100 1CT Integration

Law et al. (2000) suggest that ICT can be used for five not necessarily mutually exclusive teaching and learning strategies: exposition, inducti00, task-based learning, problem-based learning and social-constructivist learning. Let us look at each of these possible strategies in turn. Expositio i Exposition. where the teacher explains facts, concepts, rules and procedures, asks the pupils questions and then bases their further teaching on the pupils responses, is very common in the Asian classroom. Here the teacher can use Word documents, PowerPoint, slideshows and the Web to motivate and teach the class by providing useful summaries, visual presentations, demonstrations and reaL world examples, and to test pupils understanding by using drill and practice and multip [c-choice tests. A science teacher with a Grade 6 class in the private, co-educational Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Laguna in the Philippines showed the pupils specially- prepared PowerPoint and Web-sourced multimedia material on science and health topics on an LCD projector. He did so to expand the content beyond the textbook and bring life and excitement to the scientific concepts. As each slide flashed on to the screen, the teacher checked the pupils understaudiug by asking them to provide similar examples to those he presenteci. He then asked them to work in small groups on PCs in the computer lab, build on what he had taught them by finding out further information on the Web, produce multimedia reports and present their findings to the rest of the class. lie assessed their efforts on the basis of their teamwork and collaborative learning, the accuracy and originality of their presentations, and the impact that these had on the other children in the class. In Punta Engano High School in Lapu-Lapu City, also in the Philippines, the teachers used PCs and PowerPoint, not only to present their material more clearly and graphically than through the textbooks, but to encourage more active learning. They invited the pupils to come up to the front of the classroom, type in missing words, correct deliberate errors, manipulate data, and discuss similarities and differences in the material they presented.2 Induction Using an inductive approach, the teacher helps to bring about learning by inviting the pupils to find explanations for certain facts and issues, collect evidence in support of certain propositions, and through such exploration and discovery, arrive at their own answers and understanding. Learning in this way, the pupils may cover less ground but as Law et a!. (2000) observe, the learning can be more motivating, deeper and more permanent and the iearners can become more independent and resourceful in their learning and more prepared to accept different points of view. Such an approach can also help the pupils externalise their thinking and collaborate in their learning.