Ict Can Be Taught To Pupils Secondary Schools Education Essay

The purpose of this assignment is to happen out on how best ICT can be taught to students in secondary schools. The chief focal point is on whether ICT should be taught as ‘the topic ‘ or ‘in topics ‘ . ‘ICT as the topic ‘ refers to the instruction of the National Curriculum for ICT as a distinct topic. ‘ICT – in the topics ‘ refers to ICT being used as a instruction and larning tool in other topics and that it being taught through those topics, Hawkins and Simons ( 2009 ) . Before traveling into the item of the focal point of the assignment, I will briefly explicate the background of instruction of ICT. The term Information and Communication Technology ( ICT ) was introduced in the National Curricula of England and Wales ( DfEE, 1999 ) to specify sets of tools used to treat and pass on information. Prior to the debut of ICT, Information Technology ( IT ) was used to depict the same tools. IT referred to the usage of information in order to run into human demand or aim, particularly in the concern universe, ( Kennewell, Parkinson and Tanner, 2007, p1 ) . Regardless of the footings used to depict the tools, the jobs that arise in secondary schools are linked to developing in instructors, students and establishments the ability and disposition to utilize tools suitably to command state of affairss in which information is processed and communicated. Processing and pass oning information prevarication at the bosom of instruction and acquisition in secondary schools, and suggests that ICT capableness should be cardinal to effectual secondary instruction, ( Tanner, 2007 ) . In the past five old ages at that place has been a slow but steady betterment in students ‘ accomplishments in ICT capableness, the quality and criterion of instruction, and the leading and direction of ICT. The complementary usage of ICT across topics, nevertheless, has been slow to develop and is uneven across schools and topics. The effectual balance between the instruction of ICT accomplishments, cognition and apprehension on the one manus and the application of these as portion of larning across topics on the other manus remains a hard and elusive end for the bulk of schools. ( DfES, 2004 ) . Harmonizing to Hawkins and Simmons, ( 2009 ) , the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority ( QCA ) made an extended audience and research prior to the printing the new secondary National Curriculum ( QCA, 2007 ) . When they compared it to the old National Curriculum Programme of Study for ICT ( DfEE, 1999 ) , they found that there are no major alterations to content and construct taught. The national course of study is structured around programmes of survey for the topics covered by the National course of study. ICT has a distinct programme of survey which clarifies what should be taught throughout the school old ages, including Key phases 3 and 4 for old ages 7 and 9 and old ages 10 and 11 severally. During the National Curriculum reappraisal, the QCA made audiences of different stakeholders which included students, parents, instructors and employers. Their findings concluded that immature people should go successful scholars who enjoy larning, do advancement and achieve. They shoul d go confident persons who are able to take safe, healthy and fulfilling lives. They should besides be citizens who make a positive part to society. ( Waters, 2007, 2008 ) . To summarize the above, schools should learn the National Curriculum programme of survey for ICT and give students chances to use and develop ICT capableness across the course of study. Pupils ‘ ICT capableness can merely be applied and developed in topics if it has been taught efficaciously in the first topographic point. The National Curriculum for ICT sets out the ICT capableness that needs to be taught. The Key Stage 3 National Strategy gives elaborate counsel, through the publication, the Framework for learning ICT capableness: Old ages 7, 8 and 9 ( DfES 0321/2002 ) , and sample learning units, on how this may be achieved. It recommends that ICT be taught as a distinct topic so that the subsequent ICT capableness can be applied and developed efficaciously in all topics. If the ICT strand of the Key Stage 3 National Strategy has been implemented successfully so students will convey a sound degree of ICT capableness to other capable lessons. Students will non necessitate to be taught the ICT but will be able to ‘apply and develop ‘ ICT to travel acquisition in the other topics frontward. This will supply capable instructors with extra outlooks and chances for learning and larning in their topic. Furthermore, there is a clear differentiation between the usage of ICT and instruction of ICT. Simply utilizing ICT in a lesson does non needfully supply larning chances for the underpinning constructs: it will non ever construct and develop capableness. However, there are some people who argue that because ICT is used in other topics and that it is being taught through those topics. Normally this usage helps to reenforce the acquisition which has already taken topographic point in an ICT lesson instead than presenting new ICT constructs. Teachers of other topics are, rather of course, focussed on their capable