C. The MIICE outcomes related to the abilities and attitudes of learners
5. Investigatory learning
This relates to learners' ability to search systematically and to make contextual use of the findings from a variety of sources, and to their ability to break down a project into manageable steps
Here is a number of illustrations from a wide spread of Scottish schools and education authorities of each of the 3 components. In each case there is one or more related capacities associated with A Curriculum for Excellence
5. Investigatory learning: searching and researching
Meudwen Henderson teaches a P7 class at Carolside Primary School in Clarkston in the southern suburbs of Glasgow. In today's lesson, she is covering environmental studies. This is part of a seven-week project, during which the pupils carry out internet research on different environmental topics and compile a PowerPoint presentation of their findings. Then, individually, they present their PowerPoint research to the rest of the class and the teacher. Each presentation is filmed by a classmate, for assessment purposes
Using the internet for environmental research
"very pleased with the level of research and with their final presentations" (Meudwen Henderson of Carolside Primary)
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: use technology for learning
A student from King's Park Secondary in Glasgow answers some questions from a teacher about the usefulness of a website about classical composers for Higher and Advanced Higher courses (53 seconds on video)
Composers archive (national priorities website)
"At the end of the website it gives you a list of all the works they've been working on throughout their life"
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: learning with technology
Gwen Kinghorn, then Head Teacher of Liberton High School in Edinburgh, reckons that there is clear evidence of improved attainment, including results in art and design (45 seconds on video)
"We have evidence from the pupils themselves, and to me that's the most powerful evidence. They are enthusiastic; they enjoy using these resources; they have told their teachers, both informally and formally, how much they have got out of this. I have evidence from the fact that they are regularly hitting the website in music; we can record that; we know that they're using it at home. And most important we are encouraging them to be independent learning"
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: enthusiastic and motivated to learn
- Successful learners: creative and independent learning
- Effective contributors: self-reliant
5. Investigatory learning: task analysis skills
Anne-Marie McDermott is very keen for pupils at Hazeldene Nursery in Newton Mearns in East Renfrewshire to use the digital stills camera themselves. Working with a group of four pupils, she encourages them to take photos of an activity where different food colourings are poured into water to see what happens when the colours mix and merge. The pupils help to transfer the photos to a laptop, print them out and put them into a 'talking photo album'
"The use of ICT gave added value to the activity and pupils became more familiar with the technology. The photos also provided evidence of the pupils' learning" (Anne-Marie McDermott, Hazeldene Nursery)
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: make reasoned evaluations
Staff and pupils from the P1 nurture class in Burnbrae Primary School in Glasgow use Storybook Weaver software (126 seconds on video)
"It's Storybook Weaver; and the story today is going to be in a garden"
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: being literate, communicative, numerate
- Effective contributors: creating and developing
Debbie Higson and some of her P6 pupils from Duns Primary School did a presentation to colleagues at the Scottish Borders Masterclass ICT event in May 2005 (261 seconds on video)
"This is something that has just recently appealed to me. That, using Digital Blue, is that we're beginning to raise attainment now" There was one little boy who came to me and he said "I've actually read my reading book", he said. "I've read the whole book from start to finish. Can I put it on to the Digital Blue camera?" And I said "Well, of course you can, yes". Now this child has never finished a book; he never takes it home; it sits on his desk, on his chair, in a tray; has never taken it home before. I spoke to Mum this week; I said "... Thanks ever so much, it's brilliant that he's read this book". She said "He actually sat on the back doorstep and read it to his little sister from cover to cover". And I'm thinking "Wow - this child has read one book this year; I'll put a tick up there somewhere"
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: independent and collaborative learning
- Confident individuals: relating to others and self-organised
- Effective contributors: creating and developing
5. Investigatory learning: collection and analysis of information
Pauline Carruthers teaches a P7 class at Gylemuir Primary School in Edinburgh. In today's science lesson, her pupils are using digital microscopes to study the structure of flowers and leaves that they collect from the school courtyard. The microscopes are connected to computers that allow the pupils to view magnified images of their specimens on the computer screen
"I feel like we learnt textures and things of plants, and seeing inside them. We've seen pollen, the stigma. Sometimes we saw inside the ovaries and all different things like that" (P7 pupil at Gylemuir Primary)
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: use technology for learning
Robert Sinclair of Laxdale Primary School in Lewis talks about the school's lunchtime 'health on the net' project (59 seconds on audio)
Health on the net (national priorities website)
"And they spend up to half an hour at lunchtime or an hour in an 'After School Club' looking at these different sites and they're all related to health. There are some from the BBC, some from NCH, and a number of other sites and it really just increases their own awareness about health issues"
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: learning with technology
- Confident individuals: being self-aware
Neil Woodcock of Jedburgh Grammar School is a regular user of PowerPoint. Listen to Neil's presentation to the Scottish Borders Masterclass ICT event in May 2005 about some of the ways in which he uses PowerPoint to help to teach (371 seconds on video)
"I'm a visual learner; I'm a technical teacher; I like doing things with hands on; I like seeing pictures and things. I like maps. If you want me to go somewhere, if you give me some printed instructions, no good. Give me a map; I can handle that"
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: learning with technology
- Effective contributors: solving problems
Trevor Bryant of Liberton High School in Edinburgh helped to develop an award-winning website for the art department - watch the demonstration and then listen to Trevor outline the benefits that using ICT for learning and teaching has brought to the students (90 seconds on video, then 56 seconds on video)
"I designed this quite extensive guide to appreciating figure sculpture, which is interactive; so they can look at uses of figure sculpture, find out more about each one; they can find about materials and techniques using sculpture and go to more information on those. They can look at historical and cultural styles, to see what they're going to find. And eventually the students have to actually go to certain venues, they have to do personal investigations, and from that they have to then go to different places in the city" then "The use of interactive presentations, like the figure sculpture one, means that the students can work confidently at home, either from a CD or from the website; they can explore it at their own time. at their own pace; and the proposed infaphone project will give them even more independent learning experience where they'll be able to access information way outside the normal environment of the classroom, supported by a teacher"
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: enthusiastic and motivated to learn
- Effective contributors: communicating in a variety of situations