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The results of a survey of experiences, feelings and preconceptions concerning information technology (IT) that University of Oxford history and geography interns bring to the one year secondary teacher training course are reported.A notable finding was the significantly greater importance attributed to the use of computers in subject teaching by geography interns compared with historians, and the relatively large numbers of the latter ascribing little or no importance to the use of computers in the teaching of history.Analysis of the qualitative data provided by this study provided a range of insights into the ways in which geography and history interns viewed information technology.There was a marked difference between the two groups not only in their feelings about IT but in the degree of sophistication with which they articulated IT issues.The geographers were more positive and were able to support their views with specific examples of software and applications.Their level of knowledge and understanding was often well developed.The historians, in contrast, rarely exhibited the same level of specificity.They viewed IT in a more generalised way.It was often assumed to be 'a good thing' and something that might be useful, but there was a marked degree of uncertainty.There was however a distinct group within the historians who exhibited a high degree of anxiety about IT and where views were expressed in very emotive terms.Reflections of a group of school mentors and university curriculum tutors on the findings are also described, and a number of issues and dilemmas for initial teacher education partnership schemes are identified.
Summers et al. (Mon,) studied this question.