these activities, some highlighted below,
and they are directly relevant to the
arguments in the first section of the review.
Drawing on some prominent examples of
recent research, we now examine how the
above forms of ICT can potentially enhance
both the practical and theoretical aspects
of science teaching and learning, and
explore the uses of ICT in the school
laboratory 1. In particular, two recent books
– one by Newton and Rogers (2001) and an
edited collection by Barton (in press-b) –
offer an overview of the field as well as
extensive practical guidance to teachers
wanting to develop their practice in
teaching with ICT. We also make use of
ongoing research by the second author
and her colleagues which is concerned
with analysing and documenting effective
ways of using ICT to support subject
teaching at secondary level2. In
conjunction with the wider research
literature, the findings converge on the
following conceptualisation of the potential
contribution of technology use to science
teaching and learning (throughout the five
Key Stages of primary and secondary
schooling).
Expediting and enhancing
work production; release from
laborious processes
The use of ICT, particularly tools for data
handling and graphing, can speed up and
effect working processes, notably the more
arduous and routine components. This
frees pupils from spending time setting up
experiments, taking complex measure-
ments, tabulating data, drawing graphs by
hand, and executing multiple or difficult
calculations. It enables rapid plotting of
diverse variables within a short period, or
collection of and comparison between a
larger number of results (including
merging of results from different classes).
Hence it is possible to significantly
increase the productivity of pupils within a
single lesson and improving the quality
of work they produce (Ruthven et al,
submitted). Using the versatile software
tools which are now linked to data logging
is particularly helpful in allowing pupils to
explore and present data in different ways
with a low investment of time and effort
(Newton 2000). Such tools free
experimentation from the time constraints
of the standard one-hour lesson, allowing
data to be collected over several days, or
even several weeks. Interactive computer
simulation can help pupils to avoid getting
‘bogged down’ with the mechanics of
simply setting up equipment, for example
constructing and testing a circuit where
the proliferation of wires involved can
make it difficult to see what is happening,
and minor faults in physical connection
can pose a complete impediment.
22
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

ICT-supported procedures are not only
faster and more efficient, but are also
considered more precise, reliable and
accurate. They yield less ‘messy’ data and
illustrate phenomena without the ‘noise’ of
unwanted variables and human error in
measurement – in contrast with some
practical experiments! Digital still and
video cameras can offer high quality
images of fieldwork sites, practical
demonstrations or experiments. Finally,
interactive worksheets can incorporate
diagrams and text created in other
applications. This saves time and improves
accuracy by removing the need for
students to copy them by hand before
using them for conceptual activities
(Hitch 2000). The worksheets can include
automatic ‘hyperlinks’ allowing rapid
access to pre-selected information on the
internet or in an encyclopaedic database
such as ‘Encarta’. Interactive whiteboards
offer similar facilities and the ability for the
teacher in a whole class situation to move
instantly between multiple kinds of
prepared resources stored on a single
computer or network.
Conflicting opinions arise regarding
whether time for discussion and reflection
upon activity can be easier or more
difficult to find when using ICT, but a ‘time
bonus’ is commonly reported. Teaching
with ICT is said to offer more time for
teacher interaction and intervention with
pupils and greater sharing of class results,
permitting more time for pupils to observe,
think and analyse rather than being pre-
occupied by gathering and processing data
(Barton 1997; Finlayson & Rogers 2003).
Thus, in this sense, ICT does create the
space to develop the kinds of analytical
skills demanded of contemporary science
education. Moreover, in conjunction with
prompt teacher intervention, real-time
data display can be a powerful stimulus for
discussion and interpretation, particularly
where large sample sizes are involved, or
complex interactions between a number of
variables may be evident. Real-time data
display also enables the teacher to
demonstrate instantly the link between an
event and its formal representation. For
example, the ability to produce graphs of
the motion of objects as it happens
strengthens the association between
the phenomenon and its scientific
representation.
To conclude, the use of ICT changes the
relative emphasis of scientific skills and
thinking; for example, by diminishing the
mechanical aspects of collecting data and
plotting graphs – particularly beneficial for
low ability pupils – while enhancing the
use of graphs for interpreting data,
spending more time on observation and
focused discussion, and developing
investigative and analytic skills (Hennessy
1999; McFarlane & Friedler 1998; Rogers,
in press-b; Rogers & Wild 1996). Research
also suggests that using computer
modelling and simulation allows learners
to understand and investigate far more
complex models and processes than they
can in a school laboratory setting (eg
review by Cox 2000; Linn 1999; Mellar et al
1994).
23
1See June 2003 issue of School Science Review on the use of ICT in science teaching.
2The findings of a series of departmental group interviews (Hennessy et al, submitted; Ruthven et al, submitted) and
classroom observational case studies (Deaney & Ruthven, in preparation; Hennessy et al 2003) are drawn upon here. Also
contributory is a current ESRC-funded project investigating pedagogy for effective use of ICT in science and mathematics.

Increasing currency and scope
of reference and experience
Use of ICT, especially the internet, can
open up access to a broader range of up-
to-date tools and information resources,
and increase the currency and authenticity
of schoolwork far beyond that which
textbooks and other resources can offer. It
allows pupils to relate their work more
closely to the outside world – to obtain live
news or real data, for example concerning
an earthquake. Pupils can even ask
questions of ‘real’ scientists, or collaborate
or pool results with peers elsewhere.
A topical example of reported use was
accessing the Roslin Institute website
during a research project on the cloning
of ‘Dolly’ the sheep. Likewise the
TERC Centre in Cambridge, Mass.
(www.terc.edu) coordinates a wide
range of projects linking schools to each
other and to professional scientists. A
prominent example is the GLOBE project
(www.globe.gov) involving 12,000 schools
collaborating with a community of
scientists to collect, analyse, validate and
interpret shared research data concerning
climate change. Such exploration of
pressing global questions promotes
students’ awareness of environmental
issues and the Earth as a dynamic system.
A further example is the Jason Project
(www.jasonproject.org), a series of real-life
and real-time internet-based science
explorations designed for students who
can engage with the work of research
scientists exploring the geology and
biology of dynamic and eco-systems
throughout the planet.
Contact with wider ideas can extend high
ability pupils and is perceived to increase
opportunities for learning beyond that
anticipated by the teacher or prescribed by
the curriculum. One recent application, a
CD-Rom called ‘Ideas and Evidence’, uses
ICT to raise pupils’ awareness of the
uncertainties which surround the
construction of scientific knowledge,
especially the validity and consequences of
different scientists producing different
results and interpretations. This tool can
be used to support role play and group
discussions of topical social and ethical
issues, including media bias and
oversimplification in presenting science
news stories (eg concerning health
scares such as BSE or mobile phone
transmissions). Tools like this may,
therefore, support teachers in rising to the
new pedagogical challenges emerging as
the curriculum begins to shift.
Using ICT can provide access to new forms
of data previously unavailable. Data logging
can offer measurements of transient
phenomena, remote and long term
monitoring and increased sensitivity; for
example, it is commonly used to measure
the speed of a moving object by measuring
the time taken to pass through a light gate
and combining this with manual
measurement of its stopping distance.
Using ICT further allows teachers and
pupils to observe or interact with
simulations, animations or phenomena in
novel ways that may be too dangerous,
complex or expensive for the school
laboratory. Use of a data logger can
facilitate otherwise impossible
demonstrations, such as measuring
energy transfer as a hot liquid cools.
Digital video capture offers an alternative
to data logging; repeated and slow motion
playback allows phenomena which are
difficult for a whole class to view, or events
otherwise too slow (eg plant growth) or
fast (eg sound waves or the behaviour of
24
ICT may support
teachers in
rising to the
new pedagogical
challenges
emerging as the
curriculum
begins to shift
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

