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Teaching and Learning with ICT
in the Primary School
New Information and Communication Technologies are significantly
enhancing pupil learning and altering the most common methods by which
children acquire information and knowledge. The internet and other forms of
ICT are already beginning to radically change teaching practice and learning
in the UK and Europe. Through the internet, teachers and pupils around the
world can send text, sound and pictures to each other with ease.
UK government initiatives such as the National Grid for Learning have
indicated that teachers must move swiftly to more internet and web-based
work in schools. Governments in other countries are encouraging similar
developments. In response to these initiatives Teaching and Learning with ICT
in the Primary School aims to introduce teachers to the range of ways in which
ICT can be used to support and extend the teaching and learning
opportunities in their classrooms.
Chapters cover areas such as:
• literacy, numeracy, science, and their relationship with ICT;
• managing curriculum projects using ICT;
• creating and using multimedia applications.
Ideas and activities for teachers to try are based on tried and tested methods
from innovative schools around the UK and abroad. Practising teachers and
students will find this an invaluable guide on how to work together to extend
their skills and knowledge in the area of ICT.
Marilyn Leask is Principal Lecturer in Education at De Montfort University.
She has worked on a number of ICT educational projects, is coordinator of
The Learning School project within the European SchoolNet and joint editor
of the Routledge series Learning to Teach in the Secondary School.
John Meadows is Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at South Bank
University. He has been involved in ICT projects such as Computer Pals
Across the World and the NCET Communique Project. Both authors are
members of TeachNet UK and MirandaNet.

Teaching and Learning with
ICT in the Primary School
Edited by
Marilyn Leask and John Meadows
London and New York

First published 2000
by RoutledgeFalmer
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeFalmer
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
RoutledgeFalmer is an imprint of the Toylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.
© 2000 editorial and selection matter Marilyn Leask and John
Meadows, individual chapters their authors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Teaching and learning with ICT in the primary school/
[edited by] Marilyn Leask and John Meadows.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-21504-8 (hbk.). —ISBN 0-415-21505-6 (pbk.)
1. Education, Elementary—Great Britain—Computer-assisted
instruction. 2. Internet (Computer network) in education—Great
Britain. 3. Telecommunication in education—Great Britain. I. Leask,
Marilyn, 1950– . II. Meadows, John.
LB1028.5.T382 2000
372.133’4’0941–dc21 99–40326
CIP
ISBN 0-415-21504-8 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-21505-6 (pbk)
ISBN 0-203-13704-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-18285-5 (Glassbook Format)

Contents
Illustrations vii
Contributors x
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xv
A Note to Readers xvi
1 Why use ICT? 1
JOHN MEADOWS AND MARILYN LEASK
2 Reading and Writing with ICT 20
RAY BARKER, GLEN FRANKLIN AND JOHN MEADOWS
3 Extending Talking and Reasoning Skills Using ICT 39
LYN DAWES, NEIL MERCER AND RUPERT WEGERIF
4 Creativity, Visual Literacy and ICT 65
AVRIL LOVELESS WITH TERRY TAYLOR
5 Mathematics and ICT 81
HAMISH FRASER
6 Science and Environmental Issues and ICT 97
JOHN MEADOWS
7 History and ICT 112
JOHN SAMPSON
8 First Steps in Organising ICT in the Primary Classroom 124
JOHN POTTER
9 Creating and Using Multimedia Applications 144
JANE MITRA

vi Contents
10 Managing Curriculum Projects Using ICT 162
DARKEN LEAFE
11 Talking to the World through Video, Sound and Text 179
GORDON JAMES
12 Undertaking an ICT Self-Audit 195
LYN DAWES AND MARILYN LEASK
13 Networking People and Computers 212
JOHN MEADOWS WITH KEN MILLAR
14 Linking Home and School Use 230
MARILYN LEASK AND NORBERT PACHLER
WITH RAY BARKER AND GLEN FRANKLIN
Appendix Initial Teacher Training National Curriculum
for the use of Information and Communications
Technology in Subject Teaching 249
Index 266

Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Websites available for a range of professional purposes 6
2.1 Not Now Bernard—wanted report 23
2.2 Not Now Darren by Darren 24
3.1 The TRACKS software 48
3.2 Kate’s choice 51
3.3 Worksheet (1a) a list of talk words 58
3.4 Worksheet (1b) Sorting talk 59
3.5 Worksheet (1c) Speech bubbles 60
4.1 Close-up of teeth is manipulated 69
4.2 Manipulation of bottle and crouching girl images 69
4.3 Keys 74
4.4 Water 75
4.5 Keys in water 75
5.1 The data handling process 85
5.2 Linear collections of data 86
5.3 Using Logo 89
5.4 Equilateral triangles 92
7.1 Data from 1871 census material using Junior Pinpoint 119
9.1 Using the photo CD 148
9.2 Making Awesome Alphabet 151
9.3 Example from the Bones project 152
9.4 The physiotherapist in the classroom 153
11.1 Video conferencing 182
11.2 Navigation map for the communities project 192
11.3 Links with our local community and the project schools abroad 193
Tables
1.1 General learning styles 9
2.1 Developing pupils’ language skills via emails 30

viii Illustrations
3.1 Analysing the potential of the software to support exploratory talk 54
7.1 Data from 1871 census material using Junior Pinpoint 118
8.1 Identifying the hardware available in your school 134
8.2 Evaluating software resources 135
8.3 Toolkit labels 135
8.4 Statements on computer use in classrooms 137
10.1 Planning an email/internet curriculum project 171
11.1 Communication developed through HomeLearn project 184
12.1 Can you operate the equipment, hardware and software? 198
12.2 When is ICT use beneficial, or when is it inappropriate? 200
12.3 Implications of ICT functions for curriculum areas 201
12.4 Planning for ICT 202
12.5 Classroom organisation 202
12.6 Special Educational Needs 202
12.7 Choosing suitable ICT 203
12.8 Developing ICT capability 203
12.9 Monitoring and evaluating 203
12.10 Nursery and reception 204
12.11 General computer use 204
12.12 Information handling 205
12.13 Using ICT to make things happen 206
12.14 Using ICT to support teaching and learning 207
12.15 The potential of ICT 207
12.16 The National Curriculum 207
12.17 ICT in subject areas 208
12.18 Legal and ethical issues 208
12.19 Research 209
12.20 Your personal action plan 210
14.1 Hand-held computers project action plan 243
Activities
1.1 The National Grid for Learning 7
1.2 Teacher motivation 13
1.3 Exploring school websites 15
1.4 Video conferencing and schools 17
2.1 Using ICT to develop literacy skills 27
2.2 Finding partners for literacy projects 30
2.3 Developing literacy using stories from other cultures 37
3.1 Organising group work at the computer 43
3.2 What rules will encourage rational discussion? 44
3.3 Recognising exploratory talk 47
3.4 Recognising talk training 51
3.5 Does your software support talk? 54

Illustrations ix
4.1 Manipulating images 68
4.2 Developing visual literacy in your classroom 79
5.1 Semi-structured group task 91
6.1 Using CD-ROMs in the classroom 101
6.2 Using databases 103
6.3 Assessing the learning 105
6.4 Learning outcomes in science or ICT? 109
7.1 Developing your understanding of history 114
7.2 Writing reports 117
7.3 Constructing writing frames using ICT 117
7.4 Using the web as a learning resource 121
8.1 What are the demands on you? 129
8.2 Identifying computers and other hardware 134
8.3 Evaluating the software resources 134
8.4 Support systems 136
9.1 Making your own multimedia: choose a topic 155
9.2 A self-audit of your multimedia skills 156
9.3 Auditing hardware and software and allocating funds 157
9.4 Skills pupils need to get the most from multimedia software 158
9.5 Build a storyboard on paper for one simple multimedia project 158
9.6 Evaluating multimedia software 159
10.1 Learning objectives 163
10.2 Resources and ICT 166
10.3 Finding the time for travel buddies 172
10.4 Exploring your city: what are the learning objectives? 175
11.1 Some questions for consideration and suggestions for action
research 194
12.1 Can you operate the equipment, hardware and software? 198
12.2 Self-assessment 200
12.3 Identifying sources of support 201
12.4 Drawing up a personal action plan 209
13.1 Mini-networks: the Global Village Newsletter 215
13.2 Integrating networking into the curriculum 217
13.3 Special interest networks 218
13.4 Evaluating international networks 223
13.5 Learning outcomes in network projects 225
14.1 Evaluating the school’s website 233
14.2 Using small hand-held computers to develop literacy 242
14.3 Strategies for involving parents 246

Contributors
Ray Barker was Director of the National Literacy Association Docklands
Learning Acceleration Project. He is now Managing Director of Advantage
Learning Systems UK Ltd.
Lyn Dawes taught Science in secondary schools before re-training to teach in
the primary sector. As Science Co-ordinator at a middle school, she carried
out action research with staff from the University of East Anglia and the
Open University to evaluate the quality of children’s talk whilst working in
groups at the computer (Spoken Language and New Technology (SLANT)
Project). This research developed into the Talk, Reasoning and Computers
(TRAC) Project and continues in the Raising Achievement Through
Thinking with Language Skills (RATTLS) Project. She is now a Research
Student at De Montfort University, studying the introduction of ICT into
schools, with a particular interest in the professional development of
teachers.
Glen Franklin taught in Tower Hamlets and Greenwich before becoming
Assistant Director of the National Literacy Association Docklands Learning
Acceleration Project. She is now Literacy Consultant for the London
Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Hamish Fraser taught for ten years in inner city London schools. He taught
for five years in Lambeth where he was co-ordinator of maths in a primary
school. He has considerable experience of ICT developed through his work
as a teacher and in his present role as lecturer in maths and ICT in De
Montfort University, Bedford.
Gordon James has been involved in primary education for the past twenty-six
years, as a classroom teacher in both South Wales and Suffolk and for six
years as an advisory teacher for science and technology. Since working as
science and ICT co-ordinator at Wickham Market Primary School he has
become deeply involved with the integration of computer-based
communications into the primary curriculum.

Contributors xi
Darren Leafe has worked in both the primary and the secondary sector and
has been involved in a number of national and international curriculum
projects using ICT. His interests include the effective use of new
technologies in education and he is currently responsible for all content
development at NETLinc, Lincolnshire’s response to the UK Government’s
National Grid for Learning (NGfL) initiative.
Marilyn Leask is principal lecturer in education at De Montfort University. She
has been involved in a number of national and international projects
exploring the potential of ICT to enhance teaching and learning and to
support teachers’ professional development. She is chair of TeacherNet UK
(http://www.teachernetuk.org.uk) and is director of the Learning School
project in the European School Net initiative (http://www.eun.org). The
website for the secondary text (Learning to Teach with ICT in the Secondary
School, Routledge) accompanying this text is on http://www.ioe.ac.uk/lie/ict/.
Avril Loveless is a senior lecturer in IT in Education at the University of
Brighton. She has been a primary teacher and advisory teacher for IT in
primary schools. Her particular areas of interest are pedagogy and IT and
the creative use of IT in the visual arts.
John Meadows was a primary school teacher in inner London schools for
thirteen years before becoming an advisory teacher for primary science.
Although he is currently teaching primary science to trainee teachers at
South Bank University’s Education Department, most of his research and
publications are on the theme of ICT in Education. He has been working
with the internet for over ten years, developing projects and networks with
schools and universities.
Neil Mercer helped establish the Centre for Language and Communications
at the Open University, where he has carried out applied educational
research and developed courses on language and literacy for teachers and
other audiences.
Ken Millar has taught in Tower Hamlets primary schools for fourteen years,
covering both key stages and holding a job as ICT co-ordinator in school.
He is currently early years co-ordinator at Hermitage Primary School,
where he also uses ICT to promote links between the school and others in
Europe, through a Comenius funded project.
Jane Mitra is an experienced teacher, Deputy Director of the Nuffield Primary
Design and Technology Project, Home-School Co-ordinator for Parents
Information Network and Academic Consultant for the Learning School
project.
Norbert Pachler works at the Institute of Education, University of London, as
Lecturer in Languages in Education with responsibility for the Secondary

xii Contributors
PGCE in Modern Foreign Languages and the MA in Modern Languages in
Education. His research interests include modern foreign languages
teaching and learning, comparative education as well as the application of
new technologies in teaching and learning. He has published in these
fields.
John Potter is currently Senior Lecturer in Primary ICT at the University of
East London, teaching on both the PGCE and Masters programmes. Before
that, he worked for two years as an IT advisor in the London Borough of
Newham. He has substantial primary teaching experience in inner London
schools, having taught for ten years across both key stages, mainly at
Harbinger Primary School on the Isle of Dogs.
John Sampson is Co-ordinator for Initial Teacher Education at De Montfort
University. He has a particular interest in primary school history and is a
member of the Ginn History Team. Previously he taught in inner London
primary schools and spent two years as Inner London Education Authority’s
Primary Advisory Teacher for History.
Terry Taylor is a visual artist who has a commitment to the development of
art education. He uses photography and digital technology as tools in his
work and is very experienced in working as an artist in residence in schools
and galleries.
Rupert Wegerif is a research fellow in the Centre for Language and
Communications at the Open University. His main research interests are
the use of computers to support discussion, collaborative learning with
CMC and the role of reason in education. He is co-editor with Peter
Scrimshaw of the collection of articles ‘Computers and talk in the primary
classroom’ (Multilingual Matters, Clevedon).

