The Interactive Whiteboards, Pedagogy and Pupil Performance ...

Science classroom that map onto existing pedagogic practices, but this is less
the case in the English classroom. There are canonical visual representations
and demonstrations in the Maths and Science curriculum which the visual
features of IWBs, such as drawing software and peripherals like visualizers,
can enhance leading to new forms of display and collective analysis.
• The IWB can represent concepts dynamically – rotate objects, represent
objects moving in relation to one another, show process of change - in ways
that overcome some traditional learning problems that have been produced by
the static character of images in the Science and Maths classroom. This
potential can enable concepts to be represented in ways that help students to
see something newly and differently and in doing show shift the curriculum
focus. For example dynamic representation of states of matter can enable
students to engage with representations of the process of transformation of
one state of matter to another (e.g. a liquid to a gas) in the Science
classroom. The potential for dynamic representations to contribute to learning
within the English curriculum is less clear, except in relation to the analysis of
dynamic texts (e.g. films) and media concepts related to film and animation.
• In the English classroom the focus is on the display of dynamic texts rather
than their manipulation as is the case in Maths and Science. Often the work
of the English curriculum is to ‘translate’ the visual and multimodal into written
forms. Concepts may be represented in a variety of forms. The use of image
in the English classroom occurs most often in lower ability classes – in which
the visual is seen as a pedagogic tool for engaging less linguistically literate
students: for example lower ability students may be shown the film of a play
and read one or two acts of the play while higher ability students are more
likely to read the whole play and be shown one or two acts on film. In this
way the curriculum that is made available to students is intimately tied to the
forms of representation of the classroom.
Summary
The question of what mode is ‘best’ for what purpose depends on the curriculum
subject. This is key to understanding how the multimodal facilities of the IWB are
taken up across the curriculum subjects and topics and applied according to the
teachers’ perception of the abilities of the students.
5.10.5 Interactivity
The type of interaction and interpretation required in the English, Maths and Science
classroom are different in character.
• The stress on investigation, demonstration and physical manipulation as ways
of engaging with concepts place different demands on learners in Maths and
Science compared with English.
• The dominant focus on writing in the English classroom means that the texts
that students make often come to stand for the student and represent their
work and the end product of a process of learning. This provides a context
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