Mobile Media And Informal Science Education
From Media and Informal Science Learning
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Definitions of Mobile Technologies and Informal Science Learning
Mobile technologies are personal portable devices which may be used to store, access and interact with data or with other people. They often allow users to create, modify, organize, or manipulate data. The key idea is that they are tetherless in that they do not need a physical connection to another device or resource (such as data, power, computational facilities) in order to function. The technologies are generally digital.
Mobile devices generally are designed around two (increasingly overlapping) functional forms. The first of these forms is designed to access digital information (such as data of various kinds, including entertainment) which is already existing (or loadable) on the device. Examples include PDAs, DVD players and iPods. The second form is designed to allow the user to interactively obtain information from remote sources (such as is the case with RF headsets keyed to museum exhibits, Wi-Fi- enabled laptops or cell phones). In terms of interaction, the paramount form is communication with distant others, the iconic example is the cell phone. The bandwidth of available information and interaction is increasing, and can allow for real-time full-motion video. Since their early availability, educators and students alike have looked to mobile technology as a way to enhance learning.
Learning for present purposes is the cognitive process of acquiring knowledge, skills, insight or attitudes. It is a remarkably continuous process that takes place in different contexts throughout one's lifetime. Informal learning is generally considered to be the learning that occurs outside of the classroom specifically, and at times outside the school itself. Informal learning is often called free-choice learning (see ILI-wiki on this topic).
As to informal science learning, a 2009 National Research Council panel proposed six strands of informal science learning. They are:
1. Experience excitement, interest, and motivation to learn about phenomena in the natural and physical world.
2. Come to generate, understand, remember and use concepts, explanations, arguments, models and facts related to science.
3. Manipulate, test, explore, predict, question, observe, and make sense of the natural world.
4. Reflect on science as a way of knowing; on processes, concepts, and institutions of science, and on their own process of learning about phenomena.
5. Participate in scientific activities and learning practices with others, using scientific language and tools.
6. Think about themselves as science learners and develop an identity as someone who knows about, uses, and sometimes contributes to science. (p. 3).
Corresponding to these strands, it is believed that mobile technologies (e.g., mobile phones, PDAs) could potentially be enabling tools to conduce to each of these goals. This is due to their personalized and portable features as well as the popularity and pervasive use among young people. In particular, many experts have expressed the hope that these devices can help to create personalized, authentic and situated learning experiences (Kukulska-Hulme & Traxler, 2007).[1]
Findings from Research
Research on informal science learning with mobile technologies has generally focused on the dispositional and skill-based outcomes. For example, it was found that children's feeling of enjoyment is instrumental in helping them reflect on their handheld-mediated scientific activity.[2] In the mobile game area, participatory simulation games (played on PDAs) were also found helpful in enhancing students' scientific thinking (i.e., understand the causality behind a phenomenon).[3] Moreover, the capacity of mobile games that allow children to personalize their game experience was found useful to help children to understand the science and design games.[4] Some studies have concluded that mobile technologies can help children acquire specific science knowledge (knowledge-based outcomes) through situated learning.[5]
Long-term positive impact: Strong evidence is scarce
Many studies find mildly positive outcomes, but these tend to be narrow and more attitudinal than performance-based. In general, findings from research to date fail to show that there are long-term changes (e.g., cognition, attitudes, beliefs and behavior) associated with mobile-assisted informal science learning. A major reason is that the time span of these studies' allowed for only short-term observation of the learning contexts and processes. Yet even to the extent short-term positive results may be emerging, such findings may not be pinned to the facilitation affordances of the device itself. Rather, positive outcomes may be linked to the novelty effects involved in children's learning via an interesting technology. This may be taking place as well due to the contrived learning environments (e.g., unfamiliar outdoor experience).[6] The positive effects may also be due to the involvement of the experimenter or the trial leaders. Thus some positive results are arising due to some form of the so-called "Hawthorne" or "Pygmalion" effects (Simon, 2003).
Directions for Future Research
Studies of mobile technology for informal science learning often point to an important aspect to consider, namely, whether there is discrepancy arising in terms of children's understanding of how mobile technology is used in their social contexts versus how it might be used for formal educational purposes.[7] Future research may therefore want to take into account socio-cultural contexts of young people when designing mobile-assisted informal science learning experience. It is suggested that integrating themes that appeal to children from different socio-economic populations (such as sports and hip-hop music geared toward the interest of African-American children) may render mobile technology more effective in supporting informal science learning.[8] However, it is possible that the inauthentic nature of such interventions erode the effectiveness of such approaches.