Preface
The ‘C’ in ICT (Information and Communication Technology) stands for
communications. Linking computers through telecommunications networks
allows teachers and pupils around the world to send text and pictures to each
other with ease. Through computers connected to the internet, you and your
pupils can communicate with pupils, teachers, subject experts and people from
all walks of life in a way never before possible. Even where the resources are
not obtainable in schools, teachers are using resources available through the
local communities; for example, in homes, public libraries and local
companies, to gain access to international electronic educational networks. So
the networked computer-based technology now available is different in its
application in the classroom to the lone computer, which in many classrooms
has been an underused resource for years. In this text, we introduce you to a
range of ways that teachers are using ICT to support and extend the teaching
and learning opportunities in their classrooms.
In writing this book, we are very aware that practice in teaching and
learning in UK schools could change radically if the teaching profession
grasped the opportunities available through the use of the internet and other
forms of communication technology; for example, digital cameras, digital
video cameras, scanners, video conferencing, voice-operated software and
read-back options on software. But we are also aware that there is political
pressure on teachers to move swiftly to more internet and web-based work in
schools. Teachers around the world are feeling this pressure as governments
produce statements about how their teaching force is to work with this sort
of technology. In the UK this is demonstrated through the National Grid for
Learning1
and the Virtual Teacher Centre. Similar European initiatives can be
accessed through the European SchoolNet site2
and Commonwealth initiatives
through the CENSE site.3
It is not possible for us, in a book this size, to cover all aspects of ICT. We
do not cover every curriculum area in the same detail—we hope that the book
will give teachers ideas which they can adapt and apply in their own situation.
Nor do we cover special educational needs in depth. However, this is covered
in the companion text, Learning to Teach with ICT in the Secondary School.

xiv Preface
There are many controversies over the use of ICT in schools. The intention
of this book is to share ideas. Teachers wishing to enter professional debates
about the use of ICT in schools are invited to join the online professional
communities which are introduced in Chapter 1.
We believe that there is convincing evidence that the opportunities now
available can significantly enhance pupil learning in, for example, the areas of
knowledge and skill acquisition as well as concept and attitude development.
However, teachers will need to work and learn together to establish high-
quality and new professional practice. Schools need to provide technical
support so that equipment can be relied upon, and a school intranet so that
teachers can, by downloading key web-based materials they need to have
available for lessons, be sure that resources found on the web can be available
at the time they want them for their classes. If teachers have always to plan
an alternative lesson when they are using technology in case it does not work,
then progress in using the technology will be slow.
Schools where staff are mutually supportive of each other’s developing
knowledge and skills are more likely to be successful in tackling these
challenges than those where knowledge about computing is seen to be the
province of a select few. It has to be acknowledged that some people feel the
need to exert power over others by denigrating their lack of knowledge and
where this situation exists, development in the school will be weak.
In this book we introduce ideas which have been tried and tested in
innovative schools around the UK and abroad. The school in which you find
yourself may not be able to offer you some of the opportunities which you read
about here. However, you may find that working through networks of
colleagues, some of whom you may find on the internet, provides you with
opportunities to extend your skills and knowledge in the area of ICT.
We hope you enjoy reading this book and we thank our colleagues who
have contributed their ideas thus making this book possible.
January 2000
Notes
1 The National Grid for Learning (http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/) encompasses a range of
developments by the government. The Virtual Teacher Centre website is one example
and is found on http://vtc.ngfl.gov.uk
2 The European SchoolNet can be found on http://www.eun.org. The ‘partner networks’
button you will find on the front page will lead you to a map of Europe surrounded by
symbols for the networks from each country http://www.en.eun.org/countries/
countries.html
3 The Commonwealth site (http://www.col.org) is developing a Commonwealth
Electronic Network for Schools and Education which can be found on http://
www.col.org/cense

Acknowledgements
We should like to take this opportunity to thank all the teachers and other
colleagues with whom we have worked who have shared their ideas, successes
and difficulties in using ICT in classrooms with us over the years. These
teachers, a number of whom have provided contributions to this book, are
pioneers in the area of using information and communications technologies in
primary education. Without their imagination and innovative practice, this
book could never have been written.
In particular, we thank our colleagues in the TeacherNetUK (http://
www.teachernetuk.org.uk) and MirandaNet (http://www.mirandanet.com) online
communities. Many of the contributors are members of these communities.
We invite readers to join us online to carry on debates about the use of ICT
in education and to develop new ideas. Members are invited to contribute to
the process of lobbying government and industry to develop policies and
products which support the teaching and learning process using ICT.
We also thank the companies who through their commitment to education
have supported some of the activities and development of TeacherNet and
MirandaNet. In particular we thank Oracle Corporation, Sun Micro-systems,
Cisco Systems and Xemplar.
We should also like to thank our families for their support and the team
of staff at Routledge, Anna Clarkson, Jude Bowen, Lyn Maddox who have
worked on the production of this book.
January 2000

A Note to Readers
A website has been set up to enable readers to access the websites listed in
each chapter. This can be found on
http://www.dmu.ac.uk/Faculties/HSS/SEDU/primaryict.html
Inevitably some of the sites which we reference may cease to be operational
during the lifetime of this book but we felt the gains in including website
addresses (Uniform Resource Locators or URLs) outweighed the
disadvantages.

Chapter 1
Why use ICT?
John Meadows and Marilyn Leask
Introduction
This chapter looks at a variety of answers to the question raised in the title:
Why use ICT? There are many reasons why ICT is important in everyday life,
since computers and associated technologies are increasingly necessary in all
businesses and commercial concerns. But it does not logically follow that
computers should also be used in primary schools. In some countries in
Europe, in Germany for example, few computers are used in education before
the secondary phase. Yet we could not identify a lack of industry skills
following from this. So why should teachers and children in British primary
schools spend time learning skills which may be out of date by the time they
need to use them for work? Can it be said that learning with ICT in the
primary school helps to develop in children the sorts of transferable skills,
such as problem-solving and communication, which will be useful to them in
the future?
In this book we do not claim to cover all aspects of ICT in the primary
school,1
instead we focus particularly on areas of practice in classrooms where
the communicative potential of ICT is still to be developed. We consider the
reasons for using ICT from a number of perspectives, including educational, as
well as political, professional and personal ones. We include a case study of an
online community of teachers who use ICT extensively both in their own
schools and in a wider international context—these are the MirandaNet
scholars. We examine the reasons why these teachers are motivated towards
using ICT.
The notion of an audience for children’s writing is explored as a major
reason for using the communicative power of ICT. Children as creative users
of ICT is an important issue which is also considered briefly. Other issues
raised in this chapter include literacy and ICT, numeracy and ICT, although
these areas are explored in more detail in later chapters. Some of the tools
associated with using ICT are also introduced briefly, with the intention of
developing many of them further in later chapters.

2 J.Meadows and M.Leask
Objectives
By the end of this chapter you should have:
• an understanding of the recent background to ICT in schools, business and
society;
• an awareness of some of the factors which motivate teachers towards the
use of ICT;
• recognition of the reasons why schools must take on board new
technologies;
• an awareness of some of the contentious issues surrounding ICT in schools.
Background
Information and Communication Technology is a relatively new subject area
for schools. Until recently, primary schools used IT (Information Technology),
both as a subject in its own right and as a tool to support other curriculum
areas. In recent times, the UK government, through the four Education
Departments in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, has expressed
great interest in the Information Superhighway2
and the National Grid for
Learning.3
Funding offered to schools, both for the purchase of hardware and software
and for training purposes, has followed consultation papers. So the push
towards ICT comes partly from government, but it is also arising from the
interests of teachers and pupils, from the needs of computer companies and
educational internet service providers and from a general awareness in society
of the influence and importance of new technologies.
Evidence still indicates that the majority of teachers use ICT only occasionally
and often under a sense of obligation rather than conviction of its value as an
educational medium (Goldstein 1995–96).
Since the launch of the Superhighways for Education challenge, the
government has made sensible plans to create the infrastructure of the
National Grid for Learning, provide the resources and train the teachers. This
grand strategy is based on research into good practice (DfEE 1997a and b;
BECTA 1998). Senior management teams now must grasp the initiative and
make the most of these serious opportunities to enrich teaching and learning
because the launch of the National Grid for Learning presents a significant
challenge to the traditional role of teachers.
The media suggests that the internet, and especially the world wide web,
is a solution to all the needs of Education. However, there are many ways
in which ICT can impact on the teaching and learning process. The extent
of the impact of communication technologies depends on teachers changing
their practice in classrooms. Some teachers are of course resistant to change,
but one can sympathise with them since so much of the change in Education

Why use ICT? 3
can be regarded as retrograde in the wider context. Teachers who have
experienced the vagaries of Conservative and Labour Governments, of local
and national initiatives, can be perhaps forgiven for a certain amount of
cynicism when faced with ever more changes. But it does begin to seem that
the internet is bringing a new way of life to many people at many different
levels in both work and leisure, as well as in the educational sectors of
society.
Reasons for using ICT
There are a number of categories of reasons why ICT is an important teaching
and learning tool, we have divided these into five groups:
• Political
• Personal/professional
• Professional/pupils’ needs
• Professional/curriculum
• Professional/educational theory.
Political reasons
The government wants all pupils to have the necessary skills, hence their
teachers need to know and understand the importance of ICT. British
primary schools have been fortunate to be supported by government funds
to purchase computers, although many enlightened Local Education
Authorities (LEAs) have also supported schools through hardware and
software provision. Current priorities in Education include the
development by pupils of basic skills, not only in literacy and numeracy,
but also in the more transferable skills, which industry and government
advisors suggest are needed by all in the modern information society. It is
now suggested that Britain is, or should be, a ‘Learning Society’, one in
which all adults expect to need retraining and updating on a regular basis
and the notion of ‘lifelong learning’ is common and accepted. These skills
include the use of ICT as well as problem-solving and communication.
Close co-operation is now expected between education and the business
world, with partnerships offering mutual benefits to all who share in these
joint enterprises.
British Government Education Departments are pushing teachers towards a
training in ICT (see Appendix, p. 249), with the result that ‘by 2002 serving
teachers should feel confident, and be competent to teach, using ICT within
the curriculum’ (DfEE 1997a).
Even when in opposition, the Labour Party expressed its interest in ICT by
commissioning the Stevenson Report, which examined the state of ICT in
British schools and made extensive recommendations for future initiatives.

