The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

Using Computers
in American Primary Schools

Delivering the ICT Curriculum

• Explanatory Notes

• Domestic Aspects
  of the Fellowship

  • Purpose of the Fellowship

  • Success of the Fellowship

  • The Fellowship Grant

  • Suggestions for Future Fellows

  • Dissemination of the Report

• Professional Aspects
  of the Fellowship

  • Overview

  • Information & Communications Technology (ICT)

  • Delivering the ICT Curriculum

  • Other Curriculum Areas

  • Assisting with Teaching Tasks

  • School Administration
    and Management

  • Electronic Communication

• Conclusion

• Appendices

  • Acknowledgements

  • Itinerary

  • Technical Details

  • Internet Links

  • TELDEC Grant Project

  • Gates Foundation Grants

  • US Dept of Education
    Executive Summary

  • WebQuests

• Picture Gallery

Curriculum Goals

The ICT curriculum in Washington schools is based on the National Educational Technology Goals (see Appendix 7: US Department of Education Executive Summary) and Washington State Technology Learning Goals. These are further defined and expanded upon at Service District, School District and school levels. ESD112, for example, had developed a set of Essential Learnings in ICT which were directly related to other areas of the curriculum ie reading writing, communication, mathematics, science, social studies, the arts and health and fitness. Figure 1 illustrates the format.

Time Allocation

There was no fixed approach here and time allocated to ICT was determined at school level. Typically children received one or two sessions of about 40 minutes each week in the computer lab. This was supplemented by class-based computer work which was invariably used to support other areas of the curriculum. The amount of time spent on classroom ICT varied according to the priorities, skill levels, experience and enthusiasm of individual class teachers. In some schools children were able to use computers in the school library for research purposes. It was interesting to note that sessions in the computer lab and in the library were often used to release class teachers for other required purposes such as PCP ie Preparation, Conference and Planning.

ICT Applications

The main applications covered the full range of ICT tools and uses including:

• Basic Operations and Concepts eg mouse control, keyboarding skills, filing skills

• Productivity Tools eg word processing, database, spreadsheet, graphing, drawing, digital photography, scanners

• Communication Tools eg e-mail, web design and publishing, presentation software, desktop publishing

• Research Tools eg Internet, CD-Rom reference software

• Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Tools eg flow charting, brainstorming, graphic organisers

I saw no examples of computers being used for controlling other devices such as robots and measurement sensors although these aspects did appear in many curriculum documents.

Software

Although a very wide range of software was available, the packages listed in the table below were the most commonly used in all schools.

 The Internet and e-mail

Nearly all machines in all schools had Internet access via ISDN lines. High-speed broadband connections were planned. Both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator were used as web browsers.

The Internet was mainly used for pupil research to support class topics. Children were encouraged to formulate their own searches using child-friendly search engines like ‘Ask Jeeves for Kids’ or ‘Yahooligans’. In one school, the librarian had compiled a very useful list of bookmarks (in Yahoo) organised by subject area and containing many links to appropriate learning websites.

In some classes children were able to use the Internet in free time. Interactive games sites were the most commonly visited!

School Websites

Although most schools had websites, the size and extent of these very often depended on the expertise and enthusiasm of an individual member of staff. There were few examples of children’s work online although this was seen as an important target for the future. School District websites also provided a range of basic information about each school in their area.

E-mail

Children did not seem to use e-mail a great deal. Some had pen-pals and there were a number of occasions where classes or individuals had communicated via e-mail with organisations to ask for information to support class work.

WebQuests

Several schools made use of WebQuests. The following overview is taken from The WebQuest Page website.

“A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The model was developed in early 1995 at San Diego State University by Bernie Dodge and Tom March.”

WebQuests offer a focused and structured approach to using the Internet and are an excellent, ready-made resource for teachers. The format of all WebQuests is very similar and contains the following elements:

• An introduction that provides some background information.

• A task that is achievable and interesting.

• Resources needed to complete the task. Many of these are links to other websites.

• A description of the process the learners should go through to accomplish the task.

• Some guidance on the organisation and presentation of the information acquired.

• A conclusion that brings closure to the quest. This might be an online presentation for example.

More details about Web Quests can be found in Appendix 8.

Appropriate Use

Schools were concerned about inappropriate use of the Internet and e-mail. Most had codes of practice in place and Internet filters were also used. The subject of filtering Internet content was a live issue and many teachers had reservations about its use. The main reasons for this were:

• Cost – even though discount schemes for approved software were in place, schools worried about the high cost.

• Loss of performance – using filter software resulted in slower access times.

• Inaccurate filtering – there was no guarantee that all inappropriate material would be filtered out. It was suggested that filters would only deny access to about 60/70% of inappropriate links. In addition, many appropriate sites (mainly of use to teachers) were filtered. Teachers with responsibility for maintaining and setting up computers needed to turn off the filter on a regular basis.

• Security - some students (in high schools) had found ways to bypass the filter.

Many schools had found that children were much less likely to try to bypass filters if adults were present and a sound Code of Practice was in place.

Methodology

Teaching in computer labs was highly directed and, in general, addressed skill acquisition in the main ICT applications. Most lessons followed a similar format:

• Description, purpose and application of the feature being taught and its purpose.

• Demonstration of the feature.

• A step-by-step walkthrough of the required actions where the children emulated each move by the teacher.

• Time to practise.

There were common approaches in several of the labs I visited:

• A data projector and laser pointer were indispensable aids and were used throughout lessons.

• Teachers expected children to work hard and set targets within each lesson designed to encourage this eg “By the end of today’s lesson you will be able to…….” and “I’ll give you 20 seconds to do that.”

• Teachers explained why skills being learned were useful and how they could be applied in ‘real’ contexts. The links between adult applications and the software children used in schools were also made clear.

• A lesson often began with a recapitulation of work covered and skills learned in the previous lesson.

• Children were given regular reminders of key skills eg how to use the different elements of a window or dialogue box, use of menus, use of keyboard shortcuts, use of TAB to move the input focus.

• Mouse technique was taught explicitly to younger children and was often revised. Its importance as the main way of ‘talking’ to the computer was emphasised regularly.

• Children were often given cautions regarding appropriate use of commands. Eg “Don’t click on printer icons”, “Cancel will never hurt your computer.”

• Accurate terminology was used at all times eg server, file etc. “Anything you make on a computer is called …….. A FILE!”

A simple but effective strategy was to insist that children leave the mouse and keyboard alone while the teacher was talking or demonstrating. If this rule was broken they were asked to move away from the computer for a minute or two. The rule was rarely broken!

Catlin Classroom, Kelso

Practice within classrooms varied considerably depending on the number of computers and the experience of the teacher. More often than not computers were placed separately from the children’s usual working area. Where tasks were specifically taught the teacher tended to remain with the computer group while the rest of the class worked independently on other activities. In many cases the teacher worked with others in the class while the computers were used for activities which relied on the software to guide the pupils (eg keyboarding skills, Accelerated Reading).

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