ABSTRACT
All state maintained schools are expected to have plans in place to support the use of ICT in the specific subjects across the curriculum. Many schools have intranets which hold the shared teaching materials of the department including images, simulations, interactive worksheets and so on. Many schools and subject associations also have material openly available on their website which you will find valuable in developing your understanding about the use of ICT in your subject area. In Chapter 2 there are examples of ICT projects involving staff and departments across the school as well as whole year groups. In this chapter, we discuss projects which can be achieved with smaller groupings of staff and pupils and in particular projects which you can undertake in your own classroom. As using and developing multimedia with pupils is covered in Chapter 7, the focus in this chapter is on utilising the communicative potential of ICT through email and internet projects. Examples from specific subject areas will lead to a consideration of principles underlying good practice with ICT and you will be asked to plan for your own classroom. In considering the use of ICT, this chapter reflects the principle that ICT should be integrated into all curriculum areas. Some schools have video conferencing facilities. If this is the case in your school, then we suggest that you observe lessons where this equipment is used before trying it yourself:
There is a wide range of contexts in which teachers and pupils work and the provision for ICT is one of the most varied. Some schools are able to provide large numbers of high specification computers, whilst others are slowly developing their provision. School policies for the development of ICT reflect great differences in the knowledge and expertise of
USING ICT IN YOUR PARTICULAR SUBJECT
teachers and managers, as well as differences in funding. All these influences will have a considerable impact upon your own classroom.
