Impact of IT on Science Education

Section 2, chapter 2

Impact of IT on science education

Mary WebbDepartment of Education and Professional Studies, King's College London, Franklin-WilkinsBuilding - WaterlooBridge Wing,Waterloo Rd., LondonSE1 9NN. UK.Tel: 44-(0)207-848-3116; Fax 44-(0)207-848-3182

Abstract

This chapter reviews science learning in schools and evidence for the use and impact of IT.How a range of different IT–based resources that can enable science learning in particular contexts is discussed. The nature of science curricula is examined and recent developments in various countries are considered. Developments in pedagogy in relation to science education are reviewed and possible ways in which these pedagogical developments together with curriculum changes may be enhanced and supported by IT to provide new approaches to learning science are explored.

Keywords

Formative assessment, pedagogy, simulations,science education, data-logging, modelling

Introduction

Since the early days of computer technologyexpectations for technology enhanced science learning have been high. The potential for supporting and enabling learning through exploring simulations of scientific phenomena, modelling scientific processes, capturing and analysing data automatically and being able to access and communicate scientific information and expertise is high. Case studies across the globe have shown that IT can enable innovative classroom practices in science learning (Kozma, 2003). However, while science research has been transformed by computer technology,including the establishment of the new field of bioinformatics,the use of IT in science education has been patchy and limited.Major reasons for this include the nature of the science curriculum, availability of appropriate hardwareand software and understandingof the pedagogical potential of the various types of IT and how to integrate their use effectively to support learning and teaching.

There is no basis for complacency in science education. Trends across the developed world show a drop in interest and take-up of science subjects (European Union, 2004;National Science Board, 2004; Osborne & Collins, 2001). Evidence suggests that children are interested in school science but to a lesserthan other subjects (Jenkins & Nelson, 2005).In recent research students complainedthat school science consisted of too much repetition, copying and note taking with no time to discuss scientific ideas or their implications (Teaching and Learning Research Programme, 2006). This is of concern to science educators and governments and consequently several countries have recently undertaken radical rethinking of their science curricula. These developments have focused on the needs for science learning in the twenty first century and have acknowledged a role,albeit not yet clearly defined, for IT.

The use and impact of IT on science learning in schools

Research into the impact of IT use on learning has produced varying results (e.g. see the review byKulik, 2003). Some studies have suggested that high levels of IT use may be linked to improved attainment in science (Becta, 2001[DoE1], Harrison et al., 2002,Christmann, Badgett, & Lucking, 1997). Furthermore the impact of IT use on attainment in science may be greater than that on other subjects (Christmann et al., 1997). Other studies have reported no clear differences in science attainment or achievement between classes making more use of IT and those using less (Alspaugh, 1999; Baggott La Velle, McFarlane, & Brawn, 2003). These analyses and surveys suggest that IT use could promote learning in science but provide no insight into how this may happen.

Evidence for howIT enables science learning

Evidence for what might lie behind gains in attainment associated with IT use comes mainly from detailed studies of specific types of IT use often studied in experimental situations.Types of IT use that have been shown to promote science learning include simulations, modelling and data logging.Evidence for how these applications may enhance learning is discussed in the following sections. Other types of IT use such as multimedia and video authoring, web-searching and online project work have been less well researched but their potential for supporting science learning will also be explored.

Learning with Simulations

Obvious benefits of using computer simulations in school science are to enable exploration of phenomena that are too difficult or dangerous to investigate experimentally, things too small or too large to be seen, and things that happen too fast or too slow for direct observation. This broadens opportunities for science learning but also invites questions such as: what range of phenomena should be explored in school science and in what level of detail?;to what extent should simulations replace experiments and fieldwork?;what additional learning affordances do simulations provide?

A first step in exploring these questions is to investigate how students learn from simulations. Some studies of the use of IT-based simulations have focused on one of the most difficult aspects of science teaching: promoting conceptual change and confronting specific alternative conceptions. It is well established through extensive studies that children develop their own “naive theories’ to explain the natural phenomena that they observe in the world around them and these alternative conceptions tend to persist despite schooling (Driver, Guesne, & Tiberghien, 1985).

