In recent years, ICT advancements have changed the way we think about science education in primary and secondary schools. New mobile user-friendly products are available to help schools incorporate new units and activities in their science curricula. However, as most educators know, equipment alone cannot alter the way teachers, or schools, approach science education in the classroom. In other words, better tools do not necessarily lead to developing better pedagogy. Of course, society wants both for its children: schools should provide challenging environments for learners, teaching them valuable ICT skills, whilst also cultivating a desire for learning and discovery. Recent research and development projects have worked on bringing technological and pedagogical requirements together to make advances in improving science education in Europe.
This special issue of eLearning Papers will provide examples of the way ICT can enhance science education from the perspectives of the learner and the teacher-trainer. Based on the new technologies and the technology-enhanced research-based knowledge now available, which strategies and pedagogical approaches benefit most from the use of ICT? What is the impact of technology-based science education on curricula and assessment? How can teacher training take recent ICT innovations into account? We know that students learn not from ICT, but rather from the interactions between their thinking and activities (with or without ICT). It has been found that teachers and their pedagogical approaches establish significant differences in what pupils learn and achieve in a classroom. The study carried out by BECTA, for instance, demonstrated a strong correlation between ways of using ICT and students’ achievements (Cox & Abbott, 2004). With this in mind, as school access to ICT increases, it is clear that we must analyse appropriate forms of incorporating and using this technology in a fruitful manner.
The articles selected for this issue highlight a number of projects that take into account not only the technical but also the pedagogical innovation that ICT can bring to science education. In doing so, these studies present diverse solutions for incorporating ICT in the classroom by focusing on pedagogical models and effective training methods.
Opening the issue, the article entitled “The Role of Thinking, Experimenting and Communicating in the Science Lab” looks at how to improve the quality and critical potential of science education through teacher training and ICT support. By questioning the objectives of science education, it emphasises how developing pupils’ techno-scientific knowledge can result in a broader, more ethical world view. The second article, a case study of the European pilot programme Pollen, presents a road map for introducing comprehensive, inquiry-based science education in local schools through the support of an extended network of experts and institutions.
The third and fourth articles present specific, practical applications that assist teachers through efficient use of ICT. The FICTUP project, funded by the Lifelong Learning programme of the European Union, deals with the process of designing and implementing training materials that combine ICT use and research-based learning. The following article details the Geoscience Concept Inventory (GCI) WebCenter, a virtual platform that offers teachers an innovative student assessment tool that is sensitive to ICT-related learning.
Finally, the Centre for Research on Science and Mathematics Education article offers a thorough and critical review of the role of specific ICT in pedagogical models of science education. It gives practical examples of how to use ICT to implement inquiry-based learning in the science laboratory. These different examples of ICT use in science education provide a well-rounded vision of how new technology is taking part in creating a more dynamic approach to learning in the classroom.
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