two different masses dropped from the
same height), to be captured. The internet
also offers some unique opportunities for
pupils to experience phenomena such as
viewing the Earth from a moving satellite.
A particularly accessible and popular way
of exploiting the power of visual
representations to develop understanding
– particularly of abstract phenomena like
electricity flow – is the direct use of video
clips from interactive simulation CD-
Roms. Examples include ‘seeing’ an
electron going around a nucleus or a white
cell ingesting bacteria, simulating launch
of a space shuttle, and rotating a 3D
model of molecules and atoms in motion.
Another multimedia tool is the ‘Interactive
Microscope Laboratory’ (Baggott & Nichol
1998), which facilitates active investigation
of the sub-optical living world (eg
measurement of the heart rate of a water
flea) through simulating the functionality of
advanced microscopy. Virtual reality ‘field’
trips (eg to remote animal habitats) and
surrogate walks (eg through a rainforest)
are beginning to offer further possibilities
which other local resources cannot
provide. Interactions with virtual
phenomena can be repeated as often as
necessary for the learner – impossible
during a live practical.
Supporting exploration
and experimentation
The use of graphing or modelling tools
provides dynamic, visual representations of
data collected electronically or otherwise.
Like the interactive simulations described
above, use of these tools offers immediate
feedback to pupils, and introduces a more
experimental, playful style in which trends
are investigated and ideas are tested and
refined. Through providing an immediate
link between an activity and its results, the
likelihood is increased that pupils will
relate the graphical or diagrammatical
representation of relationships to the
activity itself. In particular, the key
pedagogical technique of Predict – Observe
– Explain 3is greatly facilitated through
viewing a graph or model on screen soon
after making a prediction.
Rapid data presentation and interactive
computer models representing a scientific
phenomenon or idea not only provide
immediate opportunities for study and
analysis; they can also encourage pupils to
pose exploratory (“what if…”) questions
and to pursue these by conducting follow-
up activities (Barton 1998; Finlayson &
Rogers 2003; Newton 2000; Wardle, in
press). Immediate display of experimental
results in a simple spreadsheet template
can even guide the course of data
collection through structuring their
subsequent actions and predictions about
the related variables (for instance when
investigating heat loss and surface
area/volume ratios). The facility to overlay
several graphs can encourage further
prediction and, where hypotheses need to
be reassessed, more, perhaps different
data, can be collected and processed
quickly. Thus, the provisional, interactive
and dynamic nature of ICT tools such as
spreadsheets supports this iterative
approach to learning (ibid). Another
example is the use of simulation software
for building and testing circuits. Whereas
circuit diagrams on paper are static and
give no feedback, using ICT can enable
25
ICT can provide
access to new
forms of data
previously
unavailable
3This technique is valuable because it forces the student to hypothesise, drawing on their existing knowledge about what they
think the outcome of an investigation will be, eg which will fall faster – a penny or a brick). Having observed the
phenomenon and the outcome (they both fall at the same rate), it forces them to re-evaluate their own knowledge.

pupils to visualise what happens if
components are connected wrongly and
learn from their mistakes.
Focusing on overarching issues
The interactive and dynamic nature of tools
such as simulations, data analysis
software and graphing technologies can be
influential in: allowing pupils to visualise
processes more clearly and derive
qualitative or numeric relationships
between relevant variables; focusing
attention on overarching issues; increasing
salience of underlying features of
situations and abstract concepts, (eg
current and voltage in the circuit example);
helping students to access ideas more
quickly and easily, to formulate new ideas
and transfer them between contexts. In
particular, a graph evolving in real time
actually serves to focus pupils’ attention on
the screen and thus on the behaviour of
the data, especially where it is unexpected
(Barton 1998). Contemporary analysis
software which integrates table, chart,
graph and model display allows seamless
interchange – and hence conceptual
linking – between them (Rogers 2002b).
Thus, computer analytic facilities are
advantageous over manual methods in
allowing a more holistic and qualitative
approach to pupil analysis of trends and
relationships between variables in a graph
rather than individual data points (Barton
1997). Using ICT to support practical
investigation can in fact help pupils to
experience the entire process as holistic
and cyclical, whereas time constraints on
conventional laboratory work tend to
isolate – and hence obscure the links
between – planning, practical work,
writing up and evaluation (Baggott la
Velle et al 2003).
We saw above how use of ICT could
facilitate or automate subsidiary tasks –
typically those involving routine data
handling, calculating and graphing.
However, freeing users to give their
attention to more overarching matters is
not an automatic process. In order to
understand what an experiment is all
about, pupils also need to appreciate the
fundamental nature of the procedures
being carried out by the computer, for
example so that they grasp that a data
logging activity is using a probe like a
thermometer, measuring temperature
over time. The pivotal role of the teacher
in this is discussed later.
Fostering self-regulated
and collaborative learning
ICT is infinitely more than a surrogate
tutor; its use for exploratory and
experimental purposes offers teachers a
powerful means of stimulating active
learning and it offers learners more
responsibility and control. Pupils carrying
out research or practical activity using ICT
may work more (but not completely)
independently of the teacher. To develop
the concepts central to science teaching
and to counter intuitive conceptions, pupils
need to think for themselves.
“Their ideas need to be made explicit and
challenged by new experiences. ICT tools
have great potential to encourage this style
of learning… Software can present many
choices and alternatives to the pupil,
providing an interactive experience which
is well suited to individual exploration.”
(Rogers, in press-b, p2)
It is worth noting that ‘independence’ does
not mean pupils working alone. Peer
collaboration between students working
26
using ICT to
support practical
investigation can
help pupils to
experience the
entire process as
holistic and
cyclical
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

