Karen Littleton

A "Learning Revolution"? Investigating Pedagogic Practice around Interactive Whiteboards in British Primary Classrooms

Interactive whiteboards have been rapidly introduced into all primary schools under UK Government initiatives. These large, touch‐sensitive screens, which control a computer connected to a digital projector, seem to be the first type of educational technology particularly suited for whole‐class interaction. Strong claims are made for their value by manufacturers and policy‐makers, but there has been little research on how, if at all, they influence established pedagogic practices, communicative processes and educational goals. This study has been designed to examine this issue, using observations in primary (elementary) school classrooms, and builds on the authors’ previous research on Information and Communication Technology in educational dialogues and collaborative activities.

UNDERSTANDING COMPUTER GAME CULTURES A situated approach

This article uses data and theory from psychological and sociological sources in order to examine computer gamers engagement with computer games. The article employs data from studies of gender difference in computer game interactions in order to theoretically open up the rich diversity of gamers interactions with games. The theoretical discussion employs a mix of psychological ideas, especially those of affordances, effectivities and attunement, with ideas from cultural studies, especially those of subject positions and preferred readings. The article argues that gaming needs to be viewed as an activity taking place in cultural niches that arise in the complex interaction between games, gamers and gaming cultures.

Art work or money: Conflicts in the construction of a creative identity

The identity projects of novice creative practitioners must take account of the economy of art work. It has been suggested (McRobbie, 2002a) that in the contemporary cultural industries in the UK, a new understanding of the connection between creative work and money has replaced past ‘anti-commercial’ notions. This claim is investigated through a narrative-discursive analysis of interviews from a longitudinal study with current and recent Art and Design postgraduates. Their ongoing identity projects are shaped by established understandings of creative work and the prospects it offers for earning and employment, and also by more local discursive resources given by personal life contexts. An analysis of two interviews with a single speaker shows how these resources are taken up within her ongoing and distinctive identity project. Both old and new repertoires of art and money are in play in her talk. She must negotiate dilemmas and potentially troubled positionings in order to reconcile a creative identity with relationships and responsibilities towards others. Coherence is only achieved momentarily and is disrupted by new life circumstances. By investigating an identity project at the level of talk, the analysis shows the complexity of the speakers work to construct and claim a creative identity.

Gender and social comparison effects in computer-based problem solving

Gender differences in relation to school childrens learning with computers are frequently attributed to a tendency for boys to dominate computer resources in mixed sex settings. However, the evidence relating to childrens performance with computers in mixed sex groups is conflicting. This paper reports two experimental studies in which 11- to 12-year-olds worked on a computer-based problem solving task. In the first, 62 children worked in either same or mixed sex dyads, but each child had her or his own computer, and no verbal interaction was allowed. Boys out-performed girls overall, with sex differences becoming significantly more polarised in the mixed sex dyads. The second study involved 96 children, with individual pre- and post-tests, and compared co-action dyads (as in the first study) with interaction pairs, in which the pair members worked together at a single computer, with no restriction on interaction. The polarisation of sex differences in the mixed sex dyads was once again found in the co-action condition, but not in the interaction condition. Results are interpreted in terms of processes of social comparison, which appear to be more potent in this situation than any straightforward domination of resources.

Talking and Thinking Together at Key Stage 1.

In this paper, we describe an innovative approach to promoting effective classroom‐based groupwork and the development of childrens speaking and listening at Key Stage 1. This approach, known as Thinking Together, was initially developed for use with Key Stage 2 children. The work reported here explains how this approach has now been applied to the teaching of speaking and listening at Key Stage 1. The approach is founded on contemporary sociocultural theory and research. At the heart of the Thinking Together approach is a concern to help children build and develop their knowledge and understanding together, through enabling them to practise and develop ways of reasoning with language.

Personal inquiry : orchestrating science investigations within and beyond the classroom.

