REPORT 6:
Literature Review in Science Education
and the Role of ICT: Promise, Problems
and Future Directions
A Report for Futurelab
Jonathon Osborne, King’s College London
Sara Hennessy, University of Cambridge
Foreword
“Science education in the UK stands
poised to make the second fundamental
change in its nature. Having won the
battle that science education should be a
compulsory element of all children’s
education, it is now attempting to develop
a curriculum which is appropriate for all.”
Today, what ‘counts’ as science and
science teaching is in a state of flux.
This, however, is not new – for 150 years
there have been debates about the
purpose, nature and role of science
education in our society. Any designer of
resources and tools for the teaching of
science therefore needs to be able to
understand these debates, and to be
aware of the origins and reasons for the
changes that are currently taking place. |
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This review is intended as a useful
component in raising that awareness. It is
a guide to the history, principles, debates
and practices of science teaching in the
21st century and an introduction to the
roles that digital technologies, as key new resources for scientific endeavour
and communication today, might play in
the changing practices of science
teaching in our schools.
While the importance of informal learning
is recognised, this review describes and
contextualises the changes that are
taking place in science education
specifically in UK secondary schools. It
should be noted that Futurelab’s
partner publication ‘Primary Science and
ICT’ (2003) explores the development of
primary science while a further Futurelab report to be published in early
2004 will address the key role of informal
learning in science education.
We are keen to receive feedback on
the Futurelab reports and
welcome comments at
research@futurelab.org.uk.
Martin Owen
Director of Learning
Futurelab |
This report has been designed to enable both rapid identification
of the key findings and in-depth exploration of the literature.
The key findings and implications of the report are presented within the
Executive Summary and Implications Sections. The main body of the review enables
readers to explore in more detail the background to these headline issues.
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CONTENTS:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
SECTION 1
PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS
OF SCIENCE EDUCATION
THE ROOTS OF
SCIENCE EDUCATION
A CONTEMPORARY PICTURE
OF SCIENCE
THE PURPOSES OF
SCIENCE EDUCATION
SCIENCE EDUCATION
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
SECTION 2
THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IN
SUPPORTING SCIENCE
EDUCATION
THE USE OF ICT TO SUPPORT
SCIENCE TEACHING AND
LEARNING
ICT USE AND PEDAGOGY –
AN INEXTRICABLE LINK
USE OF ICT IN THE
SCHOOLSCIENCE LAB –
A REALITY CHECK
IMPLICATIONS FOR
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
CONCLUSION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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