together on tasks, sharing their knowledge
and expertise, and producing joint
outcomes is becoming a prevalent model
for the use of educational technology. This
is partly because lack of hardware
resources means that machines are often
shared. However, a growing body of
research evidence has accumulated for the
cognitive benefits of technology-supported
collaborative learning (eg O'Malley 1995);
teachers too perceive that using ICT offers
a stimulus and a medium for discussion
between pupils. Note, however, that
teachers themselves play a critical role in
fostering, supporting and sensitively man-
aging pupil collaboration as an effective
vehicle for subject learning (Hennessy &
Murphy 1999; Scrimshaw 1997).
There are a few examples of where self-
regulated use can play a part in actually
structuring pupil thinking, shaping activity
and broadening knowledge. For instance,
graphing technology can act as a cognitive
prop, provoking spontaneous investigations
of relationships between variables or
between numerical data and graphs, which
would never be worthwhile manually.
Another example is the CSILE/Knowledge
Forum, a collaborative, networked learning
environment whose use enabled a scientific
‘learning community’ of Canadian primary
pupils working in small groups to design,
execute and report their own experiments
and research activities, and to generate
and engage in depth with meaningful
research questions and complex problems
– the natural progression of their ideas
determining the curriculum sequence
(Caswell & Bielaczyc 2001; Caswell &
Lamon 1999). They also consulted expert
scientists, acting not merely as recipients
of their knowledge, but sharing their own
knowledge, theories and predictions, and
critically examining these.
Future development in using ICT within
school science may perhaps take a similar
collective approach to knowledge building.
These examples illustrate how the
introduction of ICT has the potential to
change the way in which scientific inquiry
is perceived. When learners using ICT
encounter and accept a rebalancing of the
benefits and constraints of inquiry, this
typically results in some modification of
their investigative strategies. Similarly,
existing cultural practices and values
realted to inquiry, and the proficiencies of
pupils in regulating their own learning and
in exploiting new forms of digital
technology, can affect how effectively
ICT will be used.
Improving motivation and engagement
Related to all of the above are the well-
documented motivational effects of using
ICT, which seems to be intrinsically more
interesting and exciting to pupils than
using other resources (eg Cox 1997;
Deaney et al, in press). ICT offers the
opportunity to greatly enhance the quality
of presentation, incorporating the use of
movement, light, sound and colour rather
than static text and images, which is
attractive and more authentic. Above all,
using ICT can increase pupils’ persistence
and participation through enhancing the
appeal of laboratory activity, not only in
terms of novelty and variety, but by
providing immediate, accurate results and
reducing the laboriousness of work. Pupils
are also observed to be more motivated to
participate in science activity and
discussion when using tools such as
interactive whiteboards, modelling and
simulations which permit active
engagement and offer pupils a degree of
control over their own learning.
27
‘independence’
does not mean
pupils working
alone

ICT USE AND PEDAGOGY4–
AN INEXTRICABLE LINK
Just as when using any other tool, certain
features of the socio-cultural setting in
which ICT is used are highly influential5.
These diverse influences include the
nature and purpose of the activity, age
and ability of pupils, their degree of
participation, curriculum requirements,
wider educational and political agendas,
etc. Teachers’ established pedagogic
approaches need to adapt accordingly.
The teacher plays a critical role in creating
the conditions conducive for learning
through selecting and evaluating
appropriate technological resources and
designing, structuring, sequencing,
supporting and monitoring learning
activities using ICT (eg Scrimshaw 1993;
Selinger 2001). It is that role which is
explored in this section.
The first issue to be tackled is whether to
use ICT at all. There is a shared concern
among educators that use of ICT in the
teaching and learning of any subject needs
to be appropriate, discerning and oriented
towards the learning goals of the subject
itself 6. Teachers are understandably
resistant to the notion of ‘bolting on’ ICT to
the curriculum or using it simply because
it is available or its use is encouraged or
expected. Rather, they perceive that
selective use, which ‘adds value’ to
learning activities, is essential.
Potential software needs to be evaluated
for the suitability of its content to the
science curriculum, its intended level of
use, and scope for differentiation according
to pupils’ needs. Quality of video clips and
animations, and their potential for
misleading pupils, need to be assessed.
According to Rogers (in press-b), if the
learning objective lies in conceptual
development, the software should support
investigative activity and foster analytical
and divergent thinking. Wellington (in
press) extends this role to include
encouraging problem solving, modelling,
classifying, sorting, questioning, pattern
finding, data exploring, researching,
groupwork and out of class work.
A critical constraint on adoption of ICT is
that it must fit with teachers’ existing
conceptions of pedagogy. The interim
report of a major British evaluation,
ImpaCT2 7, indicated that ‘relatively few
teachers are integrating ICT into subject
teaching in a way that motivates pupils and
enriches learning or stimulates higher-
level thinking and reasoning’ (p14). As
other studies have detected, these few
tended to be teachers who already had
an innovative pedagogic outlook.
Niederhauser and Stoddart (2001), and a
prominent study of primary teachers by
Moseley et al (1999), found that teachers
choose ICT applications, activities and
approaches to fit their own perspectives
on teaching and learning. Rogers (2002a)
observed that limited resources (an oft
28
future
developments in
using ICT within
school science
may take a
collective
approach to
knowledge
building
4The term ‘pedagogy’ denotes the complex relations between teacher, learning context, subject knowledge, purposes,
teacher’s view of enhancing learning, selection of learning and assessment activities, learning about learning, and learner
characteristics such as age and knowledge (Watkins & Mortimore, 1999).
5Thus research which aims to isolate the role of ICT in raising attainment (on standardised assessment measures) is not
reviewed here; McFarlane (2001) discusses the complex issues involved in this endeavour.
6For example, the framework for Key Stage 3 science provides a checklist for appropriate use (DfES 2002a, p47).
7ImpaCT2 is a DFES/Becta large-scale longitudinal study of ICT and student attainment across the curriculum:
www.becta.org.uk/impact2.
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