Research on children’s alternative conceptions provided part of the impetus for a movement, towards a constructivist approach to science pedagogy (e.g. Driver & Easley, 1978). More recently socio-cutural theories based on those of Vygotsky and others have been applied to science learning and other pedagogical approaches have been explored based on constructivist theories of learning (e.g. Scott, Asoko, & Driver, 1991, Duit & Treagust, 2003).

However despite the development of constructivist pedagogical practices since the 1980s and of extensive research into conceptual change there is no clear evidence of how constructivist theories of learning relate to actual learning and to teachers’ practices (Harlen, 1999, Duit & Treagust, 2003).

IT–based resourcescan enable students to constructand explore their ideas and hence may increase pedagogical opportunities within a constructivist framework. Simulations in particular provide such opportunities.Earlier research showed that through using simulations students gained understanding of physical phenomena involving interacting variables (e.g. Whitelock, Taylor, O'Shea, & Scanlon, 1991).Where computer simulations of experiments were developed specifically to confront students' alternative conceptions in mechanics students’ conversational interactions showed that these interventions led to conceptual change (Tao & Gunstone, 1999, Monaghan & Clement, 1999).

Simulations of processes that cannot easily be observedpermit pupils to visualise and investigate these phenomena. For example Ardac and Akaygun (2004 ) carried out a controlled experiment with 13-14 year-olds using the Vischem software ( developed by Tasker and found a significantly higher performance of students who received multimedia instruction that integrated the macroscopic, symbolic, and molecular representations of chemical phenomena. Results relating to the long-term effects also indicated that students may benefit from additional prompting and guidance when processing distinct representations of the same phenomena. These studies highlight the complexity of the learning situation in which not all scaffolding has a positive effect on learning and the nature of such experimental studies precludes the ongoing pedagogical reasoning of the teacher which is crucialand is discussed later.

Some studies of computer simulations of experiments (Tao & Gunstone, 1999, Monaghan & Clement, 1999) were analysed to identify affordances, learning outcomes, and associated pedagogical practices that lead to conceptual change (Webb, 2005). For example, in a study by Tao and Gunstone (1999) a “Force and Motion Microworlds” (FMM) was integrated into a 10-week physics course for 15-year-olds in a Melbourne high school. The simulations were developed specifically to confront students' alternative conceptions in mechanics. The teacher had taught other parts of the course but was not involved in this part so that the students working in pairs were dependent on the worksheets, the microworld and each other. During the process, students complemented and built on each other’s ideas and incrementally reached shared understanding. Affordances were provided by various combined effects of the software, worksheets and interactions with other students (seeTable 1).

Table 1: Analysis of affordances for conceptual change in the Force and Motion Microworlds Activities (Webb, 2005)

Affordance for students / Elements that provide affordance / Elements that may increase degree of affordance / Elements that provide information about affordance
Investigating the consequences of making changes to objects in the microworld, e.g. Effects on a spaceship of shutting down all the rockets. / Force and Motion Microworld of a spaceship. / Ease of use of the software.
Worksheets with specific tasks. / Worksheets with specific instructions, e.g. “Do not fire any rockets’.
Explaining their predictions. / Prompts and questions on the worksheets.
Prompts from other students. / Clear focus of questions, e.g. “Is there a net force on the spaceship?’
Other students exchanging ideas. / Worksheets with clear structured prompts.
Other students’ explanations.
Checking a prediction. / Feedback from the microworld. / Ease of use of the software.
Graphical or animated feedback. / Worksheets with instructions to run the simulation with specific values.
Other students explanations.
Reconciling any discrepancy between their prediction and the observation in the microworld. / Prompt from the worksheet to explain in writing.
Questions, comments and prompts from other students. / Prompts from other students. / Worksheets with specific prompts for students to think.

