The article "Accelerating Our Mobile Devices" advocates the use of student owned mobile phones or other personal devices. Current school policies restrict students from bringing these into science classrooms, yet there is a vast potential for empowering students by teaching them how to use them in science instruction. The authors compare the situation to that years back, when teaching math has shifted from mechanical problem solving, to analyzing those problems and applying them to new situations, and calculators were finally accepted as tool to enable more complex problem solving. Today, science instruction should involve authentic tasks like measuring taking and results analysis. We need to realize that measurement apps on mobile devices offer a huge advantage in enabling students to focus on higher-order thinking skills, after they have mastered the initial skill of measure taking themselves. Websites like www.appshopper.com offer many apps to measure lengths, decibels, magnetic fields, angles, sound frequency, time, luminosity, or enable measurement conversions. The authors state that mobile devices could become the "digital age Swiss army knife" for the science classroom.
This article directly relates to NETS-S No. 6, Technology Operations and Concepts, namely 6 b. "select and use applications effectively and productively". It also relates to No.4 "Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Decision Making" which entails planning and conducting research and collecting necessary data.
As a parent of school age children, I have already realized how much my children are expected to use their phones in the math classroom. Or in band, to tune instruments. I am amazed how naturally the kids are learning to find and use available tools that will accelerate their work and leave more time for higher-level thinking (or instrument playing). Of course there is the problem of socioeconomic differences, not all children may be able to afford a mobile device with data plan. A school that uses privately owned devices, needs to make that sure all students have access to this technology. It also needs to make sure that kids are taught how to evaluate the safety and accuracy of an app.
I do see a huge potential for using such devices in science classes, which will carry over to the independent ability of using mobile phone apps in every day life. Parents watch out, your kids will teach you new life skills.
Mader, J. & Smith, B. (2011-12). Accelerate Your Mobile Devices. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(4), 30-31
Hi Astrid! I liked how you discussed the uses of students' personal mobile devices in science education. By offloading some of the cognitively low-level aspects of science practice (measurements, calculations), we can begin to focus more on the analytical side of science practice. I also think that students would be more engaged in science lessons which involve their mobile devices because they would relate better to the material. Modern students spend much of their time looking at screens, so there is value in showing them that they can use their technology to learn and to deepen their minds. I also liked how you mentioned that using apps in school will give them skills that will carry over into their independent life. Your future students will be application literate, which will help them to best use technology as an everyday resource!
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