The Impact of Interactive Whiteboards on Classroom Interaction and Learning in Primary Schools in the UK

The aim of this chapter is to present a critical analysis of the findings from a large-scale research project in the UK where electronic or interactive whiteboards were introduced into over 200 classrooms of the teachers of 9-11 year olds in England (Higgins et al., 2005). The initiative was explicitly designated as a national pilot project with the key goal of raising levels of attainment in the pilot schools in literacy and mathematics, which are the central curriculum focus of the UK Government-funded Primary National Strategy (i.e. strategy for raising standards in primary or elementary schools across England). Some aspects of the project have been published elsewhere, such as the initial literature scoping to identify likely issues with the evaluation (Smith, Higgins, Wall & Miller, 2005), changes in patterns of interaction identified through systematic observation over the course of the research (Smith, HardABSTRACT