In order to enable pupils to make good use of simulations some specific instruction may also be neededbecause some students lack the necessary skills of visualisation (Piburn et al., 2005).

In summary there is evidence presented here and elsewhere (Webb, 2005)that focusing on specific areas of difficulty and addressing this with carefully designed tasks with IT-based simulations can lead to productive learning. Most of the evidence is concerned with students aged 11-18 and little use is made of simulations in primary schools where real practical investigations perhaps supported by data logging and spreadsheets are felt by teachers to be more useful (Murphy, 2003).

The extent to which simulations should be used depends on decisions about the curriculum content which will be discussed laterand the comparative value of practical investigations and simulations which depends on the nature of the topic and the age of the students and needs further research. For the present we can be cautiously optimistic about the increasing use of simulations benefiting learning in science.

Learning by Modelling

While simulation software enables exploration ofpre-builtmodels by changing the values of their variables, modelling software supports learners in constructing their own models or adding to part-built models. Thus whereas a simulation program of a predator-prey relationship would allow students to changethe birth rate, death rate and starting population a modelling program would enable them to model the relationships and add new variables such as cover for the prey. Depending on the modelling environment this may involve:specifying formulae; writing a program in Logo-like language or manipulating a graphical or pictorial modelling language.

Understanding the use of models and modelling in science is important for developing scientific understanding (Brodie et al., 1994). However Duit and Treagust (2003) reviewed research into students’ development of modelling ability and reported that students “find the diverse models that are used to explain science challenging and confusing” (p 678).

There is evidence of the contribution of computer-based modelling to pupils’ learning in science. Earlier work in physics was reviewed Niedderer[mal2] et al. (1991), who concluded that computer-aided modelling at the upper-secondary level (students aged 16–19) does work in normal classroom settings and provides more complex and realistic examples of a larger number of phenomena. Primary pupils building qualitative models with educational modelling software learnt logical strategies for categorising science processes and could construct relevant and reliable models (Webb, 1993). Students in three 10th-grade classes in Israel who used three-dimensional modelling software (Barnea & Dori, 1999), showed considerable gains in understanding of molecular geometry and bonding.

Recent studies have begun to examine in detail pupils’ reasoning while collaborating with a modelling environment e.g. while modelling plant growth pupils were able to reason at several different levels of abstraction (Ergazaki, Komis, & Zogza, 2005). Other studies e.g. examining modelling of one-dimensional collisions between moving objects based on programming in ToonTalk (Simpson, Hoyles, & Noss, 2005) revealed the importance of providing a modelling environment with an appropriate level of complexity that enables pupils to focus on the scientific problem rather than the challenge of learning the software.

The use of computerised molecular modelling can enable students to achieve higher grades (Dori, Barak, & Adir, 2003 ). For example Dori and Barak (2001) conducted an experimental study with 276 pupils from nine high schools in Israel using a new teaching method in which pupils built physical and virtual three-dimensional molecular models. The pupils in the experimental group gained a better understanding of the concepts illustrated by the model and were more capable of defining and implementing new concepts. Specificallythey were more capable of mentally traversing across four levels of understanding in chemistry: symbol, macroscopic, microscopic and process.

The studies discussed here suggest that when provided with suitable software and scaffolding students can develop their understanding of concepts and interrelationships between ideas through building models. Generally the use of computer based modelling in school science is quite rare and certainly much less common than simulation mainly because it requires more planning and understanding by the teacher.

Using IT to support practical work[J3]

Devices for recording and analysing data automatically are now readily available and easy to use for field and laboratory investigations. These methods are referred to as data logging or Microcomputer Based Laboratories (MBL). Research into their value for learning over many years has produced varying results(Kulik, 2003). Barton (1997), in a review of research on data logging, concluded that the main benefit is time saving. However Linn and Hsi (2000) found that pupils are much better at interpreting the findings of their experiments when they use real-time data collection than when they use conventional techniques for graphing their data, and that this greater understanding is carried over to topics where they have not collected the data. Russell, Lucas, & McRobbie( 2004) found that interactions with MBLand associated student-student interactions were supporting deep learning.

