Section 3 Innovative Tools 196 Chapter 12 Using Mobile and Pervasive Technologies to Engage Formal and Informal Learners in Scientific Debate Dawn Woodgate University of Bath, UK Danaë Stanton Fraser University of Bath, UK Amanda Gower BT Innovate, UK Maxine Glancy BBC Research & Innovation, UK Andrew Gower BT Innovate, UK Alan Chamberlain University of Nottingham, UK Teresa Dillon Polar Produce, UK David Crellin Abington Partners, UK ABSTRACT In a climate of concern in the United Kingdom about a perceived loss of interest in science among schoolchildren and the general public, we consider the relationships that exist between science educa- tion and public engagement in science, and “formal” and “informal” learning contexts. The authors DOI: 10.ch012 Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Using Mobile and Pervasive Technologies to Engage Formal and Informal Learners in Scientific Debate move on to describe four case studies drawn from our research, where mobile technologies have been used in ubiquitous ICT-based science-related learning activities.
Three of these studies were of school based activities which took place in timetabled science lesson time. The fourth was set in Kew Gardens in London, during a holiday period, and involved leisure-time visitors of all ages. Finally, they describe a planned integrated trial, which will draw together “formal” and “informal” learners in environmental and scientific debate, scaffolding previous mobile learning experiences towards a genuinely multiplat- form e-learning system. INTRODUCTION most young children are enthusiastic about their science lessons.
There is at this stage an emphasis Maintaining school pupils” enthusiasm for STEM on constructivist, “learning by doing” methods, subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and where they are engaged in practical investigative Mathematics) can be problematic. Too often, activities. However, by the later primary years and these subjects are perceived to be more difficult the transition to secondary schooling, there is a than many of the others on offer, and science in move away from constructivist principles towards particular often tends to be seen as remote from more factual and theoretical forms of learning, in young people’s everyday lives and experiences. response to the perceived demands of the National There is evidence too, that this ambivalence about Curriculum and the system of formal assessment science is of a wider nature, extending beyond the linked with it (Hacker & Rowe, 1997; Murphy, classroom to the adult community.
This has led to 2003; Wadsworth, 2000). This switch of emphasis concerns in the UK about levels of what has been has been implicated in pupils” disengagement, termed “scientific literacy” (Bybee 1997; Murphy and changes are currently being implemented in et al., 2001), and prompted a number of initiatives the curriculum to introduce a greater number of intended to “engage” people (both schoolchildren practical investigations for older children, and and the general public) with science. Promoting foster in them more of an understanding of how a wide-scale interest in science is seen as essen- “real” science works. tial, not only because of the economic need for One way in which curricular changes of this a workforce equipped with sufficient scientific type could be supported is through the use of and technical skills to secure the nation”s com- new technologies.
In particular, the potential of petitiveness in the global marketplace, but also emerging mobile technologies has excited a great because science is an important part of our culture deal of interest, because of their portability and (Osborne & Hennessy, 2003). People who lack relatively low cost. These small devices can be a measure of basic scientific knowledge run the used in any classroom, which contrasts with the risk of being excluded from taking a full part in traditional scenario of expensive desktop com- debates on the social, economic, legal and ethi- puters sited in school IT suites, where access is cal implications of new scientific and technical necessarily limited, due to timetabling demand. developments that affect all of us.
Furthermore, mobile technologies can be taken The reasons for this seemingly widespread lack outside for fieldwork, accompany pupils on school of interest in science amongst the general public trips to museums, or even be taken home to help are likely to be complex and multidimensional, with homework, thus blurring the boundaries but one unintentional contributory factor may between what have been termed “formal” and be the science education system itself. During “informal” learning contexts. the early years of primary education in the UK, Our aims in this chapter are firstly to consider 197 Using Mobile and Pervasive Technologies to Engage Formal and Informal Learners in Scientific Debate the relationship between “formal” and “informal” any time, and takes place across, as well as within learning settings. We will argue that this distinction specific contexts (Roschelle et al 2005; Sharples is not clear cut, and predict that the adoption of 2006).
It can also occur remotely. Hartnell-Young emerging mobile technologies for learning will (2007) suggested that, even in these relatively early render it still more ambiguous. We will describe stages of research and implementation, there is a four case studies drawn from our research, where need to consider the effects of the changes in the mobile technologies have been used in ubiqui- nature of time and space brought about by mobile tous ICT-Based Educational activities. Three of learning.