cited complaint) were less of an obstacle to
teachers’ use of ICT than the science
teachers’ reluctance to abandon their
existing pedagogy.
Before they will use ICT, teachers have to
first recognise the potential benefits of
computer-supported science teaching and
learning, and its specific role in meeting
their classroom aspirations (Barton, in
press-a). Successful integration of ICT
depends then on development of an
appropriate pedagogy – which is best
begun with incorporation and adaptation
within teachers’ conventional practice, and
then going beyond it. The collegiality
evident in science departments strongly
influences individual teachers’ develop-
ment, and colleagues who exemplify and
share good pedagogy in teaching with ICT
make a valuable contribution (Finlayson et
al 2002). However, evidence would suggest
that only if ICT provides activities (rather
than mere ‘opportunities’) with a clear and
concrete curriculum focus which support
and enhance learning will its use be
initially adopted and integrated into
departmental schemes of work and all
teachers’ lessons.
Using ICT to support self-regulated
learning does not diminish the importance
of the science teacher, but it clearly
challenges their beliefs to some extent. A
major constraint is prevailing classroom
practice which clashes with the culture of
student exploration, collaboration, debate
and interactivity within which much
technology-supported activity is said to
take place (Schofield 1995). For instance,
Ruthven et al (submitted) noted a marked
lack of reference by science teachers to
trialling and refinement of ideas with ICT
(compared to English and mathematics
teachers). This may be a consequence of
their tendencies both to pre-structure
investigations (seeking a single outcome
such as verification of a known
relationship) and to treat writing as a
means of recording results rather than
forming or evaluating ideas. It reflects a
culture uneasy with ‘uncertainty’, and a
pedagogy correspondingly emphasising
coverage of content over development of
reasoning (Donnelly 1999). It also reflects a
tendency toward a didactic, whole class
teaching approach which may simply
subsume the computer (and/or interactive
whiteboard) by using it mainly for
demonstration. The outcome is that, so far,
the potential for using ICT to support
exploration and experimentation has not
been exploited by the majority of teachers.
Current pedagogy does not draw
extensively on the well-established
literature on pupils’ prior conceptions and
experiences (Driver et al 1985; Osborne
1985), nor on the more recent literature on
the significance of small group discussion
to learning (Kuhn 1993; Mercer & Wegerif
1999). Nor does it appreciate the
importance of making prior conceptions
and implicit reasoning explicit so as to
highlight any inconsistency – either with
simulated phenomena or between
conflicting theories, which can co-exist
within children’s own minds. In such a
context, computer simulations do need
then to present viable and convincing
alternatives to children’s everyday beliefs
if their thinking is to move on (Hennessy
et al 1995).
In summary, using ICT in limited and
constrained ways can curtail the potential
offered by ICT for learning science and
developing the skills required by
contemporary curricula. To progress,
teachers need not only to evaluate
29
computer
simulations
need to present
viable and
convincing
alternatives
to children’s
everyday beliefs

critically the benefits of using ICT – both
beforehand and afterwards – but they need
deliberate strategies to mediate the
interactions between pupils and
technology; these they are beginning to
develop, as elaborated in what follows.
Structuring activity and supporting
active, reflective learning
Learners and teachers using ICT are often
portrayed as creators, collaborators and
decision makers (Loveless et al 2001), yet
overly mechanical uses of ICT can obstruct
the process of learning. The automaticity
of processes previously carried out by hand
which ICT offers can hinder reflection,
analysis and understanding of the
underlying scientific processes. Science
teachers are concerned, for example, that
pupils may use technology to produce
many different kinds of graphs and bar
charts, or to collect data automatically,
without actually understanding what is
represented.
The term ‘interactive’ (commonly applied
to internet, CD-Roms, DVD) needs a
particular note of caution. Digital
technology has rendered many forms of
information more provisional and fluid, ie
open to intervention and improvement by
learners. However some technologies
actually provide little opportunity for
exploration and manipulation of underlying
models. Even those that provide more can
be used to reinforce existing didactic
approaches (teacher as knowledge
provider) and perpetuate laborious or
routinised learning (Ellis 2001).
Genuine interactivity requires active
learner contribution and engagement, ie
an element of reflection on choices and
their effects, and it may include prediction,
trial and evaluation (Rogers, in press-b).
‘Open’ simulations and modelling software
support this engagement by offering
students significant choices of variables
and types of data generation (within an
experimental range or with a randomised
element), whereas ‘closed’ simulations
concentrate on concept development
through demonstrating an idealised
system (McFarlane & Sakellariou 2002).
They absolve the student from any
responsibility for the investigative aspects
– planning, design, data collection
and display.
Although development of pupils’
investigative skills is a key objective of
science activity, use of software such as
interactive simulations here is in its
infancy. There are some exceptions which
offer pupils a significant degree of control
in manipulating variables themselves.
For instance, ‘open’ genetics simulation
software can be used to substitute for
complex selective breeding operations over
several generations. Multimedia
simulations clearly illustrate the effects of
processes such as dissolving, diffusion or
bonding atoms and can foster exploration
of rates of reaction, or properties of solids,
liquids and gases. Many simulation and
modelling activities involve the learner
‘exploring’ someone else’s ideas, however,
rather than expressing or evaluating their
own (Mellar & Bliss 1994).
Simulations, models and virtual
experiments are a particular danger zone
in that they represent ‘cleaned-up’
versions of the complex and messy real
world. These are helpful in focusing
attention on particular abstract concepts
or isolating variables, which are normally
combined. However there is some
indication that pupils attribute a great deal
30
the teacher's
role is critical in
structuring tasks
and interventions
in ways which
prompt pupils
using ICT to
think about
underlying
concepts and
relationships
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

of authority to the computer and may
develop misconceptions by taking
animations and images of abstract
concepts too literally (Wellington, in press).
A key example is the creation of a
frictionless virtual world; while this can be
powerful in many ways, reflection upon
experience of both the natural world and
the simulation is an essential pre-cursor
to exploring pupils’ conceptual difficulties
and dealing with their general disbelief in
simulations (Hennessy & O'Shea 1993).
Teacher intervention in this and similar
contexts needs to investigate and
challenge pupils’ own ideas, and use
discussion to move them towards a
consensual model of understanding (ibid,
Wardle, in press).
More generally, the teacher’s role is
critical in structuring tasks and
interventions in ways which prompt pupils
using ICT to think about underlying
concepts and relationships. For example,
pupils using graphing software first need
to understand the nature of the data and
how to make an appropriate choice of
graph type from those on offer. Then they
can appreciate the significance of graph
shape, describe the behaviour of variables,
compare sets of data, make predictions,
and so on. With simulated experiments
and measuring tools, they need a rationale
for purposeful investigations, controlling
variables, fair testing and so on. Pupils
will, ideally, then move on to planning their
own tasks and asking their own questions
(Rogers, in press-b). With data logging, it is
important to encourage pupils to remain
active while the machine is collecting data,
using the ‘time bonus’ purposefully to
think critically about and discuss the
experiment in more depth. The teacher can
probe pupils about issues such as whether
it is a fair test, what they expect to happen,
what controls would be useful, etc.
(Newton 2000).
The teacher’s mediating role is also
important in the context of pupils’
interactions with multimedia simulations
of scientific processes, especially where
these are ‘closed’. The following account
illustrates how a skilful teacher exploits
the power of a biology simulation, using it
to stimulate questioning for investigation
and requiring pupils to discuss and reflect
on the underlying processes in some
depth:
“You can actually… see a red blood cell
squeezing its way through a capillary and
see it in action, and you can discuss what
is actually happening here, what is it going
through… why not just go through the
biggest route, what's the reason that the
red blood cells have to be routed through
these capillaries? What's it doing as you
are watching it that you can't see? What's
being picked up? What liquid is it in?”
(From Hennessy et al, submitted)
Such experiences, coupled with enough
time for discussion, analysis and reflection,
provide valuable opportunities for
enriching learning.
Retaining some use of manual processes
is a necessary strategy for tackling
perceived problems concerning the
automaticity of some forms of ICT (and for
meeting examination needs). Examples
from teacher reports include using an
ordinary thermometer and drawing graphs
and lines of ‘best fit’ by hand – although
well known conceptual and physical
difficulties in drawing these may both
reflect and reinforce misconceptions since
inaccurate representations can lead to
erroneous interpretations (Barton 1997;
31

