National Curriculum I T Requirements

KEY STAGE 1 PROGRAMME OF STUDY

1. Pupils should be given opportunities to:

1. use a variety of IT equipment and software, including microcomputers and various keyboards, to carry out a variety of functions in a range of contexts;
2. explore the use of computer systems and control technology in everyday life;
3. examine and discuss their experiences of IT, and look at the use of IT in the outside world.

Pupils should be taught to:

2. Communicating and handling information

1. generate and communicate their ideas in different forms, using text, tables, pictures and sound;
2. enter and store information;
3. retrieve, process and display information that has been stored.

3. Controlling and modelling

1. recognise that control is integral to many everyday devices;
2. give direct signals or commands that produce a variety of outcomes, and describe the effects of their actions;
3. use IT-based models or simulations to explore aspects of real and imaginary situations.

KEY STAGE 2 PROGRAMME OF STUDY

1. Pupils should be given opportunities to:

1. use IT to explore and solve problems in the context of work across a variety of subjects;
2. use IT to further their understanding of information that they have retrieved and processed;
3. discuss their experiences of using IT and assess its value in their working practices;
4. investigate parallels with the use of IT in the wider world, consider the effects of such uses, and compare them with other methods.

Pupils should be taught to:

2. Communicating and handling information

1. use IT equipment and software to communicate ideas and information in a variety of forms, incorporating text, graphs, pictures and sound, as appropriate, showing sensitivity to the needs of their audience;
2. use IT equipment and software to organise, reorganise and analyse ideas and information;
3. select suitable information and media, and classify and prepare information for processing with IT, checking for accuracy;
4. interpret, analyse and check the plausibility of information held on IT systems, and select the elements required for particular purposes, considering the consequences of any errors.

3. Controlling, monitoring and modelling

1. create, test, modify and store sequences of instructions to control events;
2. use IT equipment and software to monitor external events;
3. explore the effect of changing variables in simulations and similar packages, to ask and answer questions of the _What would happen if...?' type;
4. recognise patterns and relationships in the results obtained from IT-based models or simulations, predicting the outcomes of different decisions that could be made.

KEY STAGE 3 PROGRAMME OF STUDY

Pupils should be taught to become critical and largely autonomous users of IT, aware of the ways in which IT tools and information sources can help them in their work; understand the limitations of such tools and of the results they produce; and use the concepts associated with IT systems and software and the associated technical terms.

1. Pupils should be given opportunities to:

1. use IT equipment and software autonomously;
2. consider the purposes for which information is to be processed and communicated;
3. use their knowledge and understanding of IT to design information systems, and to evaluate and suggest improvements to existing systems;
4. investigate problems by modelling, measuring and controlling, and by constructing IT procedures;
5. consider the limitations of IT tools and information sources, and of the results they provide, and compare their effectiveness and efficiency with other methods of working;
6. discuss some of the social, economic, ethical and moral issues raised by IT.

Pupils should be taught to:

2. Communicating and handling information

1. use a range of IT equipment and software efficiently to create good quality presentations for particular audiences, integrating several forms of information;
2. select appropriate IT equipment and software to fulfil their specific purposes;
3. be systematic in their use of appropriate search methods to obtain accurate and relevant information from a range of sources;
4. collect and amend quantitative and qualitative information for a particular purpose, and enter it into a data-handling package for processing and analysis;
5. interpret, analyse and display information, checking its accuracy and questioning its plausibility.

3. Controlling, measuring and modelling

1. plan, develop, test and modify sets of instructions and procedures to control events;
2. use a system that responds to data from sensors and explain how it makes use of feedback;
3. use IT equipment and software to measure and record physical variables;
4. explore a given model with a number of variables and create models of their own, in order to detect patterns and relationships;
5. modify the rules and data of a model, and predict the effects of such changes;
6. evaluate a computer model by comparing its behaviour with data gathered from a range of sources.

LEVEL DESCRIPTIONS

Level 1

Pupils use IT to assemble text and symbols to help them communicate ideas. They explore information held on IT systems, showing an awareness that information exists in a variety of forms. They recognise that many everyday devices respond to signals and commands, and that they can select options when using such devices to produce different outcomes.

Level 2

Pupils use IT to help them generate and communicate ideas in different forms, such as text, tables, pictures and sound. With some support, they retrieve and store work. They use IT to sort and classify information and to present their findings. Pupils control devices purposefully and describe the effects of their actions. They use IT-based models or simulations to investigate options as they explore aspects of real and imaginary situations.

Level 3

Pupils use IT to generate, amend, organise and present ideas. They use IT to save data and to access stored information, following straightforward lines of enquiry. They understand how to control equipment to achieve specific outcomes by giving a series of instructions. They use IT-based models or simulations to help them make decisions, and are aware of the consequences of their choices. They describe their use of IT, and its use in the outside world.

Level 4

Pupils use IT to combine different forms of information, and show an awareness of audience. They add to, amend and interrogate information that has been stored. They understand the need for care in framing questions when collecting, accessing and interrogating information. Pupils interpret their findings, question plausibility and recognise that poor quality information yields unreliable results. Pupils use IT systems to control events in a predetermined manner, to sense physical data and to display it. They use IT-based models and simulations to explore patterns and relationships, and make simple predictions about the consequences of their decision making. They compare their use of IT with other methods.

Level 5

Pupils use IT to organise, refine and present information in different forms and styles for specific purposes and audiences. They select the information needed for different purposes, check its accuracy and organise and prepare it in a form suitable for processing using IT. They create sets of instructions to control events, and are becoming sensitive to the need for precision in framing and sequencing instructions. They explore the effects of changing the variables in a computer model. They communicate their knowledge and experience of using IT and assess its use in their working practices.

Level 6

Pupils develop and refine work, using information from a range of sources, and demonstrating a clear sense of audience and purpose in their presentation. Where necessary, they use complex lines of enquiry to test hypotheses. They develop, trial and refine sets of instructions to control events, demonstrating an awareness of the notions of efficiency and economy in framing these instructions. They understand how IT devices can be used to monitor and measure external events, using sensors. Pupils use computer models of increasing complexity, vary the rules within them, and assess the validity of these models by comparing their behaviour with other data. They discuss the wider impact of IT on society.

Last Updated: November 2nd 2002