In respect of the primary age children to these studies took place in what could broadly be whom Hartnell-Young referred, this is expressed termed “formal” educational settings, in that they mainly in terms of the relationship between home were school-based activities which took place in (parents) and school. With older students, these timetabled science lesson time, though in the in- changes are potentially much broader, to en- terests of accuracy, it should be stated that pupils, compass offline friendship groups outside of the teachers and technologies moved in and out of the family, and contacts made through online social confines of the physical classroom as appropriate networking, as well as family relationships. This to the activities concerned. The fourth was set in raises the possibility at least, of building learning an unequivocally “informal” learning context; communities that extend far beyond the confines that of Kew Gardens in London, during a holiday of the traditional classroom, and challenges the period, where visitors of all ages took part in a legitimacy of conventional distinctions between series of activities where information normally “formal” and “informal” learning.
available in the Gardens was augmented by ad- The difficulty in respect of defining what is ditional content provided by means of specially meant by “formal” and “informal” learning is configured mobile phones. We will conclude by well known and well documented. For example, describing a planned integrated trial, which will does a school trip to a museum count as “formal” draw together “formal” and “informal” learners in or “informal” learning, and is it significantly dif- environmental and scientific debate, scaffolding ferent from a trip to the same museum organised previous mobile learning experiences towards a by parents or a youth group, particularly where genuinely multiplatform e-learning system. This the trip is instigated by the interest of a child who trial is scheduled to take place towards the end has previously visited the facility with her school? of 2008.
Sefton-Green (2004) suggested that the settings in which learning takes place should be thought about in terms of a continuum, from formal set- BACKGROUND tings, such as schools and universities, to social structures such as friendship groups, and it does As others have suggested (Scanlon et al 2005; indeed seem useful to move away from thinking Sharples et al., 2005; Traxler, 2005), there is a about this distinction in terms of a dichotomy. need to focus less attention upon the mobility of In any case, as Scanlon et al (2005) suggest, the technologies concerned, and more upon that insufficient work has so far been carried out on of the learners. This is because their mobility has the intersection between informal (and “formal” important implications for the organisation of learning for that matter), mobile learning and learning. In the traditional model, “formal” learn- science for a strict separation to be meaningful.
ing takes place in specific places and at set times, This approach is useful in respect of our own with teacher and pupils usually co-present. Mobile work, which attempts, among other things, to cut learning on the contrary, occurs (or can occur) at across the boundaries between science education, 198 Using Mobile and Pervasive Technologies to Engage Formal and Informal Learners in Scientific Debate science practice and public engagement in science can become involved in this type of experience, (Woodgate & Stanton Fraser, 2005, p. with a view to promoting learning, discussion Reporting on ubiquitous learning with hand- and sharing of experiences on science-related held computers in schools, Ng & Nicholas (2007) topics, in this instance, botany and horticulture. pointed out that learning with mobile devices is in These four studies trace what we believe to be a reality “blended” learning.
This is because mobile coherent progression in our thinking on the topic. devices tend to have limitations of functionality All involve participants in a range of technology- and computing power. Typically therefore, a range augmented activities based upon scientific or en- of mobile and other learning materials and tech- vironmental themes, such as monitoring the local nological tools are used together. In the examples environment using specialized sensors and digital we describe below, mobile devices such as phones, cameras, carrying out (and digitally document- GPS, cameras and sensors are used alongside PCs, ing) environmental improvement projects such videoconferencing technologies and the internet, as clearing rivers and ponds, or merely recording within and across formal and informal learning or commenting upon artefacts in the environment.
Our research in schools (some of which All of this activity results in user generated content is described in the first three case studies below), (UGC) of various types; data sets, written com- builds upon a body of work including that of Roy ment, audio files, films, still images and posters, Pea and his colleagues (eg, Edelson et al 1995; which are uploaded to a digital repository so that Gordin et al., 1994; Gordin et al., 1995; Gordin others can view and comment upon the items. Pea”s team used the Also, there is often a call to action, encouraging technologies available during the early 1990s to others to contribute their own material to produce show the potential of adapted versions of the types a picture of the wider situation. In each case study, of data visualization tools used by professional we have employed different combinations of tools scientists, along with communication technolo- for data collection, content creation, collaboration gies, to engage and enthuse schoolchildren. This and visualization.
In the following sections, we was achieved by facilitating collaboration over briefly describe 4 research projects: The Sense dynamically rendered scientific data within in- Project, Mobile Phones, and The Schools Trials dividual science classrooms, across schools, and and Stories@Kew trials which formed part of the with professional scientists. We have added a per- Participate project. We will conclude by outlining sonalised and mobile dimension, where children the integrated study which is planned to bring can collect their own scientific data locally, using the Participate project to conclusion, where par- tailored sensors, sometimes alongside other de- ticipation in a range of environmentally themed vices such as mobile phones and cameras. In some activities will be possible across mobile phone, instances, the data collection devices have been internet and digital TV platforms.
co-designed with the young users. These mobile technologies are juxtaposed with visualization and collaboration tools to provide a realistic eScience CASE STUDy 1. THE SENSE – like experience for school students from the age PROJECT: INTRODUCING of around 10 years (Woodgate, & Stanton Fraser, ESCIENCE TO THE CLASSROOM 2005), to help facilitate a hands-on approach to learning science, to aid their understanding, and SENSE was a collaboration between researchers to motivate and enthuse them.