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As it changes so frequently, books or studies instructing the use of ICT can quickly be outdated, and therefore, as opposed to teaching ICT as an individual subject, it can be more useful to include it within other areas of teaching. By doing so this gives other subjects an advantage, as ICT can “exchange, enrich, enhance, extend and empower”. NCSL (2006) This can range from a shallow and passive effect, such as “exchange” to a deep and active influence such as “empower. ” English, Maths and Science are three subjects where ICT can have such an influence.

Use of ICT in English ICT can be used to give children a sense of purpose during English, for example, writing for a real audience. According to Vygotsky (1978), if children can relate to what they are writing their enthusiasm for completing the task will increase and as a result, will generally produce better quality work. The website Shelfari (Shelfari, 2008) gives users the opportunity to write reviews about books they have read and by doing so, are also able to use others’ advice to choose books that may be of interest to them.

By reading other reviews, children will be able to identify a more mature style of writing, which can then be unknowingly adapted into their own work, improving their literacy skills and vocabulary. As the children will be learning to change their style of writing to communicate with people they don’t know, they will address the requirements of the National Curriculum English En3 Writing “1b) to use language and style that are appropriate to the reader. ” (National Curriculum, 2011) The children will be accessing the internet in this task, and so the issue of e-safety must be dealt with.

The site has a strong involvement in the reviews, and does not allow any explicit material. Also, it is an Amazon site, which is a name that is largely trusted. By using the internet, the children address features of the National Curriculum ICT “3a) how to share and exchange information in a variety of ways,” and also “3b) to be sensitive to the needs of the audience and think carefully about the content and quality when communicating information. ” (National Curriculum, 2011) The children need to have progressed to “free reading” in order to find their books on the website and also need the ability to write good reviews.

Therefore, Year 5 or Year 6 would be best suited for this activity. The children would also each need access to a computer, and could be completed individually once they complete a book, prior to choosing a new one or alternatively as a class activity. If completed individually, this would reach “Empower” (NCLS, 2006), as children take control of their own learning. On placement, the children found choosing a new book difficult, and so Shelfari could quicken this process and increase children’s enthusiasm for reading.

The activity could also save time, as when on placement I saw that children spent time drawing pictures when writing reviews. If this is entered into Shelfari as an alternative, the layout is already eye-catching and this is not required from the children. According to Barker et. al (2000), book reviews are a crucial part of improving literacy skills for children as they develop crucial skills, and also “enables children to become experts in their own right on some area of an author or a subject. ” This in turn, develops a passion for reading.

Therefore, using ICT can be a beneficial way of developing children’s linguistic abilities through sharing opinions on a much wider scale, and being introduced to a more advanced literacy world. Use of ICT in Maths Whilst on placement, the 28 Year 4 children that I worked with were collecting data about how they travelled to school. They collected the data in the form of a tally by asking each child in the class. Here, they met the National Curriculum ICT “1a) to talk about what information they need and how they can find and use it. (National Curriculum, 2011)The task was done quickly, by the children with no teacher interference. The teacher later explained to me that he wished to look back at the task, and evaluate whether it was a fair test, what their results were and what could have been done to improve the accuracy of these results. This, in my opinion, is a good opportunity for the use of ICT. Once the children have entered their data into a spreadsheet, they would be able to create a basic formula to total the amount of children, to ensure that each child had participated, showing that the results were a fair representation of their class.

This would both teach children the basic creation of formulas in Excel, but also enhance their Mathematical research. Here, they would address the requirements of the National Curriculum ICT “1c) to interpret information, to check it’s relevant and reasonable and to think about what might happen if there were any errors or omissions. ” (National Curriculum, 2011)They could also present their results in the form of a pie chart or bar graph and discuss what they found about their data, which can provide more “sophisticated interrogation” of their data (Allen et al, 2007. This is appropriate as it provides a clearer picture for reading data and can be easily changed if necessary. They also achieve sections of the National Curriculum Maths Ma4, Processing, Representing and Interpreting Data. In particular, “2f) draw conclusions from statistics and graphs and recognise when information is presented in a misleading way [… ] using a vocabulary that includes the words ‘equally likely’, ‘fair’, ‘unfair’, ‘certain’. ” (National Curriculum, 2011) Briggs and Pritchard (2002) show how spreadsheets can compile accurate results that can be easily manipulated, and how this is particularly useful for real situations.

Being able to convert findings into a graph gives a meaning to work, which gives an individual sense of purpose that would not have been achieved if the teacher had assigned the data and graph. It can also be used to teach children how to create and interpret their own graphs. This reaches “Enhance” NCLS (2006), as children are deepening their mathematical learning through the use of ICT. In a previous school experience, I found that children had difficulty calculating the layout of their graph on the page.

They struggled to understand how the graph they were to create could fit onto their page, with the data on the axis having a sequence. By looking at how the software creates this, children can visually and kinetically interact with this feature. Use of ICT in Science Meadows (2004) describes how a common misconception for children aged 5-8 is that “Light comes from the sky. ” The aim of this activity is therefore to prove this theory wrong, and to show children that light is both natural and artificial. By using a light meter, children can measure light in different areas.

This will show how, as well as the sun and stars, light can come from artificial sources such as light bulbs, car headlights or buildings. Here, children fit the National Curriculum ICT “1b) how to prepare information for development using ICT” and also “2b) how to create, test, improve and refine sequences of instructions to make things happen and to monitor events and respond to them. ” (National Curriculum, 2011) ICT is crucial in this activity, as without; there would be no evidence to prove theories.

The importance of this is reinforced by Williams (2003) who states that “A good scientific enquiry should produce proven evidence to substantiate its findings. ” This not only convinces the children that their results are true to assist them in accepting an idea, but also teaches the importance of supporting theories with evidence. Also, the data that is received from the light meter can later be analysed to find trends and to determine the strongest and weakest sources of light that the children discovered. This would again “Enhance” NCLS (2006) the learning, as the children’s scientific awareness is enhanced through the use of ICT.

This activity would be most suited to Year 3 children, as they would gain a wider understanding of differentiating the sources of light and would have the ability to analyse their results effectively. They will also correct their original view that “light comes from the sky. ” By doing so, they understand a requirement from the National Curriculum Science. “3a) that light travels from a source. ” (National Curriculum, 2011)The task could be completed in small groups, preferably consisting of 3 children so that it can be ensured that the readings are not only taken accurately, but also recorded accurately.

Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that other areas of the curriculum can be improved through the use of ICT. These main benefits include a wide access of resources available, ability to develop skills through visually assessing how software deals with problem solving and also measuring data to create accurate results, and therefore accurate conclusions. In each of these situations, the activity would not have been as successful without the use of ICT, reinforcing its significance within the classroom.