Using the interactive whiteboard to resource continuity and support multimodal teaching in a primary science classroom

All communication is inherently multimodal, and understandings of science need to be multidimensional. The interactive whiteboard offers a range of potential benefits to the primary science classroom in terms of relative ease of integration of a number of presentational and ICT functions, which taken together offer new opportunities for fostering multifaceted pedagogic strategies. In this case study we examine in detail how a teacher pursues two themes across four science lessons. We examine how the teacher creates continuity in her students’ learning experiences through taking up some of the affordances of the IWB in order to represent scientific phenomena and engage children in activities to consolidate their understandings. Support is offered for the notion that while pedagogic goals and strategies must determine the selection of tools, rather than the 'tail wagging the dog' as in technology-focussed hyperbole, planned use of the IWB, conceptualised as a "heterogeneous mediational tool kit" (Wertsch, 1991), can be effectively integrated into teaching practice.