Curriculum

ICT from the Eat-a-Metre Project

After a presentation about Eat-a-Metre at the UWE ICT conference last year, I looked at the feedback forms and was surprised to see that someone had questioned the ICT elements of the project.

Imaginative and creative teachers will hopefully look at the links to different ICT possibilities from the Eat-a-Metre framework and see a wealth of opportunity. Trying to get teachers and students to see that ICT is not just “done in computer suites” remains a key objective of the project.

ICT capability needs to be at the forefront of our thinking. True capability is developed when children have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the ICT and how it can assist them in their learning and communication within a range of contexts.

Core aspects of ICT Capability

The programmes of study for ICT group the knowledge, skills and understanding that children require into themes being:

Finding things out

1. Developing ideas and making things happen
2. Exchanging and sharing information

A further theme running through all of these is that of Reviewing, Modifying and Evaluating work as it progresses.

Finding things out

This theme is about:

1. understanding and using electronic information to handle data and undertake research.
2. understanding that vast amounts of information exist and about having effective enquiry skills in order to access information with a view to relevance, bias and accuracy.
3. understanding the strengths of storing, ordering, presenting and rapidly sorting data in electronic formats, and the importance of this in commerce and society.
4. using appropriate technologies and knowing what questions to ask and tools to use in order to solve a problem.
5. developing enquiry skills to plan, design and implement an investigation using appropriate tools, predicting possible and unlikely outcomes
6. using reasoning skills to determine the quality, reliability and validity of evidence, data and information.

Developing ideas and making things happen

This theme is about:

1. understanding and using elements of control technology, sensing, modelling and simulations in their learning
2. making changes and understanding that they can explore options to answer “what if” type questions
3. solving problems by prediction, trial and error and in refining instructions following feedback to control something
4. knowing that a simulation can represent real or imaginary situations and that this allows you to try things out that may be difficult to do in real life
5. identifying patterns, sequences, and cause and effect and understanding that solutions can be modelled using ICT tools

Exchanging and sharing information

This theme is about:

1. being able to communicate effectively with others through the sharing of information and in the presentation of their ideas in electronic format
2. understanding the strengths and dangers of electronic communication technologies and them
3. being aware off, and having an empathy with, an intended audience
4. being able to draw upon the multimodality that ICT offers in order to best meet the needs of an intended audience
5. being able to utilise a wide range of electronic formats such as digital images, digital video, text, sound and animations in their work
6. being able to communicate within and beyond the school including dialogue with experts

Reviewing and modifying work as it progresses

This theme is best integrated into the other themes and is about:

1. how children evaluate their learning and that of others
2. how they use that evaluation to inform further developments
3. being clear about learning intentions and evaluating progress through questioning, discussion and evaluation
4. using the outcomes of evaluation to inform future action
5. testing and refining, assessing , justifying, predicting and hypothesising, problem solving and checking for accuracy
6. understanding the advantages, dangers and moral issues in using ICT to manipulate and to present information to potentially large unknown audiences.

Progression of ICT Capability by themes

Finding things out: - Handling data
Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	Y6	Y7 and beyond
Know information exists in different forms. E.g. As part of work on healthy eating children interpret a pictogram showing preferences for various fruits.	Collect, organise and classify data. Create graphs and use these to answer questions E.g. collect and analyse data about themselves and beginning to consider validity/accuracy	Identify and develop a means of collection, and collect appropriate data. Use it to answer questions. E.g. design a questionnaire about playground activities and collate and present information electronically	In order to answer a question children collect, organise classify and interpret data and develop a simple database. E.g. construct a branching database to classify musical instruments	In order to solve a problem use ICT to collect and process data and present their findings. E.g. investigate the difference between the life expectancy of children in Victorian and modern times.	Generate process interpret, store and present data understanding the need for accuracy. E.g. gather data about holiday destinations visited by children across the school and present their findings related to the impact on the environment.	Select appropriate tools, information and processes having regard to accuracy and form for processing. E.g. as part of work on a system life cycle pupils interrogate information testing their hypotheses.

