Mobile Technology Essay -- Technology, Education, Mobile Devices

The use of mobile phones to support science teaching and learning outside the classroom is also becoming more common. Benta & Cremene (2004) proposed a multimedia m-learning application for biology lessons. In this study, the students recognized a plant following a Wireless Markup Language (WML) text description and MMS provided by the teacher. While searching for the plant, the students communicated with their peers and the teacher by exchanging pictures and sending MMS. A sensor system for environmental education was developed using mobile phones by Woodgate et al. (2007) as a means of enhancing learner participation and motivation. A participatory design approach was used to develop the sensor system. In this study the students collected a range of sensor data using probes and mobile phones (connected to a datalogger via Bluetooth). Earlier Vahey & Crawford (2002) reported a study where probes connected to handheld computers were used to determine the water quality of a river. In this study, each student took a measurement using a probe at different points along the streambed. The students combined their data by beaming it on to a common personal computer. Then they used their handheld devices to analyze this data and prepared graphs of the combined data sets. This m-learning opportunity allowed students to focus on interpretation rather than tedious process of recording and plotting data. Further collecting and sharing of data led to inquiry based scientific practice in both inside and outside the classroom. Emphasising the children’s understanding of contextual information on the circumstances in which data was collected, Woodgate et al. (2008) reported a second study where school students (age 13-15) used mobile senso... .../or students to bring ‘the outside world’ into the classroom during a science lesson(Ekanayake & Wishart,2010a). According to the findings of this study, the mobile phone camera could be used to support the teacher during the different stages of a lesson including planning, implementating and reviewing. The phones themselves also helped students to learn science effectively by enabling collaborative and authentic learning opportunities. In addition to this Ekanayake & Wishart (2010b) report a study where students used mobile phone video to record the deflection of a galvanometer in a secondary level science lesson. According to the authors, the mobile phones’ video camera helped students to capture a fleeting (observation) event which could have been missed otherwise. This enabled the students to view their observations repeatedly and share them with their peers.