country, non on ICT learning. To clear up this more clearly, we can see the instruction of English as an illustration. English is spoken and listened to in every capable country, but the legitimacy of learning English as a distinct topic is ne'er called into inquiry by any 1. This therefore concludes that there are other constructs and procedures which require a capable specia lizer and dedicated course of study clip to be explored. The same applies to ICT, ( Hawkins and Simmons, 2009, p9 ) . In add-on to the above, ICT capableness involves proficient and cognitive proficiency to entree, usage, develop, create and communicate information suitably, utilizing ICT tools. Learners demonstrate this capableness by using engineering purposefully to work out jobs, analyse and exchange information, develop thoughts, create theoretical accounts and control devices. They are know aparting in their usage of information and ICT tools, and systematic in reexamining and measuring the part that ICT can do to their work as it progresses. ICT capableness is much broader than geting a set of proficient competences in package applications, although clearly these are of import. ICT capableness involves the appropriate choice, usage and rating of ICT. As a consequence, students need to cognize what ICT is available, when to utilize it and why it is appropriate for the undertaking. For case, when students are making a presentation, they use their ICT capableness to choose appropriate package, s ee fittingness for intent and lucifer content and manner to a given audience, pull stringsing informations to prove a hypothesis, or integrating sound and picture into a presentation to add significance and impact. It is of import to repeat that, whatever the degree of ICT capableness applied, it must add value to learning and larning in the topic. It is of import that lessons are non driven by package or engineering but are focused on clear aims in the topic, where ICT is used as a vehicle to back up accomplishment of those aims and to heighten instruction and acquisition in all topics. The deduction for this therefore is the fact that students will come to capable lessons with outlooks about how they might use ICT to travel their ain acquisition frontward. Capable instructors will non necessitate to learn ICT capableness but can work new chances for students to use and develop the capableness that they already have, to heighten their acquisition in topics. Consequently, the focal point of the lesson remains steadfastly rooted in the topic and instructors are non burdened with the demand to learn ICT, ( DfES, 2004 ) . In add-on to the above, there are deductions for capable instructors, in that they will necessitate a good apprehension of the comprehensiveness of ICT capableness that students have been taught and will be conveying to their lesson. Teachers will besides necessitate to cognize which parts of ICT capableness offer important chances for learning and larning in their ain topic and how they can be incorporated into bing strategies of work. Furthermore, the usage of ICT demands to be purposeful and to add value to the instruction and acquisition of the topic and should non be seen merely as a bolt-on. It needs to be carefully integrated into the capable lessons, with a clear principle for its usage, ( DfES, 2004 ) . This is supported by Kennewell et Al. ( 2000, pp8-9 ) , where he considers ICT as diverse in nature. He alleges that ICT may be viewed as Key accomplishments, which like literacy and numeracy, underpins larning in a scope of capable countries. He goes on to look at ICT as a Resource, which should be used by schools to back up and widen the nature of instruction and acquisition across the course of study. Kennewell besides regards ICT as a subject on its ain like English, Mathematics, or Geography with its ain characteristic signifiers of cognition, accomplishment and apprehension. To add on to the above, students ‘ ability to use their ICT capableness across the course of study is mostly dependent on the effectual instruction and acquisition of ICT in the first topographic point. Pupils ‘ usage of ICT in other topics may be uneffective if they do non already have an appropriate degree and apprehension of ICT capableness. This may ensue in a deficiency of advancement in both ICT and the capable country. For illustration, inquiring students to bring forth a presentation in a given topic will be unproductive if they have small experience of utilizing the package or apprehension of how to make significance and impact for a given audience. Students who try to larn new countries of ICT at the same clip as new capable content will frequently neglect in both enterprises. In a nut shell, this means that before using ICT in other topic, it is hence important that students are taught the appropriate ICT capableness, ( DfES, 2002 ) . Although the demand to learn ICT as a discrete topic has been over emphatic, there may be some chances for facets of ICT capableness to be taught in a different capable country and so besides applied in an appropriate context. For case, the control elements of the National Curriculum for ICT could be taught within Design and Technology. However, learning capable aims and ICT aims at the same