whereRU: Aresty Poster 122 - Mobile Devices Improves Student Learning by Aresty Posters 2009

The Use of Mobile Devices in the Classroom Improves Student Learning

The purpose of this project is to design and analyze the effects of mobile devices on student learning during a field trip. Many students go on field trips as part of their K-12 learning experiences. Though these trips are often regarded as important (NRC, 1996), little is know about how students connect what they learn in class to what they learn on a field trip (Zimmerman, 2005). We hypothesize that the mobile devices will allow students to have a more direct contact with the subjects they are studying, and thereby, allowing students to discover new methods of critical thinking. If Internet technologies merge with the course syllabus, students will be persuaded to use the handheld devices to enhance learning in an informal manner, gather and compare data collected, and discuss observations with one another and the teacher. Students can expand their understanding of science concepts by using mobile devices outside of the classroom. Through the various functions of mobile devices, such as the internet, students are able to gain access to new sources of knowledge bases that were unavailable to them before. We will take students on a field trip to an aquarium where they can explore and collect data on various marine life-forms through mobile devices. We hope to show that students expanded their understanding of science concepts by providing examples of students? ideas before and after the curriculum. At the same time, we hope students can discover new concepts about marine life that were unknown to them before. We will describe how the results confirmed or refuted our hypothesis and did or did not answer our questions.

Kristine Javier
e-mail- krisjav@eden.rutgers.edu
Xiao Liu
e-mail- xiaoliu@eden.rutgers.edu
Timothy Zimmerman, Ph.D.
e-mail- timothy.zimmerman@gse.rutgers.edu
website- oser.gse.rutgers.edu