Promoting thinking skills within the secondary classroom using digital media

One of the recurring themes concerning the integration of ICT into secondary education relates to opportunities for moving classroom-based activities for learners towards higher levels of thinking and learning. The research described in this paper involved an investigation of the implementation of digital media into a New South Wales Year 9/10 IST (Information and Software Technology) elective course. It concentrated on the subsequent assessment and impact that the software has had on creating an inquiry-based situation to promote higher-order thinking skills of students within a secondary classroom completing digital media projects for the web. The case study of a composite class of fifteen Year 9 and 10 students utilised a mixed methodology involving both qualitative and quantitative procedures. Results from the study suggested that technology allowed learning and motivation of students to be enhanced and that there was a willingness exhibited by individuals to engage in tasks and discussions. It is argued that teaching and learning can be enriched as the technological tools and pedagogical processes are brought together in appropriate ways. By referring to the integration of technology as being a meaningful tool that will fransform the culture of schools but requires attention to the habits of mind; newly defined thinking tasks such as problem solving, and the necessary cognitive operations such as analysing, inferring and evaluating are possible