clip can be debatable and instructors should be cognizant of the potency for the lesson to lose sight of the ICT aims. Advancement in the instruction and acquisition of a peculiar topic can besides be disrupted by the clip taken to learn the needed ICT constituent from abrasion. Furthermore, an effectual execution of ICT across the course of study is much more complex and involves strategic direction and coordination within whole school policies. For an effectual theoretical account of using and developing ICT across the course of study, there should be an effectual instruction of the National Curriculum programme of survey for ICT as a distinct topic. There should besides be appropriate chances for students to use and develop ICT capableness in a scope of topics and contexts, that is, movable cognition, accomplishments and apprehension. Another factor could be the deployment of resources so that capable countries can entree ICT when it is needed, including proviso of ICT within capable schoolrooms or countries. In this instance, there should be a policy for buying of resources that maximises their usage and allows for flexibleness of usage, for illustration, whole-class instruction, small-group work, single instructor usage ; this could include consideration of whole-school networking proviso, laptops and radio networking capableness. There could besides be appropriate subject-specific resources in all sections, which are se lected on the footing of carry throughing capable larning aims. This should include planned usage of ICT in strategies of work for all topics, so that resources can be suitably deployed and organised. The whole-school policies which clearly map and sequence chances for application and development of ICT, so that pupils conveying the appropriate ICT capableness to capable lessons should besides be drawn. This as a consequence will take to whole-staff consciousness of ICT capableness and what can moderately be expected of students in each twelvemonth, ( DfES, 2005a ) . Many schools continue to cleaving to a belief that cross-curricular proviso can present good patterned advance in ICT capableness, in malice of review grounds to the reverse over recent old ages. The weight of grounds suggests that what works best is a balance between distinct proviso and the application of ICT capableness across other topics, ( Ofsted, 2005 ) . So far the usage of ICT has been reviewed as a acquisition tool for students and has been acknowledged that students who are confident and proficient in ICT can convey with them chances for widening their acquisition as they use their ICT in other topics in the school course of study. Use of ICT by a instructor may affect small or no usage of ICT by students and, accordingly may make little to use and develop their ICT capableness. However, usage of ICT by the instructor can heighten and excite the acquisition experiences of students and contribute to the accomplishment of capable aims. It is of import to recognize the different parts that ICT can do to learning and larning and admit the importance of each. A policy for ICT across the course of study should see all these elements and the relationships between them, ( DfES, 2004 ) . Having mentioned all the above, I am now traveling to concentrate on discoursing on how the cognition of ICT capablenesss can assist ease instruction and acquisition in different secondary school topics. First, I am traveling to look at how the usage of ICT can raise criterions in History. There will be a demand for effectual communicating between the history and ICT sections in order to further a clear apprehension of the timescale during which students should hold developed the different ICT capableness in each twelvemonth. History instructors will necessitate to place chances to work students ‘ ICT capableness to travel acquisition in the capable forward. They will besides necessitate to see whether the usage of ICT is appropriate to the facet of history being taught. Information is the natural stuff of history. It will hence be of import that students are critical in its usage and understand the relevancy to an question of peculiar beginnings of information. Use of ICT allows students to entree and engage with an tremendous scope of information beginnings as a footing for independent historical questions. For case, students in Year 9 were look intoing the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, seeking to reply the inquiry, ‘Should the atomic bomb have been dropped? ‘ They visited web sites incorporating images and text that suggested that it was incorrect to drop the bomb. They besides visited sites that showed that the American Government was wise to drop the bomb as it saved many lives and ended Nipponese engagement in the war. They had to utilize these sites to choose grounds to assist them reply the inquiry. Further more, in ICT, students are taught to measure their work critically, to develop and better their presentation of information, to polish it for intent and audience. For case, students may utilize digital picture to make an advertizement for abroad visitants to an historic edifice in their vicinity. They may polish their work farther by inventing standards drawn from an analysis of bing Television