Children make decisions

Gerard McKernan teaches at Glenwood Nursery School where he is involved in a citizenship project designed to help pupils make informed choices and decisions. He works with Lesley Dawson, the nursery nurse, in getting the pupils to think about the purchasing and location of an interactive whiteboard in the nursery.

Pupils are involved in a number of information gathering activities at their local primary school which already has an interactive whiteboard. They use the digital still and video cameras to record their findings. The information they gather helps the pupils recall their visit to the primary school and what they learned in order to arrive at their decision.

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Teacher profile

Gerard McKernan studied at Glasgow University, Strathclyde University and St Andrew's College of Education. He began his teaching career in primary schools in Glasgow before moving to the Curriculum Studies department at the Faculty of Education, Glasgow University, where he lectured for three years in language and early childhood education. He left to work in pre-five education which, he says, is the area of teaching and learning that interests him the most.

Gerard has attended Masterclass training. He is the ICT coordinator and uses ICT a lot with pupils at the nursery - from ICT toys to the digital video camera.

Glenwood Nursery School is located in Thornliebank in East Renfrewshire and currently has 160 pupils attending. There are three teachers, six pupil development officers and one support assistant. Less than ten per cent of pupils speak English as a second language and a small number of pupils are registered as having special educational needs.

The local authority offers an extensive range of ICT training and the nursery has six computers.