Rosemary Deaney

Pedagogical strategies for using the interactive whiteboard to foster learner participation in school science

This study aimed to extend the currently limited understanding of how pedagogy is developing in response to the influx of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in schools in the UK and some other countries. A case study approach was employed to investigate how experienced classroom practitioners are beginning to harness the functionality of this technology to support learning in science. The methods included focus group interviews with four secondary science departments, plus lesson observations and interviews with two teachers and their pupils. We analysed the data from a sociocultural perspective on learning, focusing on the strategies that teachers used to exploit the dynamic, manipulable objects of joint reference and annotative tools afforded by the technology to foster the cognitive, social and physical participation of learners in whole‐class activity. The case study teachers demonstrated contrasting approaches to designing and supporting activity in which pupils shared, evaluated and developed ideas using the IWB. Pupil manipulation of objects on the IWB was deemed desirable but—along with pedagogical interactivity—was constrained by systemic school and subject cultures, curricular and assessment frameworks. Observed and potential opportunities for active cognitive and social participation are outlined.

Pedagogical approaches for technology-integrated science teaching☆

The two separate projects described have examined how teachers exploit computer-based technologies in supporting learning of science at secondary level. This paper examines how pedagogical approaches associated with these technological tools are adapted to both the cognitive and structuring resources available in the classroom setting. Four teachers participated in the first study, undertaken as part of the InterActive Education project in Bristol; all of them used multimedia simulations in their lessons. The second study presented was part of the wider SET-IT project in Cambridge; 11 teachers in eight schools were observed using multimedia simulations, data logging tools and interactive whiteboards. Teachers were interviewed in all cases to elicit their pedagogical thinking about their classroom use of ICT. The findings suggest that teachers are moving away from only using ‘real’ experiments in their practice. They are exploring the use of technologies to encourage students to engage in “What If” explorations where the outcomes of ‘virtual’ experiments can be immediately accessed, for example through using a simulation. However, this type of activity can serve just as a mechanism for revealing – and indeed reinforcing – students’ informal conceptions if cognitive conflict is not generated or remains unresolved. The teachers in our studies used simulations, data logging, projected animations and other dynamic digital resources as tools to encourage and support prediction and to demonstrate scientific concepts and physical processes – thereby ‘bridging the gap’ between scientific and informal knowledge. They also integrated technology carefully with other practical activities so as to support stepwise knowledge building, consolidation and application. Research of this kind has design implications for both curriculum-related activities and emerging computer-based learning technologies, in terms of helping us to understand how teachers capitalise upon the technology available in supporting students to construct links between scientific theory and empirical evidence.

Situated Expertise in Integrating Use of Multimedia Simulation into Secondary Science Teaching

This study explored teachers’ pedagogical strategies for using multimedia simulation to structure and support secondary science teaching. Expertise was investigated across a range of classroom settings to analyse how specialist knowledge is situated within and adapted to the teaching and learning context. Analysis of data arising from 10 lesson observations and post‐lesson interviews with five teachers and their pupils highlighted significant variation in pedagogical approaches shaping simulation use in three topic areas. Two contrasting case studies involving a “terminal velocity” simulation exemplify this: one was characterized by some “dialogic” whole class interaction and collaborative testing of pupils’ own ideas; the other by a more typical, more authoritative, discourse with pupil pairs. Over‐structuring of tasks and curricular constraints meant that the rhetoric in the literature and teachers’ aspirations concerning pupil experimentation balanced with structured tasks were not borne out. Implications for mode of use and the design of technology‐integrated activity are discussed.

Constructions of dynamic geometry: A study of the interpretative flexibility of educational software in classroom practice

The idea of ‘interpretative flexibility’ underpins new approaches to studying technological artefacts and curricular resources in use. This paper opens by reviewing – in this light – the evolving design of dynamic geometry, its pioneering use within classroom projects, and early sketches of its mainstream use in ordinary classrooms. After examining curricular context and its instrumental dimension, the paper then reports a study of teacher constructions of dynamic geometry in classroom practice, conducted in professionally well-regarded mathematics departments in English secondary schools. From departmental focus-group interviews, four teacher-nominated examples of successful practice were selected for study in depth through lesson observation and post-lesson interview. Iterative thematic analysis was employed, first to establish a narrative outline of each case, and then the ideas and issues salient across cases. The study illustrates the interpretative flexibility surrounding the emergent use of dynamic geometry. It found important differences in practical elaboration of the widespread idea of employing dynamic geometry to support guided discovery. The process of evaluating the costs and benefits of student software use was influenced by the extent to which such use was seen as providing experience of a mathematical reference model, and more fundamentally as promoting mathematically disciplined interaction. Approaches to handling apparent mathematical anomalies of software operation depended on whether these were seen as providing opportunities to develop students’ mathematical understanding, in line with a more fundamental pedagogical orientation towards supporting learning through analysis of mathematical discrepancies. Such variation was associated with differences in positioning dynamic geometry in relation to curricular norms and in privileging a mathematical register for framing figural properties. Across all cases, however, incorporating dynamic manipulation into mathematical discourse moved implicitly beyond established norms when dragging was used to focus attention on continuous dynamic variation, rather than being treated as an efficient means of generating multiple static figures. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of collaborative video analysis by practitioners and researchers upon pedagogical thinking and practice: a follow-up study