advertizements, during the procedure of which they identify the common signifiers and conventions. A practical illustration could be students in Year 7 used a word processing plan to outline an essay, some utilizing a authorship frame, to reply a inquiry about the slaying of Thomas Becket. When they finished, the instructor provided them with extra information that altered the statement they needed to do, necessitating them to redraft their original work to take history of this. In add-on to the above, lessons may be provided in a CD-ROM. These may include illustrations of history lessons in which ICT is used to heighten instruction and acquisition. These may be chosen to give a spirit of the type of activities in which students ‘ ICT capableness can be applied and developed within the context of history. In each of the illustrations, mention is made to the ICT key construct being applied or developed. In each instance, the relevant ICT aims have been taught before they are applied in the history lesson. Another topic that I am traveling to look at how it embeds ICT as acquisition and learning tool is Citizenship. In Citizenship, ICT can be used to ease students to utilize information beginnings like web sites to critically enable them to set up balanced, informed opinions in making decisions about communities and societies. The critical scrutiny of information is a cardinal constituent of the survey of citizenship. This includes an accent on placing biased point of views and related persuasive statements. The measure of information available on the Internet gives students chances to measure both the information they receive and the web sites themselves. The usage of informations and information beginnings through ICT can assist them to develop and better these accomplishments. For case, students in Year 8 used the Internet to research the positions of assorted groups runing to reform the young person justness system, as portion of the work they were making on offense. They were able to place a scope of different positions and to measure and discourse them. They were besides able to place information that they thought was misdirecting, which led to a treatment about the demand to be critical of the beginnings of information themselves. ( DfES, 2004, p17 ) . To add to the above, for the best and effectual use of ICT in citizenship, instructors should be after the usage of ICT by students in coaction with the ICT section. Effective communicating between the two sections will instil a clear apprehension of the timescale during which students should hold developed the different ICT capableness in each twelvemonth. This will guarantee that students are equipped with appropriate ICT accomplishments and will assist instructors analyze how to construct on anterior acquisition in citizenship and ICT. This consciousness will ease the planning of strategies of work and design of lessons. This could besides be helpful to guarantee that ICT resources are available for the several lessons. Mathematicss capable instructors can besides utilize students ‘ cognition of ICT. It is of import for mathematics instructors to intercede with the ICT section to guarantee that the degrees of outlook and challenge are appropriate to pupils ‘ experiences and degrees of ICT capableness. In order to vouch the effectual usage of ICT in mathematics, Mathematicss instructors should be certain that ICT resources are available for the lesson. They should besides be able to analyze how to construct on anterior acquisition in mathematics and ICT to inform planning of strategies of work and design of lessons. Furthermore, ICT can be used to give entree to big measures of informations and provides the tools to stand for it in a assortment of ways. The ICT cardinal construct of utilizing informations and information beginnings relates to the strand of handlings informations in mathematics in which pupils specify a job, program and roll up informations. Besides, the usage of ICT allows students to screen and stand for informations expeditiously and efficaciously. It enables them to work out mathematical jobs and utilize statistical probes utilizing their ain informations every bit good as that collected by others. In add-on, utilizing ICT allows students to utilize machine-controlled procedures to increase efficiency and to make simple package modus operandis to help the geographic expedition of a mathematical state of affairs. They can undertake deeper and more effectual analysis of the mathematics, utilizing ICT. For illustration, students in Year 9 may take to make macros in spreadsheets or may utilize other automatizing maps, including nesting processs in LOGO, to research a scope of mathematical state of affairss. Use of LOGO can be good to pupils in each twelvemonth of the cardinal phase, particularly as it is easy accessible and combines facets of geometrical concluding with utilizing and using mathematics to work out jobs. ( DfES, 2004, p20 ) . ICT can be used as a tool to raise criterions in the instruction and acquisition of English in secondary schools. It can be used to back up instructors to better lesson design and transform instruction and acquisition. English instructors can besides utilize ICT to prosecute and actuate