The Stevenson Report discussed the context of ICT in schools as follows:
ICT in schools works in different ways.
We suggest that in addressing its effects it is important to recognise that ICT
may be used for a wide range of purposes:
• to administer schools;
• to train students in skills which they will need in further education and
ongoing learning throughout the rest of their lives and for their future jobs,
e.g. word processing, computer programming, etc.;
• to provide access to information and communication outside the classroom
walls, e.g. video conferencing with students in other countries, using the
internet, etc.;
• to support teacher development, e.g. through external networks;
• to support and potentially transform the learning/teaching process in many
and diverse ways.4
Personal/professional reasons
Many teachers use ICT in their own personal lives, as do many other adults
in our society. Teachers may do their personal accounts using spreadsheets,
they may write letters and articles using word processing, they may enjoy
computer games, or surfing art or antique collections on the Web. But there
are also professional reasons linked to personal ones which may affect
educators. The need for professional development may be a reason for
further use of ICT, especially if this is connected to promotion. Professional
development through ICT as well as about ICT is now becoming more
common, as Inservice trainers linked to the National Grid for Learning are
urged to provide some of their training courses through ICT, e.g. using
interactive CD-ROM technology. Many traditional training courses provided
by higher education are also turning to ICT for cheaper and more efficient
delivery, so teachers are again given the opportunity to achieve personal and
professional goals through the implementation of ICT.
Many teachers also join professional organisations linked to education,
partly as a personal interest and partly for professional reasons. Subject groups
like the Association for Science Education (ASE) have well developed
websites providing information, publications, advice and news to the
community of science educators. Although much of this service is also
provided through traditional paper methods, it is becoming common to use
the website, not only for information, but also as a means of interacting, e.g.
when booking attendance at the annual conference. Many educational
organisations now use ICT regularly to supplement the paper-based
communications. One example in the research field is the British Educational
Research Association (BERA).5

Why use ICT? 5
Other groups which run websites for teachers, as either charitable trusts
or limited companies, are MirandaNet and TeacherNetUK.6
Figure 1.1
illustrates the variety of websites available for a range of educational
purposes: resources, information, networking and ecommerce (sales through
the web) provided by government, industry and independent teacher
networks.
Professional/pupils’ needs
Changes in the curriculum are expected these days by teachers. Reviews of the
National Curriculum in England and Wales, as well as curriculum in other
parts of the UK, are fairly frequent and these are often linked to the
implementation of new technologies. One of the pledges of the current Labour
government is to provide an email address to all pupils over the age of nine
years. In this climate of change, all teachers have a duty to keep abreast of
developments which are affecting their pupils.
ICT in the pupil’s home
Many pupils also live in homes which are rich in ICT, using computers, CD-
ROMs and the internet regularly with help from parents and siblings. Again,
teachers need to be aware of such developments in order to help these pupils
learn better. There are also pupils in our schools who come from less affluent
or less richly resourced backgrounds. Teachers need to be aware of these
possibilities and to provide opportunities for all pupils to make the best use of
the technology available in both school and home. Further ideas about home
and school issues can be found in Chapters 11 and 14.
Professional/curriculum
As new curriculum revisions arrive in British education, they are often
announced through ICT media like the internet, and many of the resources
associated with curriculum change and content are also provided through
websites. This means that the documents need to be translated through a
program called Adobe Acrobat, freely available on the internet. So documents
like the QCA7
schemes of work in ICT and Science are available through the
Standards site.8
Ofsted reports on schools can also be found on websites9
in
this same format. Many trainee teachers and those looking for jobs find this
information about schools extremely valuable when preparing for job hunts
and interviews.
Other curriculum resources and information are available on websites,
including the texts of all the National Curriculum documents. The National
Grid for Learning and the Virtual Teacher Centre (is this a centre for the
virtual teacher, or a virtual centre for teachers?) are obvious starting points for

Figure
1.1
Websites
available
for
a
range
of
professional
purposes:
resources,
information,
networking
and
e-commerce
provide
by
government,
industry
and
independent
teacher
networks
Source:
adapted
from
Preston
in
Leask
and
Pachler
1999

Why use ICT? 7
teachers wanting to explore the online information. All the websites
mentioned in this text can be found through the text website (see the Note
to Readers, page xvi). Further details are provided throughout the following
chapters.
Activity 1.1 The National Grid for Learning
Look up the DfEE10
site and find information about the National Grid
for Learning, its origins and development, schools involvement, issues
about computers and the internet, issues about training for teachers and
its funding. Make sure you can download documents using Adobe
Acrobat, the translating software for some graphic-heavy or larger sized
internet documents. Adobe Acrobat reader is free and can be
downloaded from many government sites. Once it is installed on your
computer hard drive, it will automatically translate the downloaded
documents and present them in a clear and printable format.
Professional/pedagogic theories
What is the pedagogic justification for investing huge sums in the provision
of ICT resources in schools? If the teaching profession cannot answer this
question by demonstrating enhanced pupil learning outcomes, then
governments cannot be expected to provide the resources to support the work
outlined in this book.
In this section, we introduce different theories of learning and we
suggest you compare the characteristics of learners described with the
characteristics of the pupils for whom you have responsibility, asking
yourself the following question as you read this text: In what contexts
might my pupils learn more effectively using ICT? Some teachers when
identifying learning objectives for any work they are planning for the
classroom use the CASK model, that is, they identify the ways in which
the work planned is developing pupils’ Concepts, Attitudes, Skills and
Knowledge in the area under study.
Pedagogical justifications for using ICT across subject areas
Effective teaching takes account of the different learning styles of pupils. For
this reason, teachers usually present and explain material in different ways—
this enables them to communicate with pupils who, in any group, will have
a range of preferred learning styles. Riding and Pearson (1994) and Riding et
al. (1993) report on research which shows that learners’ preferred styles fall
within a continuum.

The two basic dimensions of cognitive style may be summarised as follows:
1 The Holistic-Analytic style—whether an individual tends to process
information in whole or in part;
2 The Verbal-Imagery style—whether an individual is inclined to represent
information during thinking verbally or in mental images.
(Riding et al. 1993:269)
What seems to be emerging from the evidence collected from
teachers in the projects in which we are working is that the
opportunities provided through ICT; for example, CD-ROM work and
internet work, allow learners to approach material from any or a
combination of these perspectives. This means that to some extent
learners can tailor the path of their own learning through their choice
of the way of working with the medium. Take for example the pupils’
work on the Bones multimedia presentation which is reported in
Chapter 9. Pupils, working in groups, are able to take different roles and
approach the task from a variety of angles. Of course ICT does not have
to be used for this to happen but in this section we are just concerned
with ICT and learning.
It is possible, therefore, that in a carefully constructed learning
environment, pupils may indeed learn better and faster where a variety of
technologies are used, that is, ones presenting ideas using images and
words which allow pupils some degree of individuality in their approach to
the task.
Later in this book Dawes et al. (Chapter 3) point out the importance
of using the communicative potential of ICT to develop thinking,
reasoning and talk skills both for primary and secondary pupils.
Meadows (Chapter 6) stresses the importance of communication using
ICT in the study of science in the primary school. He goes on to discuss
constructivist learning theories in relation to learning with ICT. He
takes the example of curriculum projects conducted through the
internet.
A useful overview of theories of cognition is provided by Pachler (1999: 3–
18). For example, Pachler cites the work of Howard Gardner (in MacGilchrist
et al. 1997:23–4) who suggests that
learners are potentially able to develop at least seven types of intelligence:
1 linguistic: the intelligence of words
2 logical-mathematical: the intelligence of numbers and reasoning
3 spatial: the intelligence of pictures and images
4 musical: the intelligence of tone, rhythm, and timbre
5 bodily-kinaesthetic: the intelligence of the whole body and the hands

Why use ICT? 9
6 interpersonal: the intelligence of social understanding
7 intrapersonal: the intelligence of self-knowledge.
(Pachler 1999:9)
He goes on to make the point that there are an increasing number of ICT
applications; for example, web-based materials, which cater for these different
‘types of intelligence’ thus allowing the teacher more easily to provide
differentiated work for different types of learners. He cites Reid as identifying
four particular forms of learning:
1 visual learning (for example, reading and studying charts)
2 auditory learning (for example, listening to lectures and audio tapes)
3 kinaesthetic learning (involving physical responses)
4 tactile learning (hands-on learning, as in building models)
(1987 in Ellis 1994:506)
and the work of Willing (see Table 1.1).
It is not the intention to explore these issues in depth here. We simply
make the point that teacher understanding of the pedagogical applications of
ICT is crucial to successful learning in an ICT rich context. In many of the
ICT applications above, the teacher’s role in diagnosing the pupil’s needs and
providing the appropriate learning environment to allow that learner to excel
Table 1.1 General learning styles according to Willing 1987 (source: in Ellis 1994:506)

is critical. Cox (1999) reports on the positive motivating effect ICT often has
on pupils. This is another factor for teachers to consider in the integration of
ICT into their work in classrooms with pupils.
Case study: teacher motivation for ICT—the
MirandaNet experience
MirandaNet is for a community of innovators in education and industry
who are at the cutting edge of teaching and learning. We recognise that
Information and Communications Technology is central to the management
of change.
(From http://www.mirandnet.com/index.htm)
Preston (in Leask and Pachler 1999) describes MirandaNet as operating on
four levels which indicate the facilities that can be provided by online
professional communities:
• On level one are online study groups where teachers discuss subjects
that interest them, often led by a group moderator and resulting in a
digest.
• Level two refers to email and conferencing for the whole group where
newsletters and notices keep members up to date with events. Posting
regular messages into the personal email box, which require a response,
is an important feature of effective communication in the early days.
Teachers will get into the habit of looking if there is a need. This kind
of facility is provided by a list server which the ICT co-ordinator can
set up with the service provider.
• Level three is a publications area which offers a variety of formats for
teachers and trainers to publish their own work: articles and papers,
flyers for books, recommended sites, case history studies, personal
profiles.
• The fourth level provides a realistic method by which teachers can
advance their professional development. Face-to-face workshops,
conferences and seminars are an essential aspect of professional
development, although frequency is reduced for reasons of cost and
time. Many teachers are discouraged to leave the school for professional
development because a supply teacher has to be paid. Also many
teachers are parents and cannot commit to evening training.
Fellows’ personal learning outcomes depend on ownership of powerful
hardware and industrially compatible software, which are essential to
professional self-esteem. Maintenance and upgrading are issues which schools
must address.

Why use ICT? 11
Fellows report that a major advantage of having their own machine is that
they are clearer in predicting their own training needs. Also time does not
need to be wasted on skills training. Administration becomes more efficient
and easier to share and in one case minute taking was transformed into action
plans from staff meetings. Teachers can do their administration anywhere.
Staff reports and action plans are more easily circulated and collaborative
writing is more feasible.
Online has proved to have many advantages in the life of the school:
teachers and pupils who are ill can link in from home; beginning teachers
can consult their tutors, homework tasks can involve parents and school
refusers can be encouraged to keep in touch; links with LEAs are
improved.
Below is what some experienced ICT users say about why they prefer to use
ICT.
Gordon James, a MirandaNet Fellow, from Wickham Market Primary
School in Suffolk has defined an ideal online learning environment for
teachers based on his extensive knowledge of other sites and his work
developing a homework site for BT (see Chapter 11). The features he
recommends are:
• A place to search for and subscribe to suitable exchange projects.
• A place to post your own project briefs.
• Information and advice on funding projects.
• Support with management services such as group mailing lists on request.
• A forum for teachers and other educationalists to discuss their work and
share ideas.
• An electronic newsletter.
• An electronic library of research papers for those wishing to delve deeper,
case histories and profiles.
• Graphical conferencing interfaces like First Class with an offline reader that
saves telephone costs.
• More funding information service from major bodies.
• A set of ready made projects from ‘expert institutions’.
• Help and advice in project design and management.
• Free Web pages and Web building tools, and advice on using them.
(Preston in Leask and Packler 1999:220–21)
Other Miranda Fellows participated in an online discussion about their own
motivation towards the use of ICT. There were many issues raised, some of
which are outlined here.
Having thought about this question for several minutes, I have come to
the conclusion that it is the freedom and flexibility that motivates me to
use new technologies. The fact that I can use ICT in the way that I want

to use it, provides a strong stimulus for me and this can also apply to pupils
when they have the choice. Another factor is, that it has now become a
part of my everyday life—just like a car. Keeping up with the latest
developments and making use of them is another factor for me—the list is
endless.
(Rukhsana)
And here is what is known as a ‘thread’ —a series of linked conversations,
each message picking up a point from a previous one and adding to it with
an example from their own experience. The thread concerned the theme of
creativity with ICT.
…I also enjoy the challenge of creating things on computers.
David
I think David hits an important element for me when he talks about
the creativity of using computers. I am far happier writing and planning
with a computer than with trad, paper and lead. For a start I always
feel—well if it’s not right, re writing it is no major hassle. Spreadsheets
and databases allow you to be far more creative and imaginative with
the data you possess.
Ben
I agree with Ben about creativity when using computers. I find it much easier
to organise my writing on a screen these days. Also playing around with the
layout and presentation helps to organise my thinking. Collaborative writing
with kids and colleagues is much easier too when two or more of you are able to
sit around a screen and make changes.
Geoff
So membership of this online community provides an extra reason for
using ICT, because it helps teachers to maintain this sense of belonging
and sharing, which can sometimes be lacking within a small school
environment.
The long-term benefits Fellows identified were:
• on-line links preventing professional isolation;
• international focus on good classroom practice;
• peer mentoring gains;
• peer support advantages.
Further information about motivation of teachers can be found on the website
of CAL99,11
where a poster is presented on the subject.

