Teachers’ Guide

4.1 How to use Interactive Whiteboard to actively involve students in learning science

Within the framework of the “Chemistry is All Around Network” project, a pedagogical scenario was designed so as to integrate ICT in an investigative approach in a chemistry lesson. The purpose was to support the investigative approach, to provide a gradation of abstraction levels and to develop various scientific, technical and transversal skills. The scenario was built on an interactive whiteboard (IWB). The theme developed was the discovery of the chemical reaction for students of the second cycle (14 years old) of secondary school. This scenario was tested partly with 1st year university students (future science teachers) and partly with 3rd year secondary school students. Thanks to those first targeted experiments, it was possible, through a reflexive analysis, to identify and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the activities at different moments of the process.

In this scenario, the ICT resources integrated in the IWB are mainly used during the questioning, students’ hypotheses, investigation, result analysis and communication phases. The IWB is a medium with many advantages regarding communicational as well as didactical quality to support the investigative approach. cf. complete analysis.

To support the phases of experience observation, dynamic phenomena modelling and transition to symbolic writing of chemical equations, the learning sequence integrates the use of videos and screen captures, traditional modelling and modelling supported by flash animations and existing ICT resources. It is a “conceptualisation” type modelling that simplifies phenomena at best to bring out the concepts more easily (conceptual models) in order to help students build a mental representation of them. It is unavoidable in chemistry to help students overcome their understanding problem. In this regard, animations are considered relevant to illustrate the dynamics of a phenomenon but they must not disturb the investigative approach (questioning and investigation phases). Moreover, one must make sure that students are able to put things into perspective when facing modelling. Indeed, a model can simulate one specific aspect of a phenomenon but it can generate wrong representations due to its simplifying feature.

Online Resources

• Chemistry is All Around networkEuropean project (2012-2014) to promote chemistry education in secondary schools.
• Issues, Initiatives and Prospects of ICT Use in Chemistry TeachingConference paper by Divna Brajkovic (2014) about successful experiences in using ICT for chemistry education in Belgium, as part of the European project “Chemistry is All Around Network”.