students to larn more efficaciously. Effective communicating between English and ICT sections will be indispensable to convey about a clear apprehension of the timescale during which students will hold developed the different ICT capableness in each twelvemonth. Teachers of English capable demand to place chances to work and use students ‘ capableness in ICT to travel acquisition in the capable forward. They besides need to see whether the usage of ICT is appropriate to the facet of English being taught. English can affect seeking for and choice of information, which is made easier by the usage of ICT. Through set uping good affair with ICT sections, English sections may happen that English and ICT lessons and prep may be planned hand in glove so that students use and consolidate the appropriate hunt accomplishments and techniques. More clip in English lessons can so be spent on larning schemes for choice and analysis. As an illustration, in a Year 8 lesson, students focused on accessing a scope of web sites on a given subject, and so collaboratively inventing agencies of choosing those needed to reply peculiar different inquiries on that subject. The inquiries were divided into those necessitating information, persuasion, statement, different positions and different audiences. Students worked in little groups to choose cardinal sites for different intents. This was portion of a sequence of lessons that finally required students to utilize the web sites selectively to back up an drawn-out piece of composing on an facet of the subject. Still on the same note, Year 9 students searched the Internet for images based on Macbeth. The focal point was on choosing images that were cardinal to the subjects of the drama. Pupils worked in groups to choose, salvage and publish these images, footnote them in relation to the drama and supply cardinal quotation marks to attach to the subject and image. This involved one lesson and a prep. In the following lesson, the students shared their findings with the remainder of the category. This was portion of a sequence of lessons in which the students were subsequently required to compose about cardinal subjects in the drama and supply grounds from the text. Having mentioned all the above, it is rather apparent that ICT equips students with accomplishments to assist them to take part in a quickly altering universe in which work and other activities are progressively transformed by entree to varied and developing engineering. Students may necessitate to utilize ICT tools to happen, explore, analyse, exchange and present information responsibly, creatively and with favoritism. They should larn how to use ICT to enable rapid entree to thoughts and experiences from a broad scope of people, communities and civilizations. Increased capableness in the usage of ICT can advance inaugural and independent acquisition, with students being able to do informed opinions about when and where to utilize ICT to outdo consequence, and to see its deductions for place and work both now and in the hereafter. ( eduwight web site, accesses 01/12/10 ) Furthermore, ICT has enabled gifted and talented students and those of higher ability to widen their activities and survey in more deepness. It has besides enabled students with English as an extra linguistic communication and those with particular educational demands to readily entree larning where, for illustration, the act of physically composing had antecedently acted as a barrier. Besides, the usage of the show technologies enables students to visualize stuff that would be more hard to entree in traditional formats, and is perceived to hold ‘opened up the universe ‘ . For illustration, the usage of a picture clips depository has supported showing gases in scientific discipline and motion in design and engineering. Supported with teacher account, it is believed that the focal point on traveling images has truly enhanced acquisition. In add-on the picture clips depository offers cartridge holders of intelligence points in children-friendly formats. ( Lewin et Al: 2007, p20 ) . In decision, it is clear and apparent that there is a common and supportive nexus between the distinct instruction of ICT and the application of ICT in other topics. This means that, hence, students should be given chances across the course of study to use and develop the ICT capableness taught in ICT lessons. These chances should be consistent across all categories, non dependent on the peculiar member of staff. Besides, guaranting that students are constructing on the ICT capableness that has already been taught has deductions for scheduling strategies of work, both for the capable countries and for ICT. This is a complex exercising, affecting all sections, and needs a whole-school attack and leading to guarantee maximal effectivity. Some schools have set up ICT across the course of study working groups to guarantee that there is ongoing duologue between capable leaders, the ICT capable leader and the ICT coordinator in the school. Monitoring the effectivity of such a policy is a c ardinal function for the senior leader with duty for ICT and will include a reappraisal of instructors ‘ apprehension of what is meant by ICT capableness in the ICT National Curriculum ;