C. The MIICE outcomes related to the abilities and attitudes of learners
7. Motivation
This relates to the degree of learners' enthusiasm, pride in their work, enterprise and active participation in their own learning
Here is a number of illustrations from a varied selection 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
7. Motivation: enthusiasm and enterprise
Louise Collins is a teacher in Ayr Grammar Primary School who is using an interactive whiteboard to enhance a maths lesson about shapes and angles. She has designed her own flipcharts for this lesson. Each of the nine pupils in the maths set gets a chance to come up to the whiteboard and move shapes around or measure angles
Shapes and angles on an interactive whiteboard
"The pupils were motivated and stayed 'on task' all the way through" (Louise Collins, Ayr Grammar Primary)
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: use technology for learning
Maureen Balloch of St Mary's Primary in Glasgow is convinced that use of ICT solutions has helped the children in the relatively deprived area which is served by the school in the Maryhill district of Glasgow (56 seconds on audio)
ICT & attainment (national priorities website)
"It's made the children much more motivated in their work, much more willing to complete tasks, to take themselves forward. They've found it very challenging and I think, yes, we can say it has improved their attainment, in maths and language, in their topic (environmental studies), their enterprise work"
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: enthusiastic and motivated to learn
- Confident individuals: developing and communicating views and beliefs
- Effective contributors: communicating in a variety of situations
Donald Morrison, head of history at Ellon Academy, has created a huge range of Microsoft PowerPoint resources for teaching history at secondary level. In this Higher class on the nineteenth-century suffrage movement, his presentation includes lists of relevant web pages, an analysis of exam questions that have come up in recent years, and content-based slides, which he uses as a basis for discussion with pupils
"using new and colourful ways of presenting information addresses the needs of pupils across a wide ability range. He doesn't want to be simply a 'talking head' as his history teacher was" (Donald Morrison of Ellon Academy)
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: learn independently and as part of a group
Tony Gavin, formerly Head Teacher of St Margaret's Academy in Livingston, interviews a group of 6 students from the school about their views on the use of the virtual learning environment (195 seconds on video)
Benefits of VLE (national priorities website)
"It does lots of things, it can help you revise for tests; it can help you with homework, things like that. ...I just look up help for my homework, and that. ... I've used it at home to play games and stuff; it's fun; it's no' like boring stuff, like just copying off the board; you can play games and learn at the same time"
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: learning with technology
- Successful learners: applying learning in new situations
7. Motivation: pride in work
Colgrain Primary School in Helensburgh has a wireless network. As the pupils in Alistair Turnbull's composite P4/P5 class go into the classroom, they each take an iBook from the cabinet where the computers have been charging overnight. Today Alistair is showing them how to import photographs and vary the style of text using AppleWorks so they can each produce an attractive page about their school. They plan to send the pages to a school in Russia that they are linking up with
"The children say they enjoy using the iBooks because correcting text is easy and their work always looks neat" (children in Colgrain Primary)
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Effective contributors: create and develop
Janice Giuliani teaches at New Abbey Primary School in Dumfries and Galloway. Today's lesson, which is part of a project about travel, involves a role play activity - one pupil plays the travel agent and another plays the client - the pupils have to fill in an online holiday booking form that Janice has created
"the pupils achieved the outcomes she had in mind in terms of language and ICT skills. She is very pleased with the level of attention from the pupils during her demonstration on the interactive whiteboard" (Janice Giuliani of New Abbey Primary)
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: use literacy, communication and numeracy skills
Terry Rowland teaches health and food technology at Linlithgow Academy. In today's session, some of her S2 students cook a dish they have created themselves, carry out a nutritional analysis and produce a food label for it. This is part of a national project called Taste of Success, which gives pupils the brief to create a main course dish that is low in salt and uses seasonal Scottish vegetables
"using ICT was motivating for the pupils, especially when they produced attractive and professional labels for their products" (Terry Rowland, Linlithgow Academy)
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Confident individuals: pursue a healthy and active lifestyle
7. Motivation: enterprise and active participation in their own learning
Rhona Mackenzie is an ICT coordinator who supports ICT in 25 schools in East Renfrewshire. At Crosshouse Primary near East Kilbride, she is running an after-school video club for P6 pupils. The pupils are aiming to produce a video about caring for the environment, which can be used in citizenship lessons by other classes in the school
"the pupils becoming more confident in using the equipment, taking ownership of the project and starting to plan and structure their films" (Rhona Mackenzie, East Renfrewshire Council)
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Responsible citizens: develop informed, ethical views of complex issues
Marion Docherty, Head Teacher of St David's High School in Dalkeith, speaks about the benefits of use of ICT since they moved into their new, well equipped building (56 seconds on audio)
"it's very clear that online learning enhances the quality of differentiation in the curriculum; it allows young people to engage with the whole process of learning by being interactive - by using the ActiveBoards, by being able to work at their own pace. And it adds a fun element to it"
A Curriculum for Excellence
- Successful learners: creative and independent thinking
- Effective contributors: taking initiatives and leading