Why use ICT? 13
Activity 1.2 Teacher motivation
What motivates teachers towards using new technologies? It may be that
there are certain teachers who are predisposed to taking risks and trying
out new ideas. It may be a technical fix which turns on some teachers—
a feeling of being in control of something new and innovative. On the
other hand, some teachers may be motivated by the idea that pupils
themselves seem more keen to use the new technologies and that this
helps them in their learning. It would be interesting to explore this
point further, to see if there are factors in motivating teachers, and also
to explore how those teachers who do use new technologies can
motivate others within their schools.
What motivates YOU towards the use of ICT?
Some issues in using ICT
Writing and audience
Children themselves gain a lot from co-operative writing projects when they
use the communication power of the internet, in terms of their confidence
and motivation, as the audience is genuine. One of the major criticisms one
hears from Ofsted about children’s writing is that it too often has only one
contrived audience—the teacher! A real audience, interested in
communication and replying, is much more motivating and encourages
children to put a lot more effort into drafting and redrafting their writing so
that they remove spelling and grammatical errors. Since the writing has to be
in a form that can be sent through computers, children also improve their
skills with word processors through participation in this sort of communication
project. Yet another Ofsted criticism is that children often use word processors
only when they have written out their work in a book first —this does seem
an awful waste of their time.
Computers in classrooms or computers in suites?
However, the advent of the new communication technologies does have
implications for the ways in which computers are used in schools, especially
in primary schools. It does not seem sensible for every classroom to have one
computer—how can any teacher integrate just one computer into the work of
the whole class? Surely our primary classrooms need to have at least four or
five computers (if not yet one per child!). Then a group of children can spend
enough time using ICT so that they actually develop some skills and
understanding from the hardware. Yet the costs of this approach would be
excessive in most primary schools. One common solution is to set up a

computer suite, or a special computer room. This decision needs to be
examined carefully, recognising the advantages and drawbacks. Some teachers
are nervous about taking whole or even half classes into such as specialist
environment, in which their own weaknesses may be exposed. For further
discussion of this issue, see Chapter 8.
Access to phone lines in the classroom
The telecommunication part of computer use also needs some
examination. With the new internet access, teachers and children will
need more time to browse the networks in order to find the right resources
for their own needs. This will mean they will need more access to
telephone lines in classrooms, rather than having to use the head’s or
secretary’s telephone line. Teachers will need to lobby the school
governors and parents to persuade them that such changes are needed.
And not just ordinary copper telephone lines, but preferably the
broadband type, ISDN, which costs more to start with but actually saves
money by being a lot faster. Schools are now investing in the networking
of their computer equipment, so that all classes can get access to the
internet and the school’s internal intranet.
Parents and computers
In fact, it is perhaps the parents who will be our closest allies in the
development of schools online. Many parents are now buying computer
systems for educational purposes—many are aware of the enormous potential
of the Information Superhighway—most are keen to help their children cope
with the changing world so that they gain the skills and flexible approach to
new technologies they will need in their own working lives. Estimates of
homes with computers in the UK vary from 22 per cent to 50 per cent,
depending on the area and whether there are school-aged children in the
family. In many of these families, the age of the home computer is less than
those found in schools and the specification is better. These issues about
parents and schools are followed up in later chapters.
Costs and cutting them
What will it cost? Telephone charges are often thought to be the big problem
with telecommunication, especially the idea of browsing online. This can be
a problem, but schools are usually very conscious of these costs and find ways
to reduce them. It is worthwhile training the children to be aware of the
economic aspects of telecommunication from an early age. Some practice at
browsing through CD-ROMs will help children to understand how to use such
technologies efficiently. Increasingly, the service provided which links people

Why use ICT? 15
and their computers to the internet is free, because the service provider relies
on advertising to earn income. This free service is more problematic in
education, though, since we may not want to give children access to some of
the products advertised.
Time
The problem of time is also capable of resolution, if you can find some
children to help—most schools which are successful with
telecommunication rely on the children themselves to carry out many of
the tasks, leaving the teacher to concentrate on teaching, rather than
being the technical expert. In the case of web design, it is less likely that
children can play an active role, since the website is a public face of the
school and needs to reflect the school ethos, rather than the interests of
individual children. The time it takes to prepare and then update a
website can be daunting for many teachers, so one answer to this is
recruiting volunteers to help. There are perhaps children in the school
with parents or siblings who have the necessary skills and even the interest
to support the school in this.
Activity 1.3 Exploring school websites
Go to a site such as Yahoo for the UK (http://www.yahoo.co.uk), to
search for schools which have their own websites. Examine some
primary school web pages in projects such as Brixton Connections.12
How can you find the home pages of other primary schools? What do
you think schools should display on their web pages? What seems to
make a good school website? (Additional school sites are listed at the
end of Chapter 3.)
Literacy Hour
The use of communication technologies obviously concerns language, since
that is the traditional medium for communication. But we now communicate
through pictures and moving images just as much as through words. The
notion of graphical literacy is one which is beginning to be researched, in
order to find out whether teachers need to adapt their teaching materials and
practices to the new skills of the pupils. There are many opportunities to
support the literacy through the use of ICT. If schools are really spending an
hour a day on literacy, there is a real danger that less motivated or under-
achieving pupils will become resistant to this regime, especially if it focuses
attention on their mistakes, rather than their achievements. The audience
available through wise use of the internet has been shown, in many case

studies, to have a powerful motivating effect on children of all types. See
Chapter 2 for further consideration of the use of ICT in the Literacy Hour and
generally for reading and writing, and Chapter 3 for more on talking and
listening with ICT.
Numeracy and the Net
A recent (1997/8) survey by John Meadows of 100+ primary schools in
London suggests that teachers know very little about how numeracy can be
supported through the internet. Maths used to be the main application for
computers in the early days, but now the internet is seen by many teachers as
a resource for maths learning, as much as for languages and geography, science,
etc. There are certainly plenty of mathematical data available on the
networks, but most are too complex for primary school pupils. One way in
which numeracy can be approached is through communications projects
rather than through data gathering per se. Numeracy can of course be
supported through a variety of other curriculum areas, some of which can be
very motivating for the pupils. Examples of these projects in the past have
included:
• Virtual Sports Day, where children decide upon a range of sporting events,
like running races, or high and long jumping, collect data from them and
post it to their partners.
• A survey of the prices and type of fruit exported from New Zealand, then
converting the prices into one’s own currency, in order to compare costs in
the two countries.
Other areas like science can provide maths contexts too, especially when
environmental data are collected and compared. Chapters 5 and 6 provide
further ideas about ICT in maths and science.
Video and audio conferencing
Chapter 11 describes one school’s experiences with video and audio
conferencing. Further examples are available through the websites mentioned
in Activity 1.4.
Independent learning systems
In this book we do not deal with the use of independent learning systems
(ILS) in schools. ILS systems are computer-based systems; for example for
maths or English, which are designed to allow pupils to work relatively
independently on individualised programmes. BECTA13
produces guidance in
this area which covers outcomes of research into the effectiveness of ILS, lists

Why use ICT? 17
of ILS products and the companies which produce them as well as views from
users.
Ray Barker used ILS successfully with primary pupils on the Docklands
Literacy Project (Chapter 2). He defines ILS as: ‘An independent learning
system containing comprehensive curriculum coverage within a managed
learning process ie a child is assessed by the software at the start of the
programme and is fitted into a highly structured programme at an
appropriate level. He/she is then given appropriate work and driven
through the programme by positive reinforcement looped back to the
teaching of important issues if he/she is seen to be failing. The system will
also provide the child and the teacher with feedback and results.’ From his
experience, he suggests that the implementation of any ILS system needs
to be decided as a whole school issue and not be the responsibility of any
one staff member.
Summary
There are, then, a number of reasons why schools need to use ICT:
1 The communication aspects and the ways in which a constructivist theory
of education can be supported through ICT.
2 The skills which children gain by being able to control the applications
used in ICT.
3 The confidence children gain by communicating through and controlling
their environment.
4 The needs for communication skills in their future careers, both in school
and in the workplace.
5 Access to information on the World Wide Web, although this is still a
problem, since much of the information is in an adult form.
6 The creative power of ICT, especially in the making of web pages, using
text and graphics, as well as more advanced facilities.
Activity 1.4 Video conferencing and schools
Look up BECTA information on video conferencing in schools at http:/
/www.becta.org.uk/info-sheets/videoconf.html especially three case studies
from Whitby, North Yorkshire, involving primary schools http://
www.becta.org.uk/resources/desktopvc/videoconf/
What lessons could you learn from these experiences? Do you think
video conferencing is likely to be a popular tool in education in the
future?

7 Communication technologies such as audio and video conferencing,
enabling children to communicate their ideas across national and local
boundaries.
Notes
1 Special Educational Needs is not dealt with specifically in this text. Franklin and
Litchfield in Chapter 7 in the accompanying text Learning to Teach with ICT in the
Secondary School (Leask and Pachler (1999), London, Routledge) give considerable
detail in this area.
2 The website for BECTA (British Educational Communication Technology Agency)
has extensive resources for teachers including research from the Education
Departments’ Superhighways Initiative EDSI: http://www.becta.org.uk/projects/edsi/
index.html
3 The National Grid for Learning is a website, http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/ngfl, but is
also an idea which links teachers and schools with resources and with industry
and professional development.
4 The Stevenson Report was set up by the British Labour Party to report on the
provision of ICT in schools. It relied on statistics from the Kinsey Report. Further
details of the Stevenson and Kinsey reports can be found on the Ultralab website
http://rubble.ultralab.anglia.ac.uk/stevenson/McKinsey.html and http://
rubble.ultralab.anglia.ac.uk/stevenson/ICTUKIndex.html
5 The BERA website helps to keep members in contact, gives information and advice,
provides links to other educational research organisations and holds archives of
abstracts of papers and posters delivered at conferences, http://www.bera.ac.uk
6 http://www.miranda.com
http://www.teachernetuk.ac.uk
These two groups provide a variety of different services to teachers, in co-operation
with industry partners and at times funding from organisations like the European
Union.
7 The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) can be found on
http://www.qca.gov.uk
8 http://www.standards.gov.uk
This government education site is devoted to issues about teacher training and
the standards of teaching expected before trainees can be awarded qualified teacher
status.
9 http://www.ofsted.gov.uk
The Ofsted website contains a searchable database containing the reports made by
Ofsted inspectors on schools.
10 The website for the Department for Education and Employment is at http://
www.dfee.gov.uk and provides links to many other educational resources and
websites. The National Grid for Learning site is at http://www.ngfl.gov.uk
11 http://www.elsevier.nl:80/homepage/sag/cal99/ Abstracts of papers and posters can
be found on this publisher’s website.
12 Brixton Connections was a project supported by the business community in South
London to train teachers and classroom assistants in the use of the internet. Many
of the schools have set up their own websites, publishing a variety of materials
across the curriculum http://www.brixton-connections.org.uk
13 Guidance on independent learning systems is available from: http://www.ncet.org.uk/
info-sheets/ils.html

Why use ICT? 19
References and further reading
BECTA (1998) Connecting Schools, Networking People, Coventry: BECTA.
Cox, M. (1999) ‘Motivating pupils through the use of ICT’, in Leask, M. and Pachler, N.
(eds), Learning to Teach using ICT in the Secondary School, London: Routledge.
Department for Education (1995) Superhighways for Education, London: DFE.
DfEE (1997a) Stevenson Report. The Independent ICT in Schools Communication.
Information and Communications Technology in the UK Schools: An Independent Inquiry,
78–80St John Street, London, EC1M 4HR.
DfEE (1997b) Preparing for the Information Age Synoptic Report of the Education Departments’
Superhighways Initiative http://www.becta.org.uk/projects/edsi/index.htm.
Ellis, R. (1994) ‘Individual learner differences,’ in Ellis, R. (ed.), The Study of Second Language
Acquisition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 471–527.
Goldstein, G. (1995–6) Information Technology in English Schools: A Commentary on Inspection
Findings, London: NCET/OFSTED.
Leask, M. and Pachler, N. (1999) Learning to Teach using ICT in the Secondary School,London:
Routledge.
Mailer, N. and Dickson, B. (1994) The UK School Internet Primer, London: Koeksuster
Publications.
Pachler, N. (1999) ‘Theories of learning and ICT’, in Leask, M. and Pachler, N. (eds),
Learning to Teach using ICT in the Secondary School, London: Routledge.
Riding, R.J. and Pearsons, F. (1994) ‘The relationship between cognitive style and
intelligence’, Educational Psychology, 14(4), 413–25.
Riding, R.J., Glass, A. and Douglas, G. (1993) ‘Individual differences in thinking: cognitive
and neurophysiological perspectives’, Educational Psychology, 13(3 and 4), 267–79.
The National Grid for Learning http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/ngfl/

Chapter 2
Reading and Writing with ICT
Ray Barker, Glen Franklin and John Meadows
Introduction
The opportunities for reading and writing with ICT are many and varied, which
is why we are devoting a whole chapter to it. There are many other places in
this book where reading and writing are used with ICT, in a variety of contexts
and for many purposes. But here we focus on reading and writing skills
themselves and how these skills can be enhanced through the use of ICT.
There are three case studies described in the chapter. The first is a project
carried out in east London, with primary schools using portable (palmtop)
computers as well as standard PCs with CD-ROM drives. The second study is
of some second language work carried out in German schools where English was
being taught through electronic mail links with English and American children.
Many of the lessons learned in this have application in the teaching of English
to British children, when communication through the internet is one of the
teaching and learning methods. Finally, there is a set of ideas about how to use
email texts creatively in a classroom. This case study arose from a project which
collected and distributed stories written by children around the world.
Objectives
By the end of chapter you will have been:
• introduced to a variety of ways in which teachers have successfully used
ICT to support the development of pupils’ literacy;
• challenged to try some of these ideas out for yourself.
Case study 1: Integrating ICT into the curriculum—
to develop literacy
Ray Barker and Glen Franklin, from the Docklands Learning Acceleration
Project report on some of the work undertaken with pupils in the project. The
context was the focus on literacy in England.