Other benefits for students’ learning may derive from greater opportunities for meaningful interaction with teachers. For example, where students worked in groups using data-loggers to record experimental results this freed up the teachers to circulate and stimulate discussion and thinking about the results (Rogers & Finlayson, 2004).

Learning through authoring multimedia and video

Less research has been done into the use of video editing and multimedia authoring as an aid to science learning than into other types of IT use. Michel et al.(1999) suggested that allowing pupils to make video clips could develop their powers of observation and encourage pupils to think about exactly what should be recorded in order to explain a concept and hence develop understanding of scientific concepts. In one example from this study, a high school biology teacher produced a CD-ROM of short clips from tapes made by pupils during a long-term experiment to grow plants. The pupils later incorporated the clips into scientific presentations. In another study teachers found that filming and editing a video about forces helped pupils to assimilate scientific concepts more effectively, quickly and substantially than would have been achieved with handouts or textbooks (Reid, Burn, & Parker, 2002).

Other studies have begun to provide evidence of benefits of pupils authoring animations. For example an experimental study of students developing their own animations of molecular processes in heating and coolingsuggested that those who made animations had gained a better understanding than the control group (Vermaat, Kramers-Pals, & Schank, 2003).

Using online resources and information

Studies in the UK and US found thatstudents can benefitfrom access to online resources when extensive support and scaffolding are provided by theteacher (Rogers & Finlayson, 2004, Hoffman, Wu, Krajcik, & Soloway, 2003, Linn, Davis, & Bell, 2005).Effective scaffolding made use of electronic worksheets with salient hyperlinks, intranets with bounded databases and time-limited tasks to achieve focused work.

One approach developed in the US is that of the web-based inquiry science environment (WISE) whose website ( provides projects to support students in examining evidence and analysing scientific controversies e.g. GM-foods, global warning and antibiotics. The projects can be customised by teachers.

Student research projectssupported by IT

It has long been recognised that student research projects enable students to gain insight into how real science investigations may be conducted. For exampleuse of the internet and remote access telescopes allows students to undertake challenging research projects in optical and radio astronomy and make worthwhile contributions to professional programmes(Hollow, 2000). Projects are difficult for teachers to manage because students and teachers need access to a wide range of information but Web-based resources can support a range of student research projects including simple ones planned by individual teachers.

Computer types and display technologies

The nature of the hardware devices that enable interaction with the software and learning resources also affect learning opportunities within and beyond the classroom as well as classroom management. For example large screens can support whole class teaching and interactive whiteboards (IWBs) or mobile devices wirelessly linked to a data projector can support various types of interaction between students, computers and the teacher within the classroom. Many studies have been and are currently being undertaken to investigate the use and impact of IWBs and a review of the literature (Smith, Higgins, Wall, & Miller, 2005) reveals that teachers and pupils are overwhelmingly positive about their impact and potential. Case studies of six science teachers who were known to be using ICT effectively to support attainment (Cox & Webb, 2004) showed that these teachers did make extensive use of the display technologies[J4][DoE5]available for both teacher and pupils to present and explain ideas and information to the class. Where they had regular access to display technology teachers developed banks of multimedia-based resources. Science teachers identified the main additional advantages of display technologies as the ability to display educational software, or web pages, or store their board notes and diagrams and revisit them later in the same lesson or in a subsequent lesson (Cox & Webb, 2004,Hennessy et al., 2007). Teachers also felt that interactive whiteboards engaged the pupils more actively in class discussions, stimulated by the material displayed on the whiteboard and the possibility of entering new text, pictures etc. Developing pedagogical skills with using interactive whiteboards requires time and effort by teachers and detailed planning of teaching and learning sequences (Miller, Glover, & Averis, 2005).