Using mobiles for field learning

Mobile technologies allow us not just to provide content to the learner in whatever location they may be, but also to use that location itself as part of interactive learning activities. These new technological capabilities offer the promise of new forms of educational experience situated away from the classroom (Roschelle and Pea, 2002). The significant shift here is that these technologies allow learners to interact simultaneously with the physical world, the people in it, and a digital world viewable through a mobile device. It is argued that this coupling of the familiar (physical activity and presence) with the unfamiliar (being able to simultaneously view digital resources) promotes reflection and new ways of assisting childrenÕs learning (Rogers

et al., 2002; Sharples et al., 2002; Price et al., 2003; Stanton and Neale, 2003).

We can find a wide range of mobile learning projects designed to support learners in field-based activities, for example Chen et al. (2003; 2004) describe a system that scaffolds students looking for butterflies or birds in the field, and Vavoula et al. (2009) describe MyArtSpace, a system designed to provide school children with mobile tools for collecting information during a visit to a museum.

Using mobile technologies away from the classroom like this, where the physical environment itself has a meaningful role to play in the learning activity, has been termed the Ôphysical contextÕ by Frohberg et al. (2009) who offer a recent review of state-of-the-art in mobile learning. Using the framework developed by Taylor et al. (2006), Frohberg et al. survey key projects in mobile learning and categorise them according to a set of meaningful dimensions. Context, referring to the relationship between the mobile technology and the environment in which it is used, is a key part

of this framework. Frohberg et al. found that roughly a third of the projects they surveyed used this Ôphysical contextÕ, with mobile technologies being used to enable learning activities that related directly to the space in which they were used.

2.2.1 The importance of the environment

Learners can learn in the environment using mobile devices to deliver learning content and activities at any place or time Ð this has been referred to as Ôjust in time learningÕ. Learners can also learn about the environment whilst present in that environment. This latter approach has received significant attention in the mobile learning field in recent years. Making use of the environment as an integral part of learning activities is a powerful component of learning because learning is a process of creating meaning

in situ, and the environment of the learner plays a central role in that process (Squire

and Klopfer, 2007). The environment constrains activity, affords action, and supports performance (Dewey, 1938; Salomon, 1993). Action is always situated within given environmental constraints and affordances, and expertise may be measured by oneÕs ability to see the environment in particular ways (Goodwin, 1994; Glenberg, 1997).

To learn about the environment, students need to be able to see it in particular ways, to be attuned to its affordances and constraints and how these relate to variables and solutions (Squire and Klopfer, 2007). An identified problem with most school learning is that the learning is divorced from physical experience of the world that is being taught (Papert, 1980); learners receive a processed, digested version instead of direct experience (Barab et al., 1999).

This approach also fits with recent calls to exploit school grounds as rich learning resources (Clifford, 1984; Malone and Tranter, 2003). There is even concern that children are retreating from the environment, and projects have come into being to address this, some specifically using mobile technologies (for example Williams et al., 2005).

Using the environment to drive enquiries may also reduce the cognitive load on learners by changing the task from manipulation of independent variables (as in a traditional computer simulation) to the finding of instances of said variables. This benefit has been highlighted for virtual ambient simulations (de Jong et al., 1998; Moher et al., 2001), and may be equally true for simulations based in the real world.

2.2.2 Beyond data collection

There is an important distinction to make between mobile learning activities that merely enable learning in the field, and those that actively support or scaffold it. Enabling technologies may allow data collection, analysis, and transformation, or may facilitate new forms of interaction within and between groups and individuals. However, these are just extensions of existing technologies Ð the real power of mobile technologies in the field becomes apparent when we start to look at those systems that enable situated (Lave and Wenger, 1991), constructivist (Bruner, 1966; Papert, 1980),

enquiry-led (Bruner, 1961), or problem-based learning (Koschmann et al., 1996).

Klopfer et al. (2005) suggest that the use of handheld or wearable networked devices to enable a range of collaborative learning activities has received possibly the greatest research focus in this field to date.

ColellaÕs seminal work on participatory simulations (Colella, 2000; Colella, 2002) was some of the first to demonstrate the positive influence of mobile devices and connectivity on studentsÕ learning, going beyond content delivery to show that these technologies can facilitate rich learning activities that promote critical thinking skills through active engagement and reflection. ColellaÕs Virus Game allowed students to take part in a physical recreation Ð a participatory simulation Ð of the spread of a virtual virus. Students wore small badges (a variant of Boravoy et al.Õs (1996) Think Tags) that exchanged data via infra-red. The virus spread from student to student as they walked around a room and met each other. They could see the infection spreading as indicators changed colour on their badges. The underlying rules of the

simulation were meant to reflect real-world viruses: some people were immune so could not be infected, but they could carry the infection, and infect others, without them or anyone else knowing it. Also, the virus had an incubation period, which meant that after exposure the infection did not immediately show up on the badge. Learners showed a ready willingness to suspend their disbelief and to accept the simulation on its own terms, behaving as though it was a real event. As the students explored the simulation, they showed structured attempts to understand what was going on, integrating their observations of their own activities and the information from the mobile devices to arrive at an explanation of the spread of the virus. More recent studies (for example Neulight et al., 2006) have shown continuing promise for the use of participatory simulations in the classroom for this domain.

The underlying mechanism here (as noted by Colella, 2000; Facer et al., 2004) is

experiential learning, based on DeweyÕs (1916) principles of experience. These assert

that lasting understandings can arise from being engaged in meaningful activities. Tanner (1997) also argues that ÒWhen children are engaged in an activity of interest to them that possesses difficulties they look for a method of coping with the difficulties and thus acquire new skillsÓ (Tanner, 1997, p44). Colella (2000) reported that direct physical experience and collaboration were central to the success of the simulation. Students had to work together to perform ÔexperimentsÕ, testing out their ideas about the causes of what they were seeing. Colella argued that this direct experience reduces the distance between the learning experience itself and the conceptual understandings formed by the learners. As noted by Facer et al. (2004), this accords with DeweyÕs principles: the more direct the learning experience the better.

This work Ð as well as later examples such as Klopfer (2005) and Neulight (2006) Ð demonstrates how mobile technologies can be used to enable effective mobile learning within the science domain, providing learners with participatory learning activities

In recent years, researchers and educators looking for appealing learning activities have turned to games as engaging, interactive experiences, and a number of projects have shown how game-like activities, enabled through mobile and wearable technologies, can create structured activities that support mobile learning.

Before moving on to more specific examples of mobile game-based learning, we will first consider what it is we mean by ÔgamesÕ to inform our later critique of recent work in this area. Many projects describe games and game-like activities without fully exploring what constitutes a game; it will be useful for us to have a fuller understanding of games to inform our later critique of recent projects.