Reading and Writing with ICT 21
In September 1998, virtually all primary schools in England introduced a
daily Literacy Hour—a strategy designed to raise standards of literacy and
with a target of 80 per cent of 11 year-olds reaching Level 4 in Key Stage
2 SATS in 2002. It was interesting to note that although more and more
technology was being installed in schools in order to provide new skills for
the children of the new millennium, there was surprisingly little reference in
the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) Framework (1998) to the use of ICT
in the Literacy Hour, apart from a few passing references to word processing
and CD-ROMs.
Why this omission?
One main reason was possibly that the introduction of something as radical as
the Literacy Hour was bound to create management and resource issues for
many teachers and schools. Adding a computer, with all its technical foibles,
into the equation, might just have proven to be the final straw. However, to
leave out ICT from such work would be to do a disservice to an amazingly
motivating and versatile tool.
The National Literacy Association ran the Docklands Learning
Acceleration Project which worked with six hundred 7 and 8 year-olds in
school and at home. It proved that using multimedia and portable
technology, as well as more traditional methods, could raise standards and
expectations of children’s literacy. The project encountered many of the
problems which arise when introducing technology into the primary
classroom:
• There isn’t time
• No more money to replace the colour printer ink
• I’m technophobic
• How will I know that the children are not just playing about?
• It’s not working.
and tackled them head on. Now some of the ‘yes buts’ are known and they
are the same when anything new is being introduced. The project took
account of these and developed a number of ways of using ICT to support
literacy development.
Text and sentence level work—using writing frames and templates
Literacy Hour jargon is used in the following: Y4 means year 4, T2 means
term 2, T13 means text level 13, S10 means sentence level 10, W17 means
word level 17, etc. The structure of the Literacy Hour includes whole class
interaction with the teacher focusing on a big book (or multimedia
alternative), individual work and group work. There is a focus on different

22 R.Barker, G.Franklin and J.Meadows
styles of texts, alternative arrangements of sentences, words (spelling,
meanings, forms of words).
A Year 3 class had been exploring traditional stories in whole class Shared
Reading and Writing. In their group work, using a letter template stored on
a portable computer, the children wrote to a chosen character, responding to
aspects of the text and giving reasons for their opinions (Objective Y3 T2 T2,
7). The first drafts were printed out and edited with a writing partner. They
used the thesaurus to change words such as ‘pleased’ and ‘angry’ to ‘delighted’
and ‘fuming’ (Y3 T2 W17). They discussed appropriate endings for particular
sorts of letters—whether it would be more suitable to write a formal
impersonal phrase (e.g., ‘Yours sincerely’) or to adopt a more friendly tone
(e.g., ‘With best wishes’) if you were writing to the Big Bad Wolf. This work
enabled the children to explore the use of first and third person pronouns as
included in Y3 T2 S10. The final version was produced using Clip Art
computer graphics.
Writing frames (structural templates) can be set up on portables and
computers to provide generic activities which can be related to class books
and can be developed from the Shared Reading or Writing session. They are
easily used by children in their groups; they can use a spell check and
thesaurus facility and so can work independently. The edited drafts provide an
ideal focus for the Plenary session, where the intention would be to revise
teaching points, rather than merely showing work. The emphasis would be on
drawing out how the computer is a valuable tool to assist us in the editing
process, rather than just showing the final draft.
Tried and tested picture books can be a resource at all levels. For example,
one Year 3 class looked at the story Not Now Bernard by Michael McKee (Y3
T2 T3, 8, 17). The class used a ‘Wanted Report’ writing frame to hunt the
monster (see Figure 2.1). This required close observation of the text, but the
children also had to invent some aspects needing informed guesses and some
discussion; for example, how old they thought the monster was. They
downloaded their first draft onto the computer graphic and edited this with a
writing partner, using a talking word processor which enabled them to hear
what they had written.
Other activities associated with this book included:
• writing in character as an Agony Aunt;
• giving advice to Bernard about his relationship with his parents;
• completing a sequel and retelling the story from the monster’s point of
view;
• a child with learning difficulties used the teacher’s typed text of Not Now
Bernard and employed the computer’s search and replace facility to change
character and setting. This gave him a solid scaffolding for his work and he
was thrilled with his results (see Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.1 Not Now Bernard—wanted report

Opportunities for this kind of work occur at all ages and stages; for
example, Y5 T3 T3 focuses on retelling from a different point of view or
perspective.
Children are encouraged, throughout the Literacy Framework for
teaching, to ‘record their feelings, reflections and predictions about a book’
(Y5 T1 T13). These activities, which encourage a response to text, can all
too easily become unimaginative ‘book reviews’. One can use database
packages for computers and portables; for example, to compare books by the
same author (Y2 T3 T2), to explore recurring themes in books from other
cultures (Y4 T3 T2) and to compare and contrast points of view and
reactions to stories (Y5 T3 T7), enabling children to become experts in
Figure 2.2 Not Now Darren by Darren

their own right on some area of an author or a subject. Others in the class
can ask them to recommend a book or tell them where the best place is to
find one. Children are more in control of their learning and so make the
management of the independent group work much easier for the teacher to
handle.
A Year 4 class explored text level objectives Y4 T1 T1, 2 (e.g.,
covering feelings and moods of characters) following a Shared Reading of
the first chapters of The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, by Alice Dalgleish.
Using a writing frame, they explored the character and text, predicting
what they thought would happen. They were completely wrong! This
made them keen to go back and complete their book review to put the
record straight.
A non-fiction example: using spreadsheets and CD-ROMs
A Year 4 class began their topic on Ancient Greeks by appraising the
content of the non-fiction books in their class for their usefulness (Y4 T2
T15) in finding out about Greek schools. Again the introduction for the
week was the Shared Reading session and the work grew naturally out of
this. In groups, the children recorded their facts on a spreadsheet,
paraphrasing the information in note form. They then compared the facts
they had found in their extract with another, more complicated article from
different source. Having completed their findings, the children printed out
their spreadsheet and decided which of the two information sources had
been the more useful in providing the information they needed for their
topic work.
Another group researching the Roman invasions, took the technology one
step further. The children posed themselves two questions: ‘Were the countries
further away from Rome occupied for less time than those nearer?’ ‘Why did
the Romans stay so much longer in some countries?’
The children used a variety of CD-ROMs, maps and books to complete a
database, then used this information to plot two graphs, in order to answer
their questions. On their portable computers, they posed a series of questions
for their classmates to answer. Questioning skills are central to children
working independently. How do they know what they are looking for? How do
they know how much information will be needed? The computer had now
become a complete resource, holding all the information needed in one format
or another, to answer the questions.
Word level work: using a multimedia spelling package
Much of the word level work in group work in the classroom was given to the
children in the form of worksheets—picking out a particular phonic pattern
perhaps, looking at the particularities of word building: do you drop an ‘e’

when you add ‘ing’? However, many worksheets merely ask children to write
in letters and they soon get wise to this. Pictures are not all they seem. A
child, writing in the final consonant sounds of ‘pin’ and ‘can’, thought the
pictures were of a nail and of cat food. But she still wrote the correct answer.
Using a multimedia spelling package can give the child access to sound as
well as text, so that they can click on the word and hear it any number of
times. This encourages phonemic awareness and teaches phoneme/ grapheme
correspondence. They can click on the separate onsets and rimes. They can
click on pictures and be told what they really are. Most packages ensure that
children actually place the letters in a particular order, thus promoting a
multi-sensory approach to spelling. Children can also find their scores and
often print out the words they could not spell. The teacher too has a record
of exactly what the child is doing. The disadvantage is that the important link
with handwriting is missing.
On the pocket book computers used in some schools, there is a simple but
effective program called Spell. Basically a spell checker, it also has an anagram
and crossword facility. This enables children to investigate word patterns for
themselves, generating words for spelling logs and class word banks; for
example, at Y1 T2 W3. There can be positive results from children using the
spell and thesaurus facilities collaboratively, since these programs are easier to
use than traditional dictionaries. If children have spelt a word incorrectly, a
series of phonetically similar words is presented to them; for example, did they
want to write ‘cut, cup, cap, cat’? They have to read, discriminate and choose.
Children become more aware of their own spelling errors, beginning to spot
patterns in the mistakes they make: ‘I forgot to double the p again’, rather
than just ‘I got it wrong’.
Why use computers?
All the above activities can be done using pencil and paper. But is ICT the
most effective tool for the task? Does ICT:
• ease and support the task in hand?
• enable the learner?
• ensure that learning outcomes can be achieved?
• ensure the quality and value of the task?
If it doesn’t, don’t use it.
We have found that using ICT in the Literacy Hour can:
• provide a change in approach to tried and tested ideas;
• offer structure and support for less able children;
• extend those at the top end;

• give new insight into vocabulary and word level work;
• show children a more positive approach to drafting and editing, one that
is less tedious and enables them to focus on content;
• motivate and encourage a fresh response to the skills of reading and
writing.
Activity 2.1 Using ICT to develop literacy skills
Test some of the ideas listed above with children whom you teach.
Consider how well your experiment went and whether this teaching
approach was a more effective way of achieving learning outcomes than
your normal approaches. If you can, work with colleagues testing out
these ideas and consider what is most appropriate in the context in
which you work.
Case study 2: second language learning—an
example from an English as a
foreign language research project
In the next two studies, John Meadows draws on the research into a number
of educational projects to examine how international email projects and
telecommunications can support pupil language learning.
One of the most obvious reasons for doing projects in school using
international email or telecommunication is to gain real audiences for
foreign language teaching and learning. Although many projects exist
which deal with the teaching of foreign languages through
telecommunication (Hovstad 1993; Wells 1993), few have reported on the
effectiveness of the medium for improving specific aspects of language
learning. It is unlikely that many primary schools will be teaching foreign
languages to their pupils through telecommunication, but it is possible that
during internet-based projects, children in primary schools in Britain may
be communicating with other children in Europe who are learning English
as a foreign language. So much of the research is applicable in several
contexts.
Background
Ranebo (1990) described telecommunication systems and their educational
uses, including foreign language learning. He stressed the importance of a
real audience for pupils’ written texts, as well as the opportunities such
networks provide for co-operative work on an international level, leading to

improved cultural understanding and the gaining of skills necessary for the
modern information society. The notion of a real audience is one which
motivates children writing in their home language as well as those working
in a foreign language. Tella’s work in this area (1991) led to some tentative
conclusions about the effectiveness of email for foreign language teaching
and learning. He stressed the importance of email for developing the
communicative functions of language as well as its role as a precursor to the
notion of a ‘virtual school’. The development of the technology in teaching
can, he considered, lead to concepts of the Global Classroom, and can
encourage pupils to develop the skills necessary for success in an information
society. But he also analysed some of the difficulties that can arise, such as:
finding suitable partners for Finnish schools; problems about maintaining
contacts over long periods; the fears of teachers about using new
technologies; changes that may be needed in working methods in
classrooms; the ways in which new technologies can lead to learner
autonomy.
Tella found that teachers dealt with incoming texts in rather
traditional ways, but that teachers’ creativity and initiative increased
during projects. He also found that language and culture studies became
intermixed, with social aspects of working co-operatively in their own
classrooms being very important. Teachers in the project reported that
forty-five minute timetabled sessions were problematic, as more time was
needed if telecommunication was to be successful. In this study, student
teachers and teachers worked much more co-operatively in this type of
language lesson, which broke new ground. Student teachers may have had
more advanced IT skills than teachers; for example, in sorting out
directories and hard-disk operating. There are several ideas later in this
chapter suggesting ways of dealing with incoming email texts in a more
creative fashion.
Milligan (1991) reported on an Anglo-Dutch telecommunication project
which had limited success and suggested that the main problems were in
finding suitable contacts for the international exchanges and then in
maintaining these contacts over a longer period. Although there were benefits
in helping pupils to change their stereotypical ideas about life in other
countries and writing for a real audience helped to stimulate creativity and
motivate research, some schools within the project had major problems which
could not be resolved in the short timescale. It did seem that developing
international links through telecommunication required a large commitment
in time and energy.
Implications from research
A project in which German pupils communicated in English with partners in
the UK and USA was evaluated jointly by British and German researchers,