Hennessy 1999). Using a manual system of
data recording can be perceived as
allowing pupils to see and understand
what is going on more easily. However,
experience shows that manual data
recording can also be a mechanical
process (Barton 1998). Whether it is with
ICT or by hand, the teacher’s skill in
constructing tasks and making
interventions which highlight the
meaning underlying the data collected
is the crucial factor.
Developing an investigative approach
As pupils’ roles become more autonomous,
teachers need to decrease their overt
direction and instead facilitate information
finding and development of understanding,
for example by providing sufficient
opportunities for experimentation. The
teacher role is emerging as one of
prompting pupils with the aim of
encouraging them to reason for
themselves, to ask lots of questions about
the data, and to find their own solutions
and interpretations, rather than giving
these directly. Rogers & Wild (1996, p143)
suggest that:
“Pupils might be encouraged to compare
sets of data; they can look at each other’s
graphs, discuss the differences and
similarities or compare their graph with
that of sample data. Hopefully… they might
take a broader view of what constitutes
relevant and useful information.”
Rogers (in press-b) points out that pupils
using an investigative approach to practical
science already need ‘to question, plan,
design, decide, predict, observe, measure,
record, draw conclusions and generally
think for themselves’. Complementary to
these investigative pupil skills are
facilitatory teacher strategies; the most
effective strategies highlighted by Millar et
al in the EPSE study 8were asking open
questions, supporting small group
discussion of ideas and evidence, and
focusing on ‘how’ rather than ‘what’ we
know. These kinds of pupil and teacher
skills are just as pertinent and important
when using ICT, but crucial interactions
and lesson aims can be undermined by
technical problems with equipment.
Nevertheless, technological advances in
both hardware and software have widened
access to ICT and reduced the level of
operational skill required. Furthermore,
user-friendliness and connectivity are
expected to improve further in future so
that developing the necessary operational
skills should no longer hinder subject
learning (Rogers, in press-a). However,
observation indicates that technical
difficulties and time-consuming
troubleshooting remain a reality for
teachers – and for many, a significant
impediment to using ICT.
In such a context, the need for constructive
learning-focused interventions (as opposed
to technology focused) becomes even more
apparent, and according to Rogers, these
include:
• building on what pupils have
learnt already
• prompting pupils to make links between
observations or some other knowledge
• helping to avoid ‘early closure’ of
pupils’ own discussion
32
8The Evidence-based Practice in Science Education (EPSE) network worked with 11 science teachers over a
year to develop approaches and resources for teaching Key Stage 2-4 pupils about the nature of science
(www.york.ac.uk/depts/educ/projs/EPSE).
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

• prompting pupils to make a prediction
and compare it with actuality
• helping to interpret the implications
for science.
These and other forms of teacher guidance
can be used in the context of focused
enquiry to support a strategic balance
between carefully structured activity and a
degree of pupil responsibility for regulating
their own learning. Achieving this balance
is particularly important for research-
based activity, as discussed in what
follows.
Focusing research tasks for pupils
While the internet offers more up-to-date
and wide-ranging information, freedom
and excitement for students, the
information they obtain from open-ended
‘surfing’ is generally less focused, less
age-appropriate, less ability-specific, and
less reliable than that from other sources
(including CD-Roms), where information
has been carefully checked and pre-
filtered. Research activity therefore needs
to be channelled and goal-directed in
order to be productive, especially for low
ability pupils. Setting clear parameters –
and even time limits – for electronic
searches, and pre-selecting websites
helps pupils to obtain more useful,
accessible, focused and relevant
information.
In practice it is difficult to obtain a balance
between being over-directive (providing
more security but limiting imagination,
decreasing motivation and risking similar
task outcomes) and under-directive
(providing opportunity for independent
learning but risking floundering due to
pupils’ confusion about task requirements);
both scenarios are sometimes observed.
Offering a degree of choice within a pre-
selected range of sites can provide a com-
promise solution here. Deliberate teaching
and reinforcement of generic search
strategies (eg formulation of keywords) has
also been found to be important.
Developing ‘critical literacy’
Pupils additionally need to develop skills
for selecting and processing information
derived from the internet and similar
sources. Its potential complexity and
unreliability mean that simply accessing
information is insufficient, and the speed
and ease of downloading and printing out
chunks of material has in fact rendered
plagiarism more of an issue than children
copying chunks of information from a book
or encyclopaedia has been. The notion of
‘critical literacy’ (eg Collins et al 1997)
describes the need for interpretation,
analysis and evaluation – including an
assessment of the author’s agenda
and authority.
Despite increasing recognition of its
critical importance (eg Hammond 2001),
there is little indication that schools are
strategically tackling this issue yet.
Evidence from Ofsted (2001) indicates that
pupils lack strategies for obtaining ICT-
based information efficiently and are not
yet moving beyond the location of
information as an end in itself, continuing
to present unprocessed information. While
this is problematic in any subject involving
research activity, the importance of
developing analytic and critical skills may
be even greater in science, dependent as it
is on data and evidence rather than values,
and where students need to learn how to
collate, weigh up and synthesise such
evidence, and judge its likely validity.
Children’s lack of skill in scientific
reasoning can be observed to hinder their
33
pupils need to
develop skills for
selecting and
processing
information
derived from the
internet and
similar sources

progress in evaluating scientific models;
ICT does offers a useful medium for
developing this skill through the critique
and analysis of extensive electronic
information sources (McFarlane &
Sakellariou 2002). However, the complexity
of the analytic skills required may be
under-estimated and there is little
evidence that pupils are learning them
without support. Some helpful strategies
which teachers already employ include
requiring pupils to highlight key points,
rework original text into a different form or
prepare a class presentation or poster.
Explicitly developing pupils’ understanding
of the relationship between evidence and
conclusions, the skills for forming and
defending their own ideas, and for
interpretation and critical analysis are
essential pre-cursors for evaluating the
plethora of information available
electronically.
Linking ICT use to ongoing
teaching and learning
It is important to stress that although
simulations and other tools can provide a
virtual alternative to practical work in
some situations, using ICT is not perceived
– by pupils, teachers or educators – as a
replacement for other activities. The
balancing and integration of use of ICT
resources with other teaching and learning
activities, is desirable in many situations;
indeed it often provides the greatest
benefits (Ofsted 2002a). Rather than using
ICT in isolation, for example, the products
of web searching or simulation-based
activity can be linked with other class
activities before, during and after the
computer-based lesson (Finlayson &
Rogers 2003; Hennessy et al 1995). This
means that explicit links can be made
between theoretical computer models and
reality, whilst practical demonstration and
development of pupils’ investigative skills
retain some importance. Likewise,
handling a physical model or employing
visual aids can also enhance learning
during ICT-supported modelling activity.
Many teachers employ use of ICT after
spending several lessons introducing and
exploring the topic area; students are then
familiar with key concepts, terms or
procedures (Barton & Still, in press). Some
feel that simpler experiments, at least,
should be carried out in the conventional
way, with the power of multimedia
technology reserved for cases where it
significantly enhances the activity. Others
prefer all feasible experiments to be
carried out manually first with subsequent
use of ICT. For instance, one such
approach is to use sketch graphs to make
predictions about outcomes before using
the computer to plot graphs of actual data.
This provides immediate corroboration (or
not) for predictions and is an effective
catalyst for discussion. This approach
enables teachers to pose questions and
pupils to express their ideas by drawing on
the data visible on screen (ibid).
Conversely, software for carrying out
virtual experiments can be used for
prediction and planning purposes before
practical work (Walker 2002). In either
case, important manipulative skills can be
developed through a combination of
expecting pupils to execute manually some
tasks involving, for example, graph
plotting, but also (subsequently or even
first) exploiting the power of the technology
to plot many graphs in succession. Ideally,
teachers will develop a balanced approach
between ‘hands on’ and computer
methods and the intricacies of this
relationship form a fruitful basis for
further research.
34
explicit links
can be made
between
theoretical
computer
models and
reality
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

