The Influence of a Technology-rich Classroom Environment on Elementary Teachers’ Pedagogy and Children’s Learning

Our goal is to investigate the role of ICT within the complex inter-relationships amongst aspects of the classroom setting which contribute to young children’s activity and learning. This paper focuses on the relationships between the many different features of the classroom which influence learning. These include the teacher’s plans and classroom organisation, the way in which the teacher mediates subject knowledge and ICT use for pupils, the children’s ICT capability, the nature of the tasks set and specific learning materials available, the software applications and digital resources available for both staff and children, and other aspects of the classroom environment. The influence of the technology’s features on teaching approaches and pupil learning was explored through classroom observation of teacher and pupil activity in the ‘core’ subjects English, Mathematics and Science in years 3 and 4 (aged 7-9 years), together with interviews with the class teachers. The data has been analysed using an established model for characterising ICT-based pedagogy based on teacher orchestration of the affordances and constraints of classroom resources. We set out the common features of the relationships found across the different classes, and make comparisons between subjects and classes. We draw conclusions concerning the teachers’ pedagogies together with pupil tasks and classroom organisation strategies which create effective learning environments involving the use of ICT and other resources.