who found that all the teachers in this sample agreed that pupils gain a lot
by working in groups in their classrooms for this sort of language work. For
example:
• ‘They work better in groups, at least in twos.’
• ‘Group work is done very thoroughly with a lot of discussion on content,
mistakes, etc.’
• ‘They seem to clear up their ideas together before producing texts.’
In most primary schools in Britain, one would expect that pupils would work
together in pairs or slightly larger groups when using computers for writing. It
may also be more practical for them to co-operate when reading texts which
arrive by email, although teachers do have the option of printing out such
texts for individual reading. The importance of grouping children for work on
ICT tasks is highlighted by Underwood in her chapter in Monteith’s (1998)
book IT for Enhancing Learning. She concludes that same sex pairs and groups
work better in this context than children working alone or in mixed sex
groups.
One of the key questions in the Anglo-German research was the
following: ‘What do you think pupils really learn through electronic mail?’
The use of email in English could be seen to have a number of possible
learning outcomes, so we were interested in finding out which of these
seemed to be the most likely results of such use. Did the pupils; for example,
increase their range of English vocabulary by being exposed to messages
written by their peers in other countries, rather than the carefully graded
vocabulary provided in text books, or did this less-planned series of new
words confuse them? Did they seem to be keen on using exactly the right
grammar when writing to their partners, or was this emphasis on correct
grammar less important when communicating through a less formal medium
like email? The eight teachers who were interviewed in this part of the
research gave the responses reported in Table 2.1 to our predetermined
categories.
Of course the sample is very small. Nevertheless, there is some agreement
among the teachers of the benefits to be gained.
Overall, teachers considered most of the real learning took place in
English vocabulary, communication functions, reading ability, text
production, culture/lifestyle and motivation; some learning occurs in the
area of co-operation, self-awareness and empathy, but much less in grammar
or spelling.
In British primary schools, many of these aims for reading and
writing are also important, especially when the development of the
language is linked with purposes beyond the important acquisition of
basic skills.

Activity 2.2 Finding partners for literacy projects
There are a number of ways in which schools can find partners
for projects. We suggest you take this opportunity to find out how
to do this and to read some of the examples of work other
teachers have done. The European SchoolNet site1
offers a
partner finding service which incorporates that offered by the
UK-based Central Bureau for Educational Visits and Exchanges.2
If you discover colleagues who have undertaken such projects,
find out what went well and what in their view is the most
effective way to organise such projects. Chapter 10 provides
further advice on the organisation of projects.
Case study 3: using global stories in the
classroom
Global Stories was an email based project organised by John Meadows
which involved children in primary and secondary schools writing
stories, some based on local myths and legends and then sending them
to others through email. Participants were from several countries,
including England and Scotland, the USA, Germany, France and
Australia.
The development of the ideas below was carried out by teachers and
the project came to a natural end. However, you will find teachers
advertise for partners for such projects through a number of sites such as
Table 2.1 Developing pupils’ English language skills via emails

those mentioned at the end of Chapter 10 and through other professional
networks. What follows is a series of ideas about how stories produced by
children in other countries and shared through email can be used to
develop pupils’ literacy skills.
Example 1: Christmas stories from other cultures
Pupils are asked to write stories about how Christmas is celebrated in
their country. Using stories sent from other countries teachers make a
cartoon, which could be used to prepare a teaching unit dealing with
Christmas.
Teaching aims:
• creative text production (with the aid of the given vocabulary list);
• the fostering of independent thinking and cultural understanding.
The teacher first gives the cartoon on the worksheet to the pupils to take
home, where they write their own version of the story. Later in class, pupils
read out their versions of the story and a general discussion takes place. Only
then are pupils given the original version of the story, in order to compare it
with their own.
The box below contains an example of how one pupil involved in
this project described a Christmas story from her home country. Using
multimedia software3
you could extend this by adding sound and
graphics.
A Christmas custom from Argentina
In Argentina we celebrate the three wise men.
The tradition is to put grass and water with a pair of shoes at the front
door. All children go to sleep and when they wake up they find the grass and
water gone and on top of their shoes they receive presents. The grass and
water have gone as a symbol that the three wise men have come and their
camels have eaten and drunk.
Gabriella: an 11 year-old pupil from a school in Cabramatta, Sydney, Aus-
tralia
After comparing the original version of the story with their interpretation, the
pupils take part in the following activities:

• The pupils interview each other about their experiences at Christmas, e.g.:
– ‘Is there anything special you do at Christmas?’
– ‘Do you have a special meal at Christmas?’, etc.
• Possible extensions or homework:
– ‘Describe how you celebrate Christmas.’
– ‘Rewrite Gabriella’s story from the perspective of one of the characters
involved in the story, e.g. imagine you are one of the three wise men
and write the story as he would have experienced it.’
Example 2: St Catherine’s Fair
The story of St Catherine’s Fair which was supplied by children in France
provided opportunities to achieve a number of different learning outcomes.
Teaching aims:
• improvement of reading ability and understanding of text;
• understanding of other cultures.
Citizenship issues can be raised about the similarities and differences in
customs and events like these across Europe. For example, why is Boxing Day
so called? Does it refer to boxes containing presents given to friends you visit
the day after Christmas? Or is it a reference to boxing tourna-ments at
medieval fairs similar to the one featured here:
A story from pupils in France: Saint Catherine’s Fair
Pupils in France described a festival of importance to them:
‘Every year, in Altkirch, there is a fair which delights all the neigh-bourhood
of the town and opens the Christmas season. This feast is the >’St Catherine
Fair’. It takes place on the nearest Thursday to St Catherine, towards Novem-
ber 25. This fair has been famous for centuries: street hawkers come from far
away. Allier, Haute Saone, Doubs and some Swiss and German tourists come
to visit us.< It is an important meeting of many people from the whole area,
street hawkers, shopkeepers and inhabitants. No one can >drive through town
because all the streets are so crowded by the numerous stalls. And we can see
plenty of cars on the roads outside town.< The whole town looks completely
different, strange. >We don’t recognise the houses behind the stalls. As the
cars can’t enter the town, the persons and the children who either work or go
to school there but don’t live in Altkirch can’t work or go to school on this
day. How lucky!< Then some pupils can have a stall too: we do it to >raise
money; most of us go for a walk in town, have a drink or eat a sandwich
continued

with their friends. The day itself begins very early in the morning: the lor-
ries enter the town and their owners install at about 6.30 a.m. Many differ-
ent things are sold at the fair: cattle, cars, tractors, toys, clothes for the
winter, furniture, sweets, jewels, all sorts of bread, vegetables and fruit of
autumn. There are also many snack-bars for all the people who eat at the
fair.< It’s difficult to walk <in the streets: there are so many people, espe-
cially in the afternoon. The weather is usually cold and cloudy. So the stalls
propose some coffee, tea or mulled wine, a typical Alsatian drink.< At night-
fall, >towards 6 p.m., the street hawkers start tidying things away. The fair
comes to an end. The fair is over but the feast itself is not. In the evening,
there is a ‘Catherinettes’ ball. They are the young women aged 25 who are
still not married. They must transform a simple hat into a master-piece and
they wear it to show their creation at this ball.< On the next day >the
newspapers print the photos of the nicest and most original ones. Then the
fair is really finished.< From now on, children think of Saint Nicholas we
celebrate on December 6th.
Mme M., et ses eleves de 4me, un college d’Altkirch.’
Note: the symbols <> indicate where to break up the text in the classroom
example accompanying this story.
Such stories can be used in a number of ways and to achieve a number of
learning outcomes. For example, you might start by reading the story together,
with a copy for each pupil, making sure the pupils understand the vocabulary.
You may divide the class into groups, each with about four pupils, then give
each group one version of the story, cut into smaller sections (see the symbols
in the boxed text above). This re-ordering, or jigsaw procedure is based on the
principle of slowing down the reading process so that the pupils have to read
each part several times. The decisions about cutting up the text are important.
Cuts need to be made in such a way that grammatically possible combinations
are determined by the logic of the story’s structure. The story could actually
be put together in a variety of grammatically correct ways, but there would be
only one correct version from a logical point of view; for example, the two
short extracts from the skeleton of the story, ‘At nightfall…’ and ‘On the next
day…’ could be grammatically interchanged, but would not make logical
sense. So pupils need to really understand the contextual symbols or the
logical structure of the text.

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ACTINIA MESEMBRYANTHEMUM, DYCTYOTA
DYCHOTOMA.
Some healthy plants of Ulva latissima and Enteromorpha
compressa are now to be introduced, and the whole left undisturbed
for at least a week or ten days, when the stocking with animal life
may commence; some of the hardy Actinia being the best of all to
start with. But if the aquarian is in a fever to see something alive in
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mesembryanthemum, one day after the introduction of the plants,
and unless he has made some mistake in the preliminaries they will
do well. I have, for the sake of gaining information, placed this
anemone in water the instant it was prepared, and without filtering
it, without suffering the loss of one; indeed, I have some by me now
which a year ago were so operated on; they attached themselves
directly, and lived through all the trials incident to a new tank, in

which there was not a single drop of natural sea water. Mr. Hall tells
me he has, on emergencies, kept them alive for a week in soap-
suds, and even in more offensive liquids; and judging by the life the
creature leads on the sea shore, now submerged in the cool waters,
and now exposed to the burning sun, it is not at all surprising that it
has a hardy constitution. Still, this hasty proceeding is not to be
recommended; let time develop the powers of the water, let the
solar light reach the plants through the green medium of the stained
glass, and soon a lovely beading of oxygen bubbles will appear, to
indicate that all is right, and then the animals may follow each other
in proper order to their domestic home.
If a little real sea-water, even a pint or two, can be obtained to
mix with the artificial, the ripening of the latter will be considerably
hastened, but it is an interesting fact in the chemistry of the
aquarium that, though in the first preparation of sea-water certain of
the ingredients are left out of the prescription, in process of time
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analysis. How do they get there? They are communicated to it by
the vegetation, and hence as the water acquires age, like good wine,
it increases in strength, and after some months use, will maintain
creatures in health that would perish in a day in water recently
prepared.
The preparation costs, when prepared from ingredients bought at
wholesale price, about three-pence a gallon; but it is a much better
plan to purchase it ready prepared, the price then being only four-
pence per gallon, or a three gallon packet for one shilling.
CHAPTER III.

COLLECTING SPECIMENS.
To gather specimens is much more pleasant than to purchase
them, though an inexperienced person would be pretty sure to bring
home, from the sea side, many things utterly unfit for the tank. As a
rule, green weeds are the best, the red sorts offer some lovely
specimens that do well in an established tank, though none of them
succeed in recently prepared artificial water. Brown and olive
coloured plants are to be wholly avoided, they wither soon, and
spread pollution around them so as to endanger the whole
collection.
Ordinary shore gatherings are quite useless for the purpose of
the aquarium; the drift is composed of torn specimens of unsuitable
plants, and we must seek for specimens at the extreme low-water
mark, or in the tide-pools which remain full during the whole of the
ebb.
During spring tides is the best time for making collections, and it
behoves excursionists who cannot go to the sea side very often, to
make their arrangements for such trips, in accordance with the state
of the moon as indicated in the almanac. New and full moon are the
times in which the tide rises highest and sinks lowest, and much
disappointment will be avoided if such proper times are chosen.
Any one who may wish to gather a few specimens for a tank,
should be provided with a jar or two, and a basket. A geologist's
hammer and a chisel are also necessary. By searching the tide-pools
and the boulders at low-water mark, masses of rock will be found
covered with weeds of various forms and colours. Select the green
grassy kinds, and chip off each with a portion of rock attached, for a
sea-weed has no root, and if detached from its rocky site inevitably
perishes.
Any one using a little perseverance and judgment may secure, at
any part of the coast, sufficient good specimens to stock a tank of

moderate size; and if the collection be watched closely for a week or
two, the unsuitable sorts will make themselves known by their
increasing shabbiness, and must either be removed altogether or
treated according to the instructions to be included under the head
of management in a subsequent chapter.
A few anemones may be detached from the rocky hollows in
which they have ensconced themselves. The common smooth
anemone, which may be known in a moment by its near
resemblance to a large deep coloured strawberry, should be secured
in plentiful numbers, for it is equal to most of its kindred in beauty,
and is so hardy as to submit to the harshest treatment unhurt; the
more delicate kinds of anemones, especially the white ones, should
be obtained in the same way as the weeds; namely, detached with a
portion of the rock on which they are found adhering.
In packing the collection for carriage, care must be taken not to
allow any pieces of rock to press upon the soft anemones. The
whole may be brought away in jars of sea-water, or packed in
masses of wet fuci gathered from the beach.
There are very few of the specimens so obtained, but may be as
well or better conveyed in wet sea-weed than in water, and if they
remain a couple of days so packed, they will take little harm, and
may be quickly revived if put into shallow bowls, with a little sea
water, and oxygenised by means of the syringe before being placed
in the tank. On this head I can say no more here, but must refer the
reader for minute instructions to the chapter on specimen collection,
in my work on Rustic Adornments, though, what should be sought
on the beach, may be judged from the kinds recommended in the
succeeding chapters, as well also as to what should be purchased
from time to time. Before any specimens are placed in the tank, they
ought to be rinsed with sea-water, and any barnacles or sponges
scraped off the pieces of rock to which the plants are attached. Any
neglect of this will be sure to be followed by the production in the
tank of sulphuretted hydrogen, which blackens and kills all before it.
Nor should any animal that appears exhausted be consigned to the