There is related to the above perspective the possibility that too much is being expected from a small device which is artificially imposed on the learner. In effect, from a young person's perspective, a transitory program is suddenly thrust upon the would-be user. The situation is at best artificial, since the entire situation is at its base a manipulative experimental intervention applied to a young person within a constrained choice situation. Given the resulting socio-emotional grounding, and the often unsympathetic attitude many teens have towards learning, the mono-causal reliance on a single approach to induce meaningful change seems unlikely to succeed. By contrast, approaches which create a competitive social-network approach, and that work within the situational demands on the teen, would seem to hold more promise.
References
National Research Council. (2009). Learning science in informal environments: Places, people, and pursuits. Committee on Learning Science in Informal Environments. P. Bell, B. Lewenstein, A. W. Shouse & M. A. Feder (Eds.). Washington DC: National Academies Press.
Kukulska-Hulme, A., & Traxler, J. (2007). Learning design with mobile and wireless technologies. In H. Beetham & R. Sharpe (Eds.), Rethinking pedagogy for a digital age: Designing and delivering e-learning (pp. 180-192). London: Routledge.
Simon, Julian (2003). The art of empirical investigation. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
- ↑ Naismith, L., Lonsdale, P., Vavoula, G., & Sharples, M. (2004). Mobile technologies and learning. Bristol: Futurelab. Retrieved June 12, 2007, from http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications_reports_articles/literature_reviews/Literature_Review203/
- ↑ Woodgate, D., Stanton Fraser, D., Paxton, M., Crellin, D., Woolard, A., Dillon, T. (2008). Bringing school science to life: Personalization, contextualization and reflection of self-collected data. Proceedings of Fifth IEEE International Conference on Wireless, Mobile, and Ubiquitous Technology in Education (wmute 2008), pp. 100-104.
- ↑ Rosenbaum, E., Klopfer, E., & Perry, J. (2007). On location learning: Authentic applied science with networked augmented realities. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 16(1). 31-45.
- ↑ Greenhill, B., Pykett, J., & Rudd, T. (2007). Learning science socially through game creation: a case study of the Newtoon prototype. Retrieved December 20, 2008, from http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/project_reports/Newtoon_case_study.pdf
- ↑ Chen, F. C., Lai, C. H., Yang, J. C., Liang, J. S., Chan, T. W.(2008). Evaluating the effects of mobile technology on an outdoor experiential learning. Proceedings of Fifth IEEE International Conference on Wireless, Mobile, and Ubiquitous Technology in Education (wmute 2008), pp.107-114. Lai, C.-H., Yang, J.-C., Chen, F.-C., Ho, C.-W., & Chan, T.-W. (2007). Affordances of mobile technologies for experiential learning: the interplay of technology and pedagogical practices. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23(4), 326-377.
- ↑ Hofstein, A., & Rosenfeld, S. (1996). Bridging the gap between formal and informal science learning. Studies in Science Education, 28, 87-112. Kubota, C., & Olstad, R. (1991). Effects of novelty-reducing preparations on exploratory behavior and cognitive learning in a science museum setting. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 28, 225-234. Orion, N., & Hofstein, A. (1994). Factors that influence learning during scientific field trips. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 31, 1097-1119.
- ↑ Clark, W., Logan, K., Luckin, R., Mee, A., & Oliver, M. (2009). Beyond Web 2.0: mapping the technology landscapes of young learners. Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning, 25(1), 56-69.
- ↑ DiSalvo, B. J., Crowley, K. & Norwood, R. (2008). Learning in context: Digital games and young black men. Games and Culture, 3, 131-141. Metcalf, D., Milrad, M., Cheek, D., Raasch, S., & Hamilton, A. (2008). My Sports Pulse: Increasing student interest in STEM disciplines through sports themes, games and mobile technologies. Fifth IEEE International Conference on Wireless, Mobile, and Ubiquitous Technology in Education (wmute 2008), pp. 23-30. My Sports Pulse Project details: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=6a5bdf2dadbbacce18e7 http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=eb71729f501798f85f4f.
The original draft of this article was written by Professor James Katz, Chair of the Department of Communication at Rutgers University; Director, Rutgers Center for Mobile Communication Studies