Finding things out: - Research
Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	Y6	Y7 and beyond
Explore information from different sources. E.g. use a simple topic based resource such as Talking Topics V2 (Sherston CD) or Nature Grid (web-based)	Ask a range of questions about the information they have gathered. E.g. interpret a chart showing shoe sizes and ask appropriate questions	Find specific information using a range of ICT based resources. This could be part of a wide range of subject contexts.	Following straight-forward lines of enquiry. E.g. Find information about diets in Roman times from a pre-prepared database	Analyse information and ask questions using complex searches. E.g. use the terms AND, OR. In their searches.	Interpret findings, check their plausibility and recognise that poor quality information leads to unreliable results. E.g. identify mistakes in measurement data leading to misleading graphs.	Interpret findings, taking account of plausibility and bias recognising that information requires more than a literal interpretation

Developing ideas and making things happen: - Control and sensing
Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	Y6	Y7 and beyond
Give and record individual instructions and make things happen. E.g. press buttons to control a robot or programmable toy and describe the effect	Predict, estimate and create a set of instructions to control devices and achieve specific outcomes. E.g. control a floor robot to move between two or more fixed points involving distance and turn.	Predict and test short sequences of linked Instructions to achieve intended outcomes. E.g. use a floor robot to travel between identified points on a floor map	Investigate physical data through sensing data. E.g. investigate changes in noise level in the classroom during a lesson	Refine instructions to improve the efficiency of a procedure they have created. E.g. devise a sequence of instructions using “repeat” to control a set of traffic lights, either as a model or through an on-screen mimic	Create a sequence of instructions to control events including the use of feedback from input devices. E.g. control an on-screen mimic representing a lighthouse so that the warnings are turned on or off depending on whether the sun is out or not.	Solve given problems requiring testing and refinement of individual components. E.g. modify sub routines and procedures as part of developing a system to meet a need.

Finding things out: - Research
Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	Y6	Y7 and beyond
Explore options and make choices. E.g. explore cause and effect by using different colours in a portrait to reflect different ways they feel	Use ICT to explore real and imaginary situations. E.g. answer “what if…?” questions using a visual simulation of feeding animals and the relationship of food to number and can explain what has happened and why.	Understand that they can explore a simulation and use this to change things and solve problems by identifying the rule. E.g. use a simulation (such as the BBC Science Clips re plant growth) and explain what rules they have discovered for successful completion.	Use an on screen turtle to explore and understand the impact of changing variables. E.g. edit a procedure to create a square by changing the side length. Explain what the resulting changes are.	Use ICT based models to explore variables to solve problems. E.g. use a pre-prepared spreadsheet to calculate the cost of fruit for their class and then investigate the effect of price changes or adding children to the class.	Add to and amend a given ICT model to solve a problem through a review of the rules and variables. E.g. set up a spreadsheet to calculate the costs of holidays to three destinations with different accommodation costs. Use to cost holidays for families of different sizes.	Create a simple model using a range of variables understanding that changing data within variables and variables can change the way the model behaves and can predict the effect of these changes. E.g. differences in mobile phone tariffs exploring variables of cost and time

Exchanging and sharing information: - Communication
Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	Y6	Y7 and beyond
Communicate and present their ideas using digital images, text and sound. E.g. take photographs of riding a bicycle, add a caption and or voice recording	Know how to express their ideas using a range of ICT tools. E.g. create an e-book about their locality in response to teacher led activity.	Record and present information integrating an appropriate range of electronic media for a given audience. E.g. create a presentation linked to a narrative unit of work.	Design and create their own multimedia presentation showing awareness of audience. E.g. produce a presentation for younger children on the properties of shape. Explain and justify presentation decisions.	Design, create and evaluate their own presentations maximising the use of ICT to present information in different ways. E.g. create a presentation about the school for the community, justifying the choice of medium and content.	Communicate information having made choices about the appropriate medium, content and structure demonstrating an understanding of audience and purpose. E.g. presentation of a design and technology project, such as building a fairground to potential theme park developers	Design for clear purpose and audience integrating a range of appropriate ICT tools demonstrating efficiency. E.g. To promote a business design a flyer for the target audience and integrate a data base to merge information.

Progression by year group