The ‘T‐MEDIA’ project analysed and documented how teachers exploit the use of projection technologies – data projectors and interactive whiteboards (IWBs) – to support learning in secondary‐school subject lessons. The research involved collaboration between university researchers and four pairs of UK teachers (of English, mathematics, science and history) in an intensive process of systematically analysing video recordings of classroom activity and other data in depth. Our goals were to assist teachers in articulating the pedagogical rationale underlying their practice, and uniquely, to engage them in theory building about strategic technology use. This paper reports on a follow‐up study carried out one year after the collaborative analyses in order to assess the subsequent impacts of the process of critical reflection. The eight teachers were questioned using a semi‐structured interview technique that allowed us to elicit structured and personalised accounts of impact on pedagogical thinking and practice and the supporting or constraining factors. The findings suggest that for at least some, the sociocultural theory introduced and reformulated during the analyses provided a powerful analytical lens upon emerging practices, including those not incorporating technology. All of the participants reported lasting effects upon their own thinking and, except where external constraints operated, on teaching practices. The approaches developed during T‐MEDIA had additionally been disseminated to and adapted by other subject colleagues. The study illustrates how collaborative analysis of lesson videos can be used to engage teachers in deep reflection, critique and debate. This approach supports the development of an analytical scrutiny of classroom teaching and offers a significant professional development opportunity. In particular, under conditions of sensitive support, teachers will readily accommodate theoretical constructs into specific areas of professional thinking and practice.

Sustainability, evolution and dissemination of information and communication technology‐supported classroom practice

This study took place in a climate of an intensified focus on approaches to whole school improvement through ‘embedding’ technology in teaching, learning and management. It examined the evolution over time of classroom practice supported by information and communication technology (ICT) and its wider implementation within and outside of subject departments. Three years earlier a group of teachers in five secondary schools in England had participated in a collaborative programme of ten small‐scale research projects in which they developed a range of pedagogical strategies involving use of ICT. These spanned six main Curriculum areas: English, classics, geography, history, science and technology, plus a language support group. The present study investigated the extent of development and dissemination of these practices over time, and identified the underlying mechanisms and supportive or constraining factors. This follow‐up study comprised an interview survey of the 16 teachers and nine of their colleagues. Pedagogical approaches to using new technologies proved to be robust over time, to be spreading from subject teachers to their colleagues, and to be integrated into departmental schemes of work. However, findings indicated that evolution of practice depends on adequate access to reliable resources, and development of ICT as a school priority in turn leads to soliciting further resources and expanding practice. Individual teachers’ confidence, skills and motivation towards using ICT to promote learning develop in response to other contextual factors, most prominently a supportive organizational culture and a collegial environment, and they play a critical role in the processes of developing and disseminating new practice. These processes are thus complex and iterative.

A case-study of one teacher's use of an interactive whiteboard system to support knowledge co-construction in the history classroom

Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) have rapidly become an integral feature of many classrooms across the UK and elsewhere, but debate continues regarding the pedagogical implications of their use. This article reports on an in-depth case-study from the wider T-MEDIA project (Teacher Mediation of Subject Learning with ICT: a Multimedia Approach). A key aim of the study was to draw upon sociocultural perspectives to develop a shared, grounded theoretical account of the processes through which teachers mediate subject learning incorporating use of the IWB and other resources. A series of six history lessons with a class of pupils aged 12–13 was videoed and analysed collaboratively by a university research team, the teacher, one of his colleagues and an academic subject specialist. We identify an emerging emphasis upon interdependent learning relationships in the classroom and illustrate how this particular teacher harnessed IWB technology to support a dialogic approach to knowledge construction in history. Strategies included communicating and developing complex ideas and modelling historical thinking processes through use of multiple digital resources; collaborative annotation of images and texts; spotlighting and reveal tools for focusing; and ‘drag and drop’ for classification activities. Revisiting annotated slides served to draw on shared experience.

Practitioner use of graphing software to teach about algebraic forms

This study (Ruthven, Deaney, and Hennessy 2009) develops a line of research on the incorporation of digital technologies into the mainstream practice of mathematics teaching in secondary schools. Case identification started by triangulating recommendations from professional leaders and evaluations from school inspections to identify professionally wellregarded mathematics departments. Such departments were then invited to describe successful practice involving use of computer-based tools and resources. Use of graphing technology was widely nominated as a successful established practice, with linear and quadratic equations being frequently mentioned topics. Use of graphing technology to treat such equations also featured prominently in official guidance. The practice of two teachers was chosen for more intensive study, in the form of one lesson taught by each teacher on linear forms and another on quadratic. Detailed observation records were made, also incorporating transcripts of the main episodes, copies of resources used, and records of graphs displayed. Post-lesson interviews were organised around prompt cards asking teachers about their thoughts while preparing the lesson, and then looking back on it. The resulting file for each lesson was first analysed to create a lesson summary outlining working environment, resource system, lesson agenda, and activity structure, followed by the main lines of pedagogical thinking reported by teachers. An analysis was then conducted across lessons and teachers, employing the broad themes from the compact version of the ‘practitioner theory’ developed in earlier research (Ruthven and Hennessy 2003). The resulting practitioner model of the contribution of graphing software to the teaching of algebraic forms can be summarised in the following terms: