ABSTRACT
In the current National Curriculum in England, and other countries, ICT exists as a separate subject, but there is also an explicit expectation that it should also be used across the curriculum in the primary school. Whilst details may vary between countries, and even change with each new government, the main point is that ICT has two purposes. As Hall (2010) points out, all pupils have an entitlement to develop [individual] skills, but they also need to use them to enhance learning across the curriculum. In this chapter we will consider how ICT can be used effectively to enhance a range of subjects, but also how subject ‘lenses’ can lead to new ways to use ICT for both teachers and pupils (Beauchamp, 2010). We have seen in previous chapters that such an approach is in line with a more pupil-focused, rather than subject-focused, pedagogy. If pupils are able to try and solve, for instance, a mathematics problem by examining it from a variety of perspectives (using ICT as appropriate), they are more likely to be both motivated and able to find a range of possible solutions. These different perspectives, or lenses, will be examined in more detail below but we must first consider the ‘official’ view of how ICT should be used across the curriculum, before moving to examine other approaches.
