General Description

(One of) The biggest advantages of smartphones and tablets is their mobility and the fact that they are so called all-in-one devices. Next to common functionalities such as reading, writing and drawing, they also allow you to take pictures or record audio or video files. Most of them, unlike laptops, have a GPS sensor, or other special sensors (e.g., acceleration, tilt, light sensors).
Therefore smartphones and tablets are well-suited to support research activities such as investigation or collecting data and information and they are a great addition on a field trip. Another big advantage is that most students have a smartphone and/or tablet so you don’t necessarily have to invest in buying them.

Apps

A further benefit of smartphones and tablets are the so called applications, or apps. Apps provide a functionality for students to combine practical work with theoretical knowledge. The use of apps in schools makes learning multidimensional and can reduce the complexity of science topics. Many high-quality educational apps are freely available that can contribute to the learning processes within different subject areas. Apps can be used in each part of a lesson. Videos, pictures and short films can work as an impulse at the beginning of a lesson. Special programmes like goREACT (see our list of apps) may be useful during the working section. At the end of a lesson, students might document their work (videos, pictures, short notes), tag them with QR-codes (to learn more about how to use QR-codes read here) and send them to web based platforms like Moodle, Dropbox or Huddle. If teachers want to separate a class in several groups with each group working on different aspects and in different locations, all students are able to communicate via text messaging or applications such as WhatsApp or Skype. Also Applications such as Facebook, Twitter or other social media help students to communicate instantly, discuss topics faster and create something like a collective intelligence (see also the chapter of Social Media in this tutorial).