Learning with tablet-cloud systems in elementary science education

Mobile and interactive technologies offer sophisticated learning opportunities in everyday life so that some authors speak about a new era of mobile learning. Especially tablets fascinate people of all age and induce novel ways to interact, create and communicate. After proliferating in everyday contexts, these high performing mobile devices are currently entering formal learning environments. First experiences in classrooms describe tablets as promising means to improve learning in respect of 21st century challenges. A myriad of educational applications is being offered for all kind of classroom use. But up to date, less is known about opportunities how to integrate this flexible and versatile tool into inquiry-based learning approaches thanks to the device’s potential to a) gather own data, b) facilitate multimodal and multimedia productions c) back interactive forms of collaborative learning.
Our study analyses how tablet-cloud systems re-shape the learning landscape of inquiry-oriented science classrooms, i.e. to what extent do tablets facilitate student-led explorations and explanations of scientific phenomena, support the formation of scientific thinking and stimulate creative classroom productions. We are particularly focussed on the situated ways which 8-12 year old students (n=240) create to make sense of science topics in tablet-enhanced inquiry activities.
In science education, inquiry is emphasised both as a method and an outcome. Student-centred inquiry activities are advocated as a promising way of learning, encouraging students to actively explore the world and engage in critical thinking. Inquiry activities amplify the development of inquiry skills, which are core outcomes of probably any science education curriculum. That’s why we focus on how a series of learner-centred pedagogical choices of the teacher coupled with the use of tablet-cloud systems facilitates creative inquiry processes.
Evidence is gathered through different data sets, collected either by researchers (video recordings from science lessons, stimulated recall interviews) and/or students (uploads of own videos and multimodal documents on the internal school cloud). The various kinds of data are triangulated in order to create a multi-perspective understanding of the processes occurring in the tablet-supported practices.
The preliminary analysis shows that integrating tablets into the science class increases the gathering of student-initiated data and supports interactive forms of student inquiries. Students quickly acknowledge the potential of these devices for gathering information, documenting their science investigations or hands-on activities, (re)-evaluating own explanations for science phenomena, communicating targeted inquiry results or reflecting on their learning. Technology-enhanced inquiry activities shift easily to a more learner-centred and open form of inquiry, when the use of tablets is encouraged by a series of well-designed hands-on activities together with rich interaction opportunities (collective or collaborative).