Post on 22-Nov-2014
description
Mobile Technologies in Science Education
Eric Demoncheaux, PhD
Challenges
• Overcoming students' overwhelming concern for their image, social status, after school activities, etc.
• Getting students to apply what they have learnt. • Finding a way to get students to apply what they
learn, and to recognize how to apply the lessons.
Preconceptions and Misconceptions
• Science has a kind of built-in curiosity.
• Tackling the misconceptions and preconceptions leads to student self-correction.
• Install in them the desire to learn more.
Teach students to think beyond the text
• "Teaching Science" means getting students to "think".
• Memorization is necessary to learn the fundamentals.
• To really learn science, and to master it, requires the development of critical thinking skills.
Memorisation of facts
• Concentrate on memorizing facts.• Teach students how to use those facts.
You can't look everything up
• You can't put information to good use if you don’t know how.
• Students need to be able to explain things clearly and completely and accurately to others, in speech and on paper.
You can lead a horse to water …
• Create a sense of purpose, of direction and future before you teach.
• You have to have a class of students that have some willingness to learn, some desire to achieve, however slight.
Can technology help?
• Many schools lack adequate facilities for lab work. • Science could be “done” online with the help of
pre-recorded real experiments and interactive data collection.
• Online labs allow to "flip" the science lab.• Online labs may prove to be cheaper than real labs
too.
Mobile Learning
Ipads
• http://www2.hull.ac.uk/ifl/ipadresearchinschools.aspx
Ipads
Ipads
iPads in the classroom• Another perspective:
Online resources
• Lots of online resources for Chemistry - related teaching here: http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry
• The Royal Society of Chemistry has also released a free app for ipads, iphones and android phones called Elements of Nutrition.
Mobile learning
• Amplify, Spongelab, Edmodo and Educade.• Edmodo allows locking of the ipads so that
students can’t misuse them during lessons. • Nearpod allows to make interactive
presentations.
iPads apps for STEM Education
• https://edshelf.com/search This link takes you to the edshelf “tools” where collections can be built based on subject, age of learners, device platform.
• http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/05/50-best-ipad-apps-for-stem-education/
‘Exploriments'
• ‘Exploriments' has a range of apps for your high school classes:
http://www.exploriments.com/index.htm
File sharing
• Notability is an app which may be used for worksheets and submitting work for electronic assessment.
More apps …Biology- Protozoan- Might microbes- colour test- motion pics- google earth-science 360
Chemistry- Lab assisstant-Mahjong chem- chemical-chemical by design- circular motion-Mol.Wt.Finder-formulas lite-Molarity- molecules
- chemistry-Atoms in motion- Elements-Atoms HD-sMole Builder- Lewis Dots-Nova elements-Salts- The elements
Astronomy- GoSkyWatchP-NASA-NASA Viz-Nasa science- Starwalk- Hubble site- Solar walk
- earth viewer- Saturn
Anatomy- 3D brain- Essential Skeleton- 3D cardiovascular system-3D Digestive system
Physics-E fields-Fourier Touch-Angry birds-Projectile-string
Apps for STEM
• CGP has a couple of good apps for revision. One version is free.
• iCell is great for discovery of cell structures. • Virtual dissections are fun as each student can get
involved. • Students can also make up their own word
searches on puzzle-maker.
iPADS and its camera functions
• StoMo, free stop motion.
More apps
• Biology - Gene Screen• Chemistry - Organic 3D, MPSE (Best free Periodic
table app)• Teaching - Explain Everything, Lino
Avoiding the technology is impossible
• iPads in the classroom allow us to move away from the 'sage on the stage' and can enhance the learning for everyone.
• Yet, so many apps are 'nice to haves', but not 'must haves'.
Support the learning of others
• Taking away i-Pads, or giving them to students to use, does not make good learners.
• Good learners are developed by: – an atmosphere that values learning – a curriculum that provides challenges that can be
satisfied by hard work and commitment.