A central challenge for science educators is to enable young people to act as scientists by gathering and assessing evidence, conducting experiments, and engaging in informed debate. We report the design of the nQuire toolkit, a system to support scripted personal inquiry learning, and a study of its use with school students ages 11–14. This differs from previous work on inquiry learning by its emphasis on learners investigating topics of personal significance supported by a computer-based toolkit to guide school pupils through an entire inquiry process that connects structured learning in the classroom with discovery and data collection at home or outdoors. Findings from the studies indicate that the toolkit was successfully adopted by teachers and pupils in contexts that included teacher-directed lessons, an after-school club, field trips, and learner-managed homework. It effectively supported the transition between individual, group, and whole-class activities and supported learning across formal and informal settings. We discuss issues raised by the intervention studies, including how the combination of technology and pedagogy provided support for the teacher despite difficulties in managing the technology and integrating field data into a classroom lesson. We also discuss the difficulty of altering young people’s attitudes to science.

Understanding computer-related attitudes through an idiographic analysis of gender- and self-representations

Abstract We assessed girls’ and boys’ attitudes towards computers in general, and their use and enjoyment of computers for specific purposes. In addition, we obtained their self-evaluation against their ideal self, their prototype of a child who would be very good at computer-based tasks, and against their gender stereotypes (both own and other gender). The results showed no gender effects on the nomothetic global attitude scale. Significant gender effects appeared for the specific computer uses and the idiographic measures. Further, positive attitudes towards computers on the global nomothetic measure were related to less gendered idiographic perception of computer use. Confidence in global computer use was related to more gendered perception of computer use. The findings are discussed in terms of the complex ways in which social–cognitive biases are gendered, and the need to differentiate between different forms of computer use.

Gender, Task Scenarios and Children's Computer‐based Problem Solving

Abstract Gender differences in response to computers have been widely reported. This paper addresses the question of how far superficial aspects of the software in use can affect the performance of girls and boys on computer‐based problem‐solving tasks. A first study compared girls’ and boys’ performance on two versions of a route‐planning task which differed in terms of the scenario within which the task was framed. The participants were 52 11‐ and 12‐year‐olds. There was a significant gender by software interaction, the girls’ performance being markedly influenced by which version of the software they encountered. Following refinement of the software to tighten the comparison still further, a replication study was conducted with another 48 children of similar age, and the same result was obtained. The findings suggest that gender differences in childrens responses to computers are relatively labile and highly context sensitive. Implications and possible explanations for these findings are discussed.

Pairing and gender effects on children's computer-based learning

This paper reports an experimental study in which one hundred and twenty 11 and 12 year olds worked on a computer based problem solving task couched in an adventure game format. Previous results with this type of task (Blaye, Light, Joiner, & Sheldon, 1991) indicated marked facilitative effects of working in pairs, both on children’s paired performance and on their subsequent individual performance. In this study all children were pre-and post-tested individually. For the intervening practice session subjects were assigned at random to work alone or in single- or mixed-gender pairs. Pairs showed a significant advantage over individuals, but this advantage was not carried over to individual post-test. Gender differences were also attenuated relative to previous results. The findings are interpreted in terms of detailed characteristics of the experimental design (in particular the presence of other children even in the ‘individual’ condition) and reduction of gender stereotyping in the software.

Multimodality, Orchestration and Participation in the Context of Classroom Use of the Interactive Whiteboard: A Discussion

This paper will offer a discussion of the literature concerning multimodality, orchestration and participation related to classroom use of the interactive whiteboard (IWB). Specifically, it will explore the place, or potential use, of the IWB to resource a multimodal approach to teaching and learning, emphasising the complex connections that need acknowledging when viewing the IWB in context. Comments on the IWB’s effectiveness or otherwise, however, are beyond the scope of this paper. Conceptions of the role of language in mediating other modes and media, in terms of its centrality or complementarity, will necessarily be addressed by considering activities such as classroom talk aligned to other resources. The role of various actors (including teachers and learners) in designing, orchestrating and interpreting multimodal material will be considered. Whilst recognising the substantial debate regarding multimodality as an analytic lens, the discussion will focus on multimodality in terms of materials used in the classroom.