tank until it has been kept some little time in a shallow bowl with a
few weeds, and revived by the occasional use of the syringe.
Otherwise, delays are dangerous, and no time should be lost in
conveying the several objects to their proper home in the little
crystal palace, where blue eyes are to admire, and ruddy lips smile
approval of your work.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PLANTS.
As already stated, the green weeds are most suitable, the red
next so, but of the brown and olive sorts there are very few that can
be kept in a state of health for any length of time. There are only
two plants suitable for the commencement of the experiment, and
these are Ulva latissima, the common sea lettuce, and Enteromorpha
compressa, a delicate grass-like algæ, of a very cheerful green. Of
these Mr. Lloyd and Mr. Hall have always plenty on hand, ready
cleaned and prepared for immediate submersion. Artificial water
soon acquires the properties of natural sea water under the
influence of these plants, which grow rapidly, and disseminate their
spores throughout the tank, at the same time giving abundance of
oxygen for the support of animal life.
When a few weeks have elapsed Chondrus crispus, better known
as "Carrageen moss," may be added, it is a free grower found in
plenty on the ledges at extreme low-water mark. The green weeds
Codium tomentosum, Cladophora arcta, and rupestris, and Bryopsis
plumosa may be considered safe stock when the water has been in
use a month or two, but the growth of the more delicate of the

Rhodosperms must not be attempted in artificial water for at least
three or four months.
The best weeds of the latter class are Phyllophora rubens,
Corallina officinalis, and Iridæa edulis. In collecting, no doubt the
Dulse, Delesseria alata, and sanguinea, with, perhaps, some of the
Polysiphoniæ will be considered valuable prizes, but they will not
succeed in any but experienced hands, for whom this work is not
written.
Dasya, Chylocladia, Nitophyllum, Griffithsia, Rhodymenia, and
Ptilota will all contribute specimens as time goes on, and opportunity
affords for obtaining them. But not one of these lovely weeds of the
red class are fit for ordinary aquarian tactics, they are the "florists'
flowers" of the aquarian world, and refuse to be domesticated by
any but adepts. The exquisitely delicate Griffithsia setacea is perhaps
the only one of the above that may be safely used in a well-
seasoned tank of artificial water; the other genera seem to be still
more delicately constituted and to require their own native element
in a state of great purity.
Once more I urge the beginner to be content with Ulva and
Enteromorpha at starting, with half-a-dozen plants of each of these,
a large and pleasing variety of animal life may be preserved, and in
the case of disaster of any kind, these are the most readily restored
to health by a little timely and judicious management.
All coarse and dark coloured weeds, however tempting at first
sight, are to be avoided. The sprawling tangles that one steps over
in traversing the boulders and the slimy masses of sea-weed,
everywhere cast upon the coast, are quite unfit, however fine the
specimens, or strong the desire to possess them. Neither must much
value be attached to any weed cast up by the surge. The only
trustworthy specimens are those chipped from the rock in situ and
brought away without being detached from their natural basis.

CHAPTER V.
THE ANIMALS.
Though Anemones take precedence in the order of stocking, and
frequently monopolise the tank—for, after all, these are the main
attraction of most marine aquaria—yet, as they do not stand the
highest in the order of nature, we must recount zoologically what
creatures are best fitted for domestication, and in another chapter
give directions as to their selection and management.
Fishes take the first place, because they are the highest forms of
life admitted to the marine tank; but they are the last introduced,
because, being more delicately organized than the tribes beneath
them, they require either real sea-water, in a state of high
preservation, or artificial water of some months' seasoning, and
good management.
The fishes best adapted for tank life are the queer-looking
gobies, the lively blennies, small specimens of wrasse, rockling, and
eel. The grey mullet is a pretty fish, but not to be domesticated
without some difficulty. Some kinds of flat fish may be kept in tanks,
but beginners had better have nothing to do with them. Small
sticklebacks may be taken in plenty by means of a hand-net in quiet
tide-pools, and do well in the tank, but they are pugnacious, and
harass less vigorous creatures; so that some judgment is required in
grouping them.
Mollusks.—The common Periwinkle is useful as a cleaner, and
interesting also to those who find pleasure in contemplating the
startling resources of Divine Wisdom, as evidenced in the
construction of the most humble creatures. The winkles accomplish
for the marine-tank what the fresh-water snails do for the river-tank,
they scrape confervoid growths from the glass, and so help to

preserve the crystalline aspect of the tank. All the species of winkle
are capable of domestication, Littorina littorea, the common sort,
and E. littoralis, a pretty little fellow, with a gaily mottled
hybernaculum.
PORCELLANA PLATYCHELES, CANCER
PAGURUS.
The Trochus tribe, better known as Tops, are also useful as
cleaners, and in appearance are more stately and ornamental than
the winkle, their cleanly marked conical shell attracting as much
attention from strange eyes as the noble planorbis corneus does in
the river-tank. Generally speaking, univalves are more easily kept
than bivalves; many of the latter are apt to die off, and cause some
amount of putrescence before their demise is discovered.
Crustacea are lively and interesting, but of course small species,
or small specimens of large species are the most suitable. The
Soldier crabs (Pagurus) and the Swimming crabs (Portunus) are
eminently suitable, so is the pretty Strawberry crab, Eurynome

aspera, and the interesting Broad-claw Porcellana platycheles.
Shrimps and prawns may be used freely; they are lively creatures,
and much more beautiful when seen in motion, gliding about like
ghosts, than would be imagined by any one judging from the
appearance of specimens on the table.
CARCINAS MÆNAS.
Annelides afford us the interesting serpulas, some pretty sea-
worms, and the terebellas, all easy of preservation, and
remunerative of the attention bestowed upon them.
Zoophytes.—This is the division from which the most prominent
attractions of the tank are derived. Of these the Actinia take
precedence of all the ordinary inhabitants of the tank, because of
their exquisite beauty, strange habits, and still more general
certainty attending their preservation.
Actinia mesembryanthemum is the common Smooth Anemone
which abounds on every part of our coast. Its colour varies
considerably, but it is usually of a deep, warm chocolate, dotted all

over with small yellow spots, and when closed has the best possible
resemblance to a large ripe strawberry. Every stone about the sea-
beach is studded with this anemone, and a collector may secure any
required number in a few hours, slipping each from its base, and
dropping the whole into a jar with some fragments of fresh wet
weed to keep them moist.
When it expands, a circle of bright blue beads, or tubercules,
resembling torquoises, is seen just within the central opening; and,
as the expansion proceeds, a number of coral-like fingers, or
tentacles, unfold from the centre, and at last spread out on all sides
like the hundred petals of a Peri flower, reminding one of Hinda's
boon:—
----Be it our's to embellish thy pillow
With everything beauteous that grows in the deep;
Each flower of the rock, and each gem of the billow,
Shall sweeten thy bed and illumine thy sleep.
Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber
That ever the sorrowing sea-bird has wept,
With many a shell in whose hollow-wreathed chamber
We, Peris of Ocean, by moonlight have slept.
Lalla Roohk.

ACTINIA ANGUICOMA, TROCHUS ZIZIPHINUS,
ULVA LATISSIMA, BRYOPSIS PLUMOSA, ACORN
BARNACLE.
This anemone will remain expanded for many days together, if
the water be kept bright and pure; but if the tank gets fouled, it
closes and falls from its foothold, and perishes if not attended to. It
is the hardiest of all the creatures that are regarded as stock for
tanks, and survives many a wreck unhurt. To induce it to climb up
the sides of the vessel, let it be placed with its base lying partly
against it, or bring it close to a stone in the centre, and it will be
pretty sure to attach itself where you desire in the course of a few

days. This last suggestion applies to anemones generally; novices
are surprised to find how well disposed the creatures are in a well-
kept tank. The disposition dates from the day of introduction, for
none of this tribe are fond of locomotion; and the arrangement of
them for effect, depends upon whether you drop them quietly just in
contact with the spot you wish them to adhere to, or throw them in
pell mell, to cling to the weeds or to each other.
ACTINIA BELLIS AND GEMMACEA,
DELESSERIA ALATA, POLYSIPHONIA
URCEOLATA.
A. anguicoma, or the snaky-locked anemone, is a pretty but
curious creature. It is all arms, just as a crab is all claws; but so
delicate in form, so beautifully striped in the tentacles, that it stands
quite apart in the tank as a thing unique. When found on the sea-

shore, as it is usually after a storm, it is a flat-looking, smooth mass,
of a brown tint, delicately striped with yellow and white. After a few
days' residence in the tank, it begins to expand, and rises to so tall a
figure, especially in the twilight, that it appears quite a different
creature to that introduced a few days before. In fact, its actual bulk
is increased vastly by expansion. It is constantly expanded.
A. Bellis is another good species. It is a delicate pink and brown
and pink and white anemone, and certainly does resemble a daisy
very closely indeed. Though much prized it is not rare. Mr. Lloyd
usually has abundance of them on sale, at a shilling each, and a few
should be used to give variety to the collection. In newly-made
marine-water it will not do at all; but if it falls into the possession of
an aquarian who has no ripe tank at hand for it, it may be kept for
weeks in a shallow pan.
If anything goes wrong with this kind, it throws out a number of
white threads, and shrinks out of form, and perishes in a few days;
but once obtained in a sound state, and carefully treated at the
outset, it is as hardy as mesembryanthemum, and more readily
expanded at all seasons than most of its compeers.
Actinia Gemmacea.—This is a delicately-constituted anemone,
that displays itself freely only in the most pure sea-water, in which
there is abundance of oxygen. It is quite unfit for early experiments,
but well repays the trouble it occasions when it can be successfully
kept. A few weeks since I had the pleasure of witnessing the birth of
a large cluster of this pretty anemone in the extensive collection of
Mr. Lloyd, at Portland Road. To the naked eye they appeared mere
flocculent specks, but a lens revealed their true form as they
adhered to the side of the vessel; every one of the little creatures,
with its tentacles expanded, a real microscopic gem, combining the
grace of a flower with the tinting of a pearl, and the delicate volition
of a new-born animal.
When full grown, the gemmed anemone is very showy in its
tintings. Pink, yellow, and grey are all beautifully blended, and the

rows of glands which reach from the margin to the base, add their
dots of white to the garments of this tiny harlequin. The disk is
brilliantly coloured, scarlet, green, and orange, shading into each
other, and occasionally mingled with half-tints of every colour of the
rainbow. The lip is usually of a vivid green, and the tentacles exhibit
rose, violet, orange, and white on their upper surfaces. In the cut,
this anemone is seen partially closed on a piece of stone behind two
specimens of A. Bellis.
Actinia Crassicornis is another of the more delicate kinds, that
dies speedily, unless treated with great care, and in a well-
established tank. It is very abundant on every part of our coasts,
and must be removed with the stone to which it is found adhering;
for if removed, or even handled, it perishes in the course of a few
hours. It is, however, too beautiful not to be worth an effort to
preserve it; and, if the tank is in good condition, it will be well to
obtain two or three specimens, and watch them narrowly, so that if
any of them die, they may be immediately removed to avoid
polluting the water.
The colour of this anemone varies considerably in different
specimens. Violet and amber shades frequently predominate in the
tentacles. Sometimes the disk is of a pearly white, at others of a
warm fawn or bright orange and scarlet, sometimes a deep crimson
or a dull chocolate; while the tentacles vary from pure white to dark
brown, dingy fawn, and brick-dust red. The latter organs are very
numerous and tubular. When irritated, the creature has the power of
attaching the tentacles to the object which annoys it, and in this way
it frequently clings to the fingers when handled, and at the same
time squirts out numerous jets of water, until it is quite empty and
collapsed.
Actinia Parasitica.—This is a good aquarium species, on account
of the ease with which it may be kept. It is a species that the
rambler on the sea-beach will not be at all likely to meet with, for it
is truly pelagic in its habit. It is only to be obtained in a state fit for

the aquarium by means of the dredge, and when so obtained it lives
a long while in confinement.
The most interesting feature in the history of this zoophyte is
that of its usually inhabiting the shell of some defunct univalve
mollusk, such as the Trochus, or the great whelk, Buccinum
undatum. This is not the most curious part of its history. The
anemone loves company, and in the same shell as that on which it
extends itself, we usually find a pretty but pugnacious crab, Pagurus
bernhardus. To the anemone the crab acts as porter; he drags the
shell about with him as if it were a palanquin, on which sits
enthroned a very bloated but gaily-dressed potentate, destitute of
power to move it for himself. Like most lazy dignitaries, this showy
Actinia attracts more attention than the lively servant who drags it
from place to place, for its form and colouring are beautiful in the
extreme.
It is of large size, frequently attaining to a height of four inches
with a diameter of two and a half. Mr. Gosse's description of this fine
creature is so minute and interesting, that I must beg the reader to
accept it in preference to any that I can write. He says, the "ground
colour is a dirty white, or drab, often slightly tinged with pale yellow;
longitudinal bands of dark wood-brown, reddish, or purplish brown,
run down the body, sometimes very regularly, and set so closely as
to leave the intermediate bands of ground colour much narrower
than themselves; at other times these bands are narrower, more
separated, and variously interrupted or broken. I have seen a variety
in which the bands took the form of chains of round dark spots, the
effect of which was handsome. Immediately round the base the
bands usually subdivide, and are varied by a single series of upright,
oblong spots of rich yellow, which are usually marginal, with deeper
brown than the bands. The whole body is surrounded by close-set
faint lines of pale blue, sometimes scarcely distinguishable, except
near the summit, where they cut the bands in such a manner as to
form, with other similar lines which there run lengthwise, a
reticulated pattern.

