ICT can improve pupil attainment
The development of pupils' attainment in ICT skills and concepts will be seen over time as pupils begin to work through programmes of study in different curriculum areas and sequences of skill- and concept-building outlined in national guidelines and this guide. It is important that schools not only plan and
The evidence is beginning to appear with regard to improving pupils' general
attainment or attainment in particular subjects. The recently published
HMI report, The Use of ICT in Learning and Teaching (Scottish Executive
Education Department, 2000), indicates that while it is not always easy
to quantify the extent to which pupils' attainment results solely from
the effective use of ICT, it is making a key contribution. It is plain
from both the HMI and teaching staff viewpoints in a number of cases that
the role and contribution of ICT has been of paramount importance in the
increased effectiveness of both teaching and learning.
In English language, from the early stages to S2, there are a number of
examples of pupils making good use of computer skills to improve literacy.
The use of the concept keyboard to develop reading and writing skills
has had a positive impact with many younger pupils, who have improved
their understanding of not only text decoding in reading but also text
construction in writing.
In one primary school, pupils made extensive use of a commercial program that generated text, graphics and sound effects for pupils to produce individual storybooks to a high level of presentation standards. The pupils took great delight and pride in reading their stories to each other and to visitors. The school library also displayed a magnificent collection of these small books, which were read avidly by appreciative, and at times constructively critical, young readers who voiced not only language observations but also commented on how they would have used the technology differently to present the story.
The HMI report describes how, in other schools, capitalising on the audience for class and school newspapers has also resulted in pupils becoming absorbed in a real task that has encouraged their development with regard to a range of important skills in organisation and communication, as well as language and ICT capability.
In mathematics, teachers have reported pupils gaining a greater general understanding of the aspects of shape, position and movement through the use of floor and screen turtles. Others report the database and spreadsheet capabilities of computers as having a significant effect on pupils' understanding of data collection and organisation as well as the presentational elements, such as a variety of graph types. Where such work is based on local and first-hand data, pupils have seen the application of their work in the context of local topics and issues, often with immediate spin-off in the areas of citizenship and community perspectives.
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