4 Teaching ICT at Key Stage 1 – within science
Using ICT in science at Key Stage 1
This website offers guidance to teachers on the use of ICT within science:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ 20100823130703/ http:/ curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/ key-stages-1-and-2/ learning-across-the-curriculum/ ictinsubjectteaching/ ictinscience/ index.aspx [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
This document, ICT learning in science at KS1, lists some ways that ICT can be used to support learning and invites reflection.
Reflection
- What suggestions are made for using ICT skills within science?
- Are any of those suggestions evidenced within your classroom practice?
- Why might some be under-represented? Is this caused by lack of resources, lack of curriculum time, poor teacher confidence or something else?
- Have you used ICT to support learning and/or teaching in science in a different way?
Practical applications
ICT statutory requirements
Pupils should be given opportunities to apply and develop their ICT capability through the use of ICT tools to support their learning. Here are the statutory requirements to use ICT in the science programme of study.
Key stage 1
Sc1 Scientific enquiry
Investigative skills
2g: Communicate what happened in a variety of ways, including using ICT (for example, in speech and writing, by drawings, tables, block graphs and pictograms).
Breadth of study
1c: Pupils should be taught the knowledge, skills and understanding through using a range of sources of information and data, including ICT-based sources.
Watch the Science Clips activities provided by the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ schools/ scienceclips/ index_flash.shtml
Reflection
- Could introducing your pupils to these games/simulations help you to meet the statutory requirements above?
- What features of these games/simulations might encourage you to adopt/reject them as tools to support learning?
- Is there any scope for teaching ICT objectives alongside science objectives? (Hint: ‘Developing ideas and making things happen’.) What might some of the benefits/problems be?
- What about other aspects of ICT? How might you introduce handling data, research, sensing, control and communication objectives?
Other resources
Ictopus: Ictopus (ICT online primary user support) is a free web-based support service for primary education. Amongst the resources it provides are lesson plans designed to promote the use of ICT within the curriculum. The ‘Lessons2Go’ resources can be sorted by subject or age group once you are logged in.
National Curriculum in Action: these examples of pupils' work show how the programmes of study and non-statutory frameworks for Key Stages 1 and 2 translate into real activities. The resource, Farm sounds, describes an activity in which children used ICT to help them investigate sound, http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/ key-stages-1-and-2/ assessment/ nc-in-action/ items/ science/ 1/ 1371.aspx
Background reading
Becta (2009), ICT in Primary Science: A Pupil’s Entitlement, http://teachfind.com/ becta/ becta-schools-curriculum-pupil-entitlement-ict
3 Teaching ICT at Key Stage 1 – within mathematics