"The disk is somewhat wider than the diameter of the body,
which it over-arches on all sides. Its margin is somewhat thin, and
occasionally thrown into puckered folds to a small extent. Thus it
appears to approach the peculiar form of A. bellis. The disk is nearly
flat, or slightly hollowed, but rises in the centre into a stout cone, in
the middle of which is the mouth, edged with crenated lips. The
tentacles are arranged in seven rows, of which the innermost
contains about twenty, the second twenty-four, the third forty-eight,
the fourth ninety-six; the other rows are too closely set, and too
numerous to be distinguished. Probably the whole number of
tentacles, in a full-grown specimen, may be considered as certainly
not less than 500."
Actinia Dianthus.—This is the Plumose anemone of Mr. Gosse,
and sometimes bears the very appropriate name of the Carnation
anemone. It is the most superb of our native Actinias—a gorgeous
creature, that in itself more than realizes our brightest imaginings of
the hidden splendours of the ocean floor, and of the gems that
bedeck the caves of Neptune. How will future poetry be affected by
the revelations of the aquarium, and how far will the sober facts of
scientific research influence the pictures and the incidents of
romance? Even Keats's glowing description of "God Neptune's
palaces" becomes tame in the presence of this splendid creature,
which carries the fancy—
----"far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods, which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean,"
and peoples the dark slippery slopes with wondrous forms of life
and beauty, as if the lost argosies and the perished navies, that have
found a common sepulchre in the waters, had given up their myriad
souls to the conjuration of Glacus and Scylla, and all the dizzy troop
of ocean spirits. It is, verily, a wondrous creature, of enormous size,
and so delicately tinted, so light and fairy-like in structure, so
constantly expanding and retracting its thousand delicate fingers,
like the Indian blossom that the Brahmin believes to be endowed

with life, that it never ceases to attract the attention of the coldest,
and fill the ardent lover of nature with—
----"the amaze
Of deep-seen wonders."
I have before me now five specimens of this splendid anemone.
They are all expanded, and they glow in the sunshine like huge
carnations of the brightest amber, one of them verging towards a
pure white. Two of these are represented in the engraving,
surrounded by fronds of Delesseria sanguinea, Callithamnium, and
Griffithsia. The one attached to the perpendicular side of a stone is
of the golden amber variety; when fully expanded it forms a massive
column of five inches in height, at least, and nearly three in
diameter. From the summit of the column the tentacles fringe over in
rich masses, like the petals of a monster carnation, all of them in
motion as if seeking something which they cannot find. The
tentacular disk is deeply frilled and puckered, and constantly
changes its outline under the capricious will of the animal; while, at
the same time, the tentacles arrange and rearrange themselves into
most confusing forms; then again expand to their utmost, and
expose the oval mouth and crenated lips, of a pellucid softness that
would appear as if chiselled out of alabaster, were they not
constantly varying their form, and every instant undergoing a new
"sea-change." The tentacles are very regularly arranged around the
mouth, but towards the margin they thicken and thicken till they
form a dense fringe that overlaps the column, and continues ever
waving as if stirred by trembling ocean currents. If I now strike the
glass with my finger, or even breathe lightly on the surface of the
water, they are all withdrawn, the stately column shrinks down into a
mass of pulp, and in a few moments swells out like a globular
balloon, so tight and large that one momentarily expects it to burst.
For an instant only it remains thus blown out; it is suddenly
constricted as if clasped by a cord, and it then becomes double like a
pair of globes placed one upon the other, and flattened where they
meet. Suddenly the imaginary girdle slips downward, disappears,

then it contracts, rises again, assumes its noblest proportions,
expands its thousand fringes, all delicately waving above the dark
stones, and is once more as lovely, or lovelier than ever.

ACTINIA DIANTHUS, DELESSERIA
SANGUINEA, CALLITHAMNIUM
ROSEUM, GRIFFITHSIA SETACEA.
This has been described as one of the most tender of its class, but I have
long been convinced that it is comparatively hardy, and may be preserved
with very great certainty. So long as the water is kept moderately pure, by an
occasional filtering through charcoal—which aerates and purifies at the same
time—it lives and prospers, occasionally moving from place to place, but
almost always expanded, and every instant assuming some new form. It is,

however, so far delicate that, if frequently disturbed, it is sure to perish. When
removed from its native "oozy bed" it should be kept on the stone or shell to
which it is found attached, until it floats off of its own accord, and fixes itself
elsewhere. When handled it throws out a number of white threads, which are
afterwards withdrawn.
CHAPTER VI.
WHAT IS AN ANEMONE?
It is very strange that where the animal and vegetable kingdoms meet, the
forms should assume such close resemblances to each other, as to make it
frequently a matter of difficulty to determine to which of the two great
departments some special specimen shall be assigned. Here are the lovely
sea-flowers—flowers only in name and appearance—representing the lowest
links of animal life and pointing to that last link where the animal and the
vegetable blend into one, bearing all the outward resemblances to flowers
from which they take their appropriate names, yet all of them strictly animals,
endowed with volition, and in their general organization assimilating to the
extensive series of zoological orders which stand above and beneath them.
The sea anemones are animals of the lowest class—zoophytes of the great
Cuverian division of Radiata. It is in this division that animation is seen to
tremble and flicker in the socket, and to become gradually extinguished as we
descend the scale and approach the confines of the kingdom of verdure.
Here, then, life has its lowest if not least lovely forms; the individuals have
less individuality, many of them live in groups and clusters, and increase in a
semi-vegetative manner by gemmation, or the formation of bud-like germs,
while others generate by spontaneous fissure, and break up into numerous
forms, each of which rapidly acquires the form of the parent, and proceeds in
the same way to increase its kind.
The Radiata are so named on account of the ray-like form generally
observable in the structure of the creatures; in some the ray-like divisions give
such a speciality to the structure as to distinguish them at once as members
of this division; as in the star-fishes, for instance, in which the intestinal canal

branches out from the body into the several rays which form the star, and in
the anemones, in which the relation to the tribe is at first sight perceptible in
the tentacles which surround the mouth, and which render it so exquisitely
beautiful as a marine representative of a true flower.
But though the term Radiata is applied to an extensive division, in which
the members have many characteristics in common with each other, the ray-
like form is not equally distinguishable in all. In some tribes there is a
tendency to associate into groups, in which each individual has a certain
degree of connection with the rest, as in the infusoria common in our brooks,
and indeed most of the polypes which thus live in community. The
resemblance to vegetable forms is, however, common to a great portion of
the Radiata, and those in which this resemblance is the strongest are grouped
together under the general designation of Zoophytes. In Zoophytes, the
leading feature of a radiate animal is very distinctly observable, and that
leading feature is the arrangement of the vital organs around a centre, the
organs composing the rays of the imaginary star, or the petals of the
imaginary flower, to which the mouth or stomach is the centre.

EDWARDSIA VESTITA, ÆSOP PRAWN,
ENTEROMORPHA COMPRESSA, ULVA
LATISSIMA.
Among the Zoophytes we meet with many of the creatures which have the
greatest attraction for the student of the Aquarium. The brooks supply him
with the curious hydra, the seven-headed monster that perpetuates one of
the triumphs of Hercules—withal a beautiful and wondrous creature, that may
be cut in pieces, turned inside out, or even thrust one animal within the other,
and still remain the same. The sea supplies the madrepores, the builders of
ocean-reefs, and the founders of islands and continents; as it also supplies
the sea anemones of more than a hundred species, from the curious
Edwardsia vestita, here figured, from the first seen in this country, at present
in the collection of Mr. Alford Lloyd, to the familiar members of the genus
Actinia, obtainable everywhere on our coasts.
The true Zoophytes have all, more or less, the plant-like form, and they
readily separate into two great classes, namely, the Anthozoa, or flower-life,
and the Polyzoa, or many-life, in which the individuals are associated together
in numbers. They are all inhabitants of water, are all destitute of joints, lungs,
nerves, and proper blood-vessels; but in the place of nerves possess what
naturalists call an irritable system, in obedience to which they expand or
contract at will. At the upper part of the body is situated the mouth, which is
usually surrounded with tentacles, which are mostly used in securing prey.
There is no alimentary duct, for the stomach has the form of a simple sac, the
aliment being injected and ejected by the same orifice.
The Anthozoa comprise animals which are perfect in themselves, and
these are mostly soft bodied, having no shelly covering, and are protected
only by the leathery integument which surrounds them, and the thousand
weapons of offence and defence which they expand in the form of tentacles.
Among the Polyzoa we meet with creatures that encase themselves in horny
shells, or calcareous coatings, such as the Madrepores, which, like submarine
masons, elaborate the carbonate of lime which the sea supplies them with,
into shelly retreats; and the tubed Hydrioda, which construct winding galleries
and convoluted tubes, from the mouths of which they protrude their fans and
tentacles in search of prey.
Among the higher orders of the Radiata we meet with the strange Sea
Cucumbers and the Sea Urchins, and the Star fishes; and among the lower
orders the Sea Anemones, many forms of which are described and figured in
these pages.

A Sea Anemone, then, is a Zoophyte belonging to the class Anthozoa, or
flower-life, and the order Helanthoida, or sunflower-like creatures. The central
disk of the sea flower is composed of the lips, which open into a mouth which
communicates with the simple sac which constitutes the stomach, and the
petals and fringes which surround it—now like the anemone, now like the
sunflower or the mesembryanthemum, or the richest carnation that ever won
for a florist a golden prize. The further subdivision is dependent on the details
of individual structure; and a large section—that of Actinia—comprehends
most of those on which the aquarian bestows his patience in the work of
domestication.
The Actiniadæ—so named from the Greek—signifying a ray of the sun—are
an extensive family, of which more than a hundred species are to be found on
our coasts, or in the deep bays adjacent. But few of these are suited for
confinement in aquaria, and of these the chief are the Actinia proper, the
Sagartia, most of which are usually grouped with the Actinia; the Anthea
Cereus; the splendid Adamsia Palliata, which is the only known species of the
genus to which it belongs; and a few of the Bunodes, Edwardsia, and
Corynactis.
In all the varieties of sea anemones the mode of life is similar; they are
carnivorous, and obtain their prey by means of the ever-seeking tentacles that
search the lymph around them, and secure sometimes fishes, at others
mollusks, but more frequently the minute forms of infusorial life that abound
in the sea, or in the artificial water of the tank. The mode of reproduction is
by ova, which are sometimes vivified in the body of the parent, and not only
do they give birth by ejection from the mouth of a numerous progeny, but
actual divisions of the body may be made, and each division will acquire
completeness. Dr. Johnson relates several instances in proof of this, one of
which is particularly interesting. A specimen of Actinia crassicornis had
swallowed a large, sharp-edged shell, which so completely stretched the body
of the creature as if on a ring of wire, as virtually to cut it into two equal
parts. Thereupon it put out from the base a new disk, with mouth and
tentacles, and became at once a double anemone, to which the gorged shell
served as an intermediate base of attachment. Dr. Cocks has seen specimens
of Bunodes alba acquire complete forms in duplicate when the original
specimen has been severed into two or more parts; and there are many other
instances on record of this plant-like division of sea anemones having been
observed.

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