Knowledge transformation through ICT in science education: a case study in teacher-driven curriculum development - Case-Study 1

The BJET papers in this volume relate to the over-riding concern about the role of ICT in Education: the extent to which the claims of policy makers, administrators, publicists, politicians and bureaucrats are borne out in the reality of teaching and learning in and outside the classroom. One approach to providing the evidential base for judging the extent of and nature of the gap between rhetoric and reality and closing it are major research studies based upon statistically significant sampling like IMPACT2, another is to build up a body of in-depth case-study evidence that can be used as the basis for generalisation. This paper falls into the latter category, looking at a case-study of the initial stages of the development of effective ICT in Science Education. The research and development work involved is an element in the ICT strand of the Teaching and Learning in the Information Age Project. The paper first reviews the issues in the development of a design initiative for furthering our understanding of the problem of knowledge transformation in science education through information and communications technologies (ICT). A discussion of the development of ICT use in science education then leads to an illustration of current use in the UK school science classrooms and laboratories. A theoretical framework of teacher’s knowledge and pedagogical reasoning in science through ICT is presented as the basis for the curriculum research and redevelopment that the case study involves. The case study, findings and discussion then follow.