Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (1996) 12, 127-128

Book Review

Title: Author: L. Smart Publisher/dute: Cassell, London, 1995 Price:

Using I.T. in Primary School History

f40.00 (hardback - ISBN 0304 328278) €12.99 (paperback - ISBN 0304328294)

It is hard to review this book without resort to platitudes, not because it is a book of platitudes but because it is a book of good sense.

Lez Smart takes the view that IT can facilitate and enhance much history work, but that 'it is what IT adds to the teaching of history in the primary school that makes it so exciting' (p. 109). He develops this claim by describing the uses of a text and graphics package and of a computer data- base on the National Curriculum topic 'Victorian Britain'; of a timeline, which is treated as different type of database, on the topic 'Life in Tudor Times'; and of CD-ROM resources in the context of work on 'Invaders and Settlers'. These three clearly-written chapters are sensitive both to the history and the IT requirements of the 1995 National Curriculum and are well-grounded in classroom experience. The last chapter underscores this by discussing issues of classroom management, including the perennial problem of ensuring fair access to the machines, as well as considering differentiation and assessment. This chapter, as he notes, could have been considerably expanded, a theme that will be developed later in this review.

The book seems to be trying to do four things. First, to convince readers of the fruitfulness of using IT in history. Not only does primary history benefit, but children's command of IT is also enhanced by such purposeful activities, and their thinking may proceed at higher levels than would have been the case with older technologies.

Secondly, to describe useful practices, which are very closely linked to the National Curriculum. Here, the book may be seen as a set of worked examples that practitioners might wish to copy into their own practice. However, it is possible that teachers, who for understandable reasons want 'practical' books, might want to see more detail about the three topics. This might seem to be a perverse comment, since each of these chapters runs to 25 pages or so. However, National Curriculum requirements are repeated in the chapters, which makes for ease of use but at some cost to the depth of coverage. Moreover, there is some concern to describe how teachers formerly used IT in primary history work. While that is not without interest, there is a case for asking how much it adds to such a book. In addition, his third aim, discussed below, further limits the amount of space available for going into detail on the three topics. Comparison of the chapter on Victorian

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Life with Arkell's 1989 article 'analysing Victorian census data on computer' shows something of the possibilities Smart has not been able to explore.

Thirdly, he wishes to give a view of current beliefs about good practice in teaching history. In this he succeeds, and he is clearly right to insist that there is little point in using IT packages in pursuit of poor conceptions of the subject. His treatment of primary sources, chronology and interpretation are lucid and well-based. These sections have much to offer anyone wanting insights into the principles of primary history, although there are, obviously, other things to be said. However, these strong sections, necessary as they are, further restrict the space available for showing how IT might be brought to bear in these topics.

Fourthly, he analyses some of the educational issues attaching to the use of IT in primary schools, taking history learning as the case in point.

The outcome is a well-integrated book, but it is also one that touches too lightly on some general educational issues and that does not address others, for example whether gender affects the nature of computer usage in history learning, and the circumstances under which using IT enhances the quality of group interaction. There are also aspects of IT usage that might have had more attention. The potential of the Internet is noticed, obliquely, which is perhaps reasonable, given the current costs of access to it. However, neglect of history games and simulations is less explicable, not least because of the claims that have been made that such simulations, by putting children into role, can help them to understand the reasons why people lived and acted as they did. 'Empathy' may no longer be a fashionable word, but the core idea, that history involves trying to stand in the shoes of actors in the past, is still important. This is a somewhat neglected aspect of Smart's generally striking discussions of what makes history a distinctive discipline.

Carping though these remarks sound, this is a well-written and ambitious book, and will have a great deal to offer many practitioners. However, the group who it serves perfectly are undergraduate students who have to do assignments on the value of IT in primary history. I expect the quality of such assignments to improve noticeably in coming years.

Peter Knight, Educational Research, Lancaster University.

Reference

Arkell, T. (1989) Analysing Victorian census data on computer. Teaching History, 54, 18-25.