The dialogue rendered below shows how pupils can come up short when trying to
find information on the net. When the pupils at Bridgeford School were working on
the topic ‘buildings and settlement in their local community’, some of them tried to
find a map of the area they were working on by searching the net. Rebecca, Jenny and
Lisa are sitting in front of the computer screen trying to find this map. Before this
brief exchange, the pupils have been trying to find maps at the computer for a while.
Rebecca starts:
Rebecca: Tour-map, write, scroll to the top again. Tour-map + Trondheim, write that.
Jenny: No, it doesn’t work (Jenny has done exactly what Rebecca told her to do, but
no map pops up on the screen).
Lisa: There has to be a tour-map for sure.
Rebecca: Do you know what? We’ve used a lot of time just to find a map.
Lisa: Yes, but when we’ve found it, then we’ve got it, you see. Try to write ‘Statens
vegvesen’ [Public Road Administration] + map.
Jenny: Okay (she sounds a bit resigned, but writes the words that Lisa has suggested).
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Advantages and disadvantages of using ICT 595
Lisa: You have to write Trondheim then, there’s a ‘Statens vegvesen’ [Public Road
Administration] in all municipalities.
Rebecca: I’ll go and look in an atlas (she gets up and walks away from the group).
Jenny: Oh, it’s so difficult to find maps, like (they have still not managed to find a
map). Do you know what? We can draw one (Jenny has tried Lisa’s suggestion,
but fails to find a map).
During this conversation, the pupils work together trying to help each other. According
to Mercer (1995), they are working at both the cumulative and the exploratory level.
The pupils make suggestions that they share with each other, and they inform the
others in the group about different ways of conducting their search. One of them also
tries to encourage the others to continue the work, and in addition argues for how they
should continue their search for information. In this way the pupils can develop their
methodological competence as part of their holistic development, a process that
includes gathering information. Thus, the dialogue can enhance learning (Bakhtin,
1981, 1986; Vygotsky, 1986/2000). On the other hand, the pupils did not find what
they were searching for on the net. Actually, the pupils ended up drawing a map
together.
According to Wegerif (1997), the mastering of complex interfaces is a common
problem when using open-ended software. Such a problem may also cause the pupils
to focus more on mechanical, procedural matters rather than on tasks they are to
solve, as in the Concept Kate game (Phillips & Scrimshaw, 1997). When searching on
the net, the pupils encounter problems that force them to use alternative tools, such
as a pencil and paper. In this way the interface turns out to be a hindrance to the
pupils’ activity in trying to solve the task. This shows that the pupils must learn search
techniques where the use of ICT can then be an advantage. This means that teachers
also have to learn to use the ICT equipment if they are to manage to help the pupils
exploit the possibilities it can offer.
In other situations, it could also be wise to advise the pupils not to use ICT in their
work. At Cooper School, the pupils were working on a project called ‘Emigration
to America’. While most of the pupils in a lesson rush to the computer lab, one of
the pupils said a little sardonically: ‘I can’t find my grandma on the internet’. The
pupils were trying to find some material for the topic. Obviously this pupil believes
that he can obtain more information for his topic from his grandmother by talking to
her face to face than on the internet. It turned out that many of the pupils encountered
problems finding the information they needed on the internet (Postholm,
2003). Thus, this project shows that not all information is necessarily found on
the net and that alternative tools, such as human beings, may be better sources for
gathering data.
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