Whole class interactive teaching
The role of whole class teaching is
potentially very significant. Research
shows that it is still the predominant mode
of classroom interaction (Newton et al
1999), yet a forum where ICT is currently
underused. There is a higher level of
teacher-pupil interaction and a lower level
of information dispensing associated with
using ICT, but whole class teaching of
science tends to use the computer or data
logger as a demonstration tool (even
where logistics favour individual activity),
and fails to exploit the interactive potential
of software (Finlayson & Rogers 2003).
Whole class interactive teaching can
potentially be used to establish a clear
task focus, to clarify the focus of
investigation, to predict and hypothesise, to
interpret findings and assess their
significance, to discuss key concepts and
‘procedural learning’ objectives (Gott &
Duggan 1995), eg notions of what
constitutes evidence, to conduct ‘fair tests’,
to repeat measurements, and to explore
the accuracy of measurements. Creating
time for discussion of these issues is
extremely important. Question-and-answer
sessions are particularly valuable in
assessing understanding and enabling
sharing of ideas.
ICT itself can also be an effective medium
for whole class interaction; increasing
availability of interactive whiteboards and
other forms of computer projection not
only facilitates demonstration, revision and
collation of class results but additionally
offers the potential for more interactive
modelling of complex processes, skills and
techniques, including scientific reasoning.
In particular, a whiteboard goes beyond
the interactive worksheet in enabling
students to participate directly in whole
class tasks by labelling a diagram,
identifying or measuring organisms,
categorising or manipulating images (eg
linking elements in a food chain). Use of
these approaches will hopefully increase
as availability of projection technology –
and teacher confidence to move out of
simple demonstration mode – becomes
more widespread. This use could further
facilitate the processes of analysis,
reflection and consolidation, which are of
particular importance to science teachers
using ICT (Stodolsky & Grossman 1995).
The strategies outlined above illustrate the
pivotal role of the teacher in determining
how effectively ICT is used in practice to
motivate pupils and enrich science
teaching and learning. They describe ways
of overcoming potential drawbacks of
using ICT without due care and attention to
underlying learning aims. The success of
the emerging strategies depends on
continuing to engage pupils in thinking
through, discussing and evaluating
scientific ideas or applications – and
consciously developing the subject-specific
and generic information handling skills
that they require. All of the teacher strat-
egies discussed above require deliberate,
thoughtful and systematic planning.
Effective employment of ICT also requires
new approaches and roles for both
teachers and pupils. In particular, it points
to developing a classroom culture which
more strongly encourages pupils to explore
and share ideas, reflections and findings –
with working partners, with the teacher,
and during whole class discussion
(Hennessy et al 2003; Rogers & Wild 1996).
In short, it calls for a transformation of the
culture of science teaching.
35

USE OF ICT IN THE SCHOOL
SCIENCE LAB - A REALITY CHECK
External constraints on
teachers’ use of ICT
Teachers’ motivation to integrate use of
ICT is undoubtedly influenced by the
working contexts – physical, socio-political
and educational – in which teachers find
themselves. While classroom practice is
currently developing as outlined above,
there are some notable obstacles.
Innovation and adaptation are costly in
terms of time, especially in the present
climate when ‘initiative overload’ makes
many competing demands on teachers’
time and energy. Indeed lack of time was
the most significant constraint on use
quoted by (86-88%) of primary and second-
ary science teachers surveyed by Dillon,
Osborne, Fairbrother and Kurina (2000).
In addition to the new interpersonal and
pedagogic skills which teachers require to
use ICT in their classrooms, other
contextual factors which can act as
barriers include: teachers’ lack of
confidence, experience and training; lack
of a supportive organisational culture
within the school; limited access to
resources and timetabled use of dedicated
ICT suites; unreliability of equipment and
lack of adequate technical support (Dawes
2001; Schofield 1995). A recent Ofsted
report (2002b) noted a significant
combined effect of government ICT
initiatives in terms of improved access by
science departments and increased
teacher confidence in classroom use, but
access to computers in science areas,
stocks of reliable data logging equipment
and teacher expertise remain patchy.
External pressure from the national
assessment regimes further constrains
the use of ICT and the development of
pedagogy. For example, compulsory tests
in core subjects at ages 7, 11, 14 involve no
use of ICT. There is also a culture clash
between an overloaded National
Curriculum for science which is based on
knowledge ‘delivery’ in a highly
prescriptive way, and the opportunities
afforded by ICT which have more potential
for developing pupils’ reasoning skills.
Moreover, classroom teachers have
historically had little say in developing how
ICT should be deployed within their
schools, and for defining its role within
subject curricula (Cuban 2001: ch6).
Imposed policy decisions can, therefore,
result in a lack of ‘ownership’. Another
tension is pressure to teach ICT technical
skills through science activity and the
desire to use ICT to facilitate the learning
of science. The time needed to help
inexperienced pupils develop their ICT
skills can further diminish the opportunity
for subject-specific work.
More optimistically, the government’s
recent (New Opportunities Fund) teacher
training intiative for serving teachers (TTA
1999), and the National Curriculum for
trainee teachers (DfEE 1998), are based on
the premise that appropriate, indeed
critical, use of ICT is a medium to support
subject teaching and attainment of its
learning objectives; this is a welcome shift
away from technology-driven use. The
latter document provides a reasonably
detailed outline of the generic ways in
which trainees are expected to use ICT
effectively within subject teaching.
However, despite massive investment in
ICT initiatives (£1.8 billion has been spent
by the government since 1997) and the
prominent iconic and ideological status of
ICT, there remains a marked lack of
specific guidance and support for
36
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

practitioners in incorporating ICT in
appropriate ways directly related to the
prescribed subject curriculum (Selwyn
1999). Other research has confirmed that
while teachers are motivated to integrate
appropriate uses of ICT into their
classroom practice, their understanding of
how it enhances learning is still
developing, and pedagogy for effective use
has not yet been clearly established
(Hennessy et al 2003). Teachers
themselves desire more knowledge in this
area (Williams et al 2000). In particular,
there is a lack of suggestions for
productive internet use.
Training is a major issue here as teachers
try to get to grips with new tools and new
ways of teaching they require. For
example, many schools have recently
acquired interactive whiteboards but lack
of time available for training means that
teacher confidence in using the new tools
is currently inconsistent (House of
Commons Science and Technology
Committee 2002). However, there is
evidence that the ambitious NOF-funded
training scheme for teachers in using ICT
in the classroom has had more success in
science than in other subjects where the
impact has been minimal (Ofsted 2002b).
The Science Consortium was the only
provider geared exclusively towards
secondary science and the first national
programme to promote a pedagogy for ICT
use in science. It encouraged teachers to
participate in an iterative cycle of reflective
teaching using a carefully prepared
framework of lessons and associated
software and sharing written evaluations of
their routine classroom use. The vast
majority of the evaluation reports on
22,000 science lessons were positive
(Finlayson & Rogers 2003).
Consequences of practical constraints
The research literature provides very little
support for the popular (though perhaps
unrealistic) notion of a technological
revolution in teaching and learning as a
consequence of introducing ICT. Similarly,
Ofsted (2001) has observed that appropriate
and effective classroom use of ICT is in
fact rare. Available technology is often
underused and poorly integrated into
classroom practice. Last year about two
thirds of primary and secondary teachers
in English secondary schools reported
‘some use’ of ICT in science, and only
26-29% reported ‘substantial use’ (DfES
2002b) 9. Similar percentages of teachers
perceived substantial or some beneficial
effects of using ICT in science. Despite
numerous reported examples of effective
use, clarification of what pupils should
learn using ICT – and how teachers should
facilitate this – is said to be needed
(Ofsted 2002a).
It is becoming clear that having the
requisite equipment and software does not
guarantee its effective use or even ‘take-
up’. Research shows that virtually all
secondary schools possess data logging
equipment and some level of connection to
the internet but practical constraints and
uncertainty about pedagogical relevance
and scope hinder regular and effective use
(Hammond 2001; Newton 2000). A recent
ImpaCT2 report10 concludes that home
37
training is a
major issue as
teachers get to
grips with the
new tools and
new ways of
teaching they
require
9This has changed radically since the McKinsey (1997) report of a survey carried out a decade ago (1993-4), when less than
5% of science teachers were using ICT regularly in their teaching compared with 34% of mathematics teachers. In 2002,
frequency of use was slightly higher in secondary science than in the other core disciplines of mathematics and English,
while use at primary level was considerably lower in science (DfES 2002b).
10 http://www.becta.org.uk/research/reports/docs/ImpaCT2_strand_2_report.pdf (section 4: Pupils’ and Teachers’ Perceptions
of ICT in the Home, School and Community).

use of internet-linked computers is in fact
likely to have a much greater impact on
many pupils’ learning than use at school.
Another example is the computer-
controlled microscope provided free to
each UK secondary school during Science
Year (2002). In many cases, the micro-
scopes remain in cupboards as teachers
are uncertain how to exploit them.
Exceptional use can be found – for
instance, one special school in Northern
Ireland uses the microscope innovatively
like an underwater camera brought into
the classroom, offering its physically
disabled students a rich experience
through investigating the teeming life in
samples of local pond water (Cole 2002).
Nevertheless, it seems that at present
effective use of ICT in science is confined
to a minority of enthusiastic teachers or
departments.
As well as lack of use, there is some
evidence for the passive or inappropriate
uses of ostensibly interactive forms of ICT
previously discussed, including pupil
presentation of unprocessed information
and inappropriate graphical presentation.
Ofsted (2001, p12) complains that too many
core subject teachers “select software
packages for their visual appeal rather
than their relevance to lessons” giving, as
an example, the domination of a primary
lesson by passive viewing of a simulation
of materials dissolving. Simulations or
multimedia information resources which
make too few cognitive demands on pupils,
and are used to replace rather than
complement practical experiments (and
skills), highlight the danger that software
applications may become the curriculum
itself rather than tools for problem solving,
research, knowledge and text creation
(CTGV 1996).
Transformation of science
activity and pedagogy
Some of the examples described in this
report – such as activities based on
interacting with sophisticated simulations
or the integration of software supporting
scientific enquiry with practical
investigations – characterise the extent to
which the practice, tools and methods of
science teaching are beginning to adapt
and change. There are some isolated
examples of innovation. However,
traditional learning goals and values seem
to remain mostly intact – in line with the
prescribed curriculum. ICT, so far, has
radically transformed the nature of science
itself for professional scientists, whose
research activity has become dependent
on routine access to sophisticated
computer-based tools and resources.
In contrast, the use of ICT in school
science, on the whole, has yet to establish
its transformative role. The research
literature converges on the conclusion that
teachers tend to use ICT largely to support,
enhance and complement existing
classroom practice rather than actually
re-shaping subject content, goals,
activities and pedagogies (Hennessy et al,
submitted; Kerr 1991; Watson et al 1993).
As Goodson and Mangan (1995, p119) put
it, there is “evidence of reshuffling the
pack of cards, but little evidence of
anybody trying a new game”. Since the
same tools can be used in different modes,
it is natural for teachers initially to design
activities, which imitate traditional
methods or experiments. For example,
computer projection technology may be
used as a substitute for an overhead
projector before animations and hot-links
to internet sources are incorporated.
Despite the extraordinary scope offered by
the internet, pupil activity can be narrowly
38
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE EDUCATION

channelled during research or
‘exploration’. Similarly, research for the
Interactive Education Project 11 indicates
that using a simulation to simply replicate
– and sanitise – directed (rather than
investigative) laboratory work involves no
pedagogical shift and may yield little
learning gain (Baggott la Velle et al 2003).
Pedagogic change is inevitably slow and to
fully exploit new software takes time
(Rogers, in press-b), especially if pupils
are to capitalise upon its powerful use in
evaluating, constructing and reformulating
new ideas and concepts.
However, a gradual process of
‘pedagogical evolution’ is now evident as
the teacher’s role develops to encompass
supporting pupils’ learning with ICT.
Experiences arising in the course of
getting to grips with new tools offered by
ICT, which are themselves continually
evolving, have led learners to develop new
strategies for learning, and teachers to
begin to re-evaluate and modify aspects of
their practice and thinking (Ruthven &
Hennessy 2002).
The teacher’s role could be described as
changing from that of ‘sage on the stage’
to ‘guide on the side’. Teachers are already
beginning to develop and trial new
strategies which both positively exploit the
new opportunities arising, and focus
attention away from the distracting nature
of sophisticated features of the technology
itself, and onto intended science learning
objectives. While teachers are motivated
and committed to using ICT in the
classroom, they are simultaneously
developing a reflective and critical outlook.
Evidence would suggest then, that
teachers are working towards harnessing
the potential of ICT to support science
learning as far as possible, given the very
real operational constraints.
IMPLICATIONS FOR
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
Implications for teachers
Educational technology can be exploited
further in science education by building on
– and disseminating – actual exemplars of
successful practice and pedagogy. This
means moving towards structured forms
of exploratory use, which becomes more
feasible as science teachers gain
experience and confidence in integrating
ICT within their teaching.
Increasing availability of interactive linking
between software means that electronic
worksheets or tutorials can be employed
to structure tasks and to guide pupils
along certain pathways (eg areas of a
database, customised spreadsheets,
computer models, or pre-selected
websites). Instructions for discussing an
idea with their teacher or peers could even
be built in to such resources (Rogers, in
press-a), since increasing dependence on
the computer is not, of itself, a desirable
goal. Indeed, an essential feature of
successful teaching with ICT is expecting
and fostering active participation of pupils
– particularly in research and practical
work which provides most opportunities
for pupil responsibility and engagement
with tasks, but also in teacher-led
discussion and demonstration (Newton &
Rogers 2001, ch3).
39
exploratory use
becomes more
feasible
as science
teachers gain
experience
11 The science subject design team of the ESRC-funded Interactive Education Project are exploring how the mutual interaction
between ICT and pedagogy can drive knowledge transformation, aiming towards specifying an effective pedagogy for using
ICT (www.interactiveeducation.ac.uk).

The roles of whole class interactive
teaching and the use of ICT to develop
investigative skills are currently under-
developed and an increased focus on these
may prove fruitful. Explicitly developing
new pupil skills such as ‘critical literacy’ is
necessary so that pupils can access,
discuss and evaluate information derived
from scientific sources. It is also important
to offer strategies for overcoming potential
pitfalls (such as ‘black box’, or overly
passive, approaches). Insisting upon a
clear rationale for each form of ICT use
where identified learning outcomes remain
paramount is the first and foremost step to
advancing the contribution that ICT can
make to the learning of science –
particularly a science education which
seeks to develop ‘critical science literacy’.
Teachers are progressing steadily and the
use of ICT is permeating to more
classrooms. Further development,
however, depends on providing them with
more time, access to reliable resources,
encouragement and support, and offering
specific guidance for appropriate and
effective use. In short, on a programme of
sustained professional development.
Implications for assessment
Currently there is almost exclusive
assessment of the curriculum via written
tests of content knowledge which do not
capture the educational outcomes
associated with using ICT. Computer-
based instruments bring their own
problems, but it can be argued that
assessment frameworks themselves need
to alter to reflect changes in the way that
teaching and learning are conducted when
supported by ICT (McFarlane 2001). Within
the context of a science education which
seeks to place more emphasis on the
critical evaluation, analysis and
interpretation of evidence and data, the
present focus on the outcome rather than
the process itself exerts a malign rather
than a benign effect on teachers’ pedagogy
and their use of ICT.
Assessment could instead, or as well,
examine the appropriate use of methods
(Barton & Still, in press) and this would
involve greater use of teacher assessment.
Interim records may be useful indicators
for assessment of understanding,
reasoning or analytic skills, which may
now take place during the activity. For
instance, the teacher could circulate,
asking probing questions of pupils about
predicted or annotated graphs, drafts of
written work or research outputs visible on
their screens, making judgements against
well-defined criteria of performance.
Whilst identifying individual contributions
in collaborative work is recognised as
problematic, the benefits of this style of
working suggest that we adapt our styles
and modes of assessment to match our
desired pedagogy rather than the converse.
CONCLUSION
This paper has attempted to review the
state of science education today, the
impact of ICT use on the curriculum,
pedagogy and learning, and the
implications for future practice.
The first section outlined a range of
perspectives on the aims of science
education and the associated choices
concerning curriculum and pedagogy. It
showed that science education within the
UK is in the second phase of a two-part
revolution. The first phase, in the 1980s,
achieved the implementation of compulsory
science education for all from 5-16. The
40
CONCLUSION

second phase, begun in the mid 1990s, has
attempted to argue for, and develop, a
curriculum which genuinely meets the
needs of all pupils rather than the few who
will enter the corridors of science. Its goal
of fostering ‘scientific literacy’ will require
a new pedagogic approach, one that moves
away from knowledge delivery towards
involving pupils more actively in engaging
with scientific ideas and developing the
skills necessary for appraising evidence,
handling risk and uncertainty, and
recognising social and other influences on
(and consequences of) decision making
and research.
The second section has described the
potential role which ICT may play in
revitalising science education to meet
such aspirations. It has shown that this
powerful tool can be employed flexibly to
support different curriculum goals and
forms of pedagogy; that there are diverse
ways of linking ICT use to existing
classroom teaching (including supporting,
extending or replacing it); and that
there are different modes of using the
same tools.
Yet, whilst the appropriate use of ICT
clearly has a transformative potential for
science education and student learning,
this is often found only in isolated pockets
of innovation and associated with
enthusiastic individuals. As such, ICT still
needs to embed itself in the ‘habitus’ and
culture of the ordinary classroom teacher.
Part of the problem lies with the current
content-laden National Curriculum and
associated assessment measures which
reinforce a cultural perspective on
teaching science through a process of
transmission (Hacker & Rowe 1997). These
impediments have served to stifle the
development of classroom use of ICT
in ways which effectively exploit its
interactivity and potential for supporting
active pupil participation, exploration and
collaboration in science activity.
By contrast, the values of the new
emergent science curricula for all pupils
which give more emphasis on developing
critical and analytical skills are more likely
to foster and support the use of ICT. For
instance, Osborne et al (2002) found in
their evaluation of the new AS Science for
Public Understanding that use of the
internet was reported as a feature of
approximately 50% of all lessons.
As the school curriculum begins to forge a
stronger link between science-as-it-is-
taught and science-as-it-is-practised, a
major constraint currently affecting the
integration of ICT use within the
curriculum may be lifted. In short, access
to information and data, its interpretation
and critical evaluation, will become central
features of any new syllabi. Such a shift
would encourage a change in pedagogy
and the interactive use of ICT to support
and develop students’ scientific reasoning
and analytic skills. The use of ICT will
then, perhaps, lie at the core of science
teaching and learning rather than
languishing on the margins.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are very grateful to Roy Barton and
Laurence Rogers for their pioneering work
on the use of ICT in science and their
helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this
report. The contributions of other
colleagues and the teachers who
participated in the research reviewed here
are also acknowledged with thanks.
41
new emergent
science curricula
put more
emphasis on
developing
critical and
analytical skill
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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