Review of 40 years of research on science learning and technology. Computers and Learning Research group (CALRG).Open University.

1. Eileen Scanlon
Christothea Herodotou
Institute of Educational Technology
CALRG Vision 4
Learners engage enthusiastically with science learning
19 October 2018

2. Summary
Past
Present
Future
2

3. Acknowledgements
Tim O’Shea
Sarah Hennessy
Eunice Olanamwi
Canan Blake
Kim Issroff
Ann Jones
Cindy Kerawalla
Marilena Petrou
Tony Preiest
Mike Sharples

4. Past projects
•Collaborative Learning in Primary
Science
•Conceptual Change in Science
•Alternate Reality Kit
•The Talk Factory
•Personal Inquiry

5. Past theses
•Modelling Physics Problem Solving
•Mobile learning in informal Science
•Co Regulation in Science CSCL
•Citizen Inquiry in informal settings
•….

8. Forty years ago
Home experiment kits

9. Massive challenge for new
learners on a trajectory
Informal
to formal
Passive to
Active
Solitary to
Sharing
From
learner to
teacher?
Lots of other stops along the way...

10. Journeys from informal to
formal learning OpenScience Lab

11. OpenScience Laboratory
An online laboratory for practical science teaching and learning
11
•Remote Experiments
•Virtual instruments and
interactive screen experiments
•Online field investigations
•3D Immersive environments
•Citizen Science
•Real data authentic interfaces

12. nQuire: Inquiry learning across contexts
The Personal Inquiry project
Inquiry-based learning across
formal and informal settings
Sharples, Scanlon et al.
http://www.pi-project.ac.uk/
My community

13. “Orchestrating Inquiry
Learning addresses the key
challenge of how to resource and
support processes of inquiry learning
within and beyond the classroom. It
argues that technological support,
when coupled with appropriate
design of activities and management
of the learning environment, can
enable inquiry learning experiences
that are engaging, authentic and
personally relevant.”
13

15. The OpenSTEM Labs
real data & authentic interfaces
15
Practical work at a distance: Online, On Campus and
in the field

16. OpenScience Lab
An online laboratory for practical science teaching and learning
16
16
On-screen interactive enquiries: Moon Rocks

17. OpenScience Lab
An online laboratory for practical science teaching and learning
On-screen interactive enquiries: Virtual Microscopy
17
17
• Pan & zoom
• Change lighting
• Rotation hot spots
• Measurements
• Sharing
• Rare specimens
• Blended and online
A 3920 million year old basalt from the Moon

18. Virtual Microscopy in OU modules
Students perspectives
Herodotou, C., Muirhead, D. K., Aristeidou, M., Hole, M. J., Kelley, S., Scanlon, E., Duffy, M. (2018). Blended and online
learning: A comparative study of virtual microscopy in Higher Education. Interactive Learning Environments (In Press).
• How students make use and engage with VMs?
• What teaching approaches work better for students who
study practical science?
Blended
learning Online

19. Insights - survey
• LEARNING ANALYTICS
• Usage patterns for online only
settings
• SURVEY
• 139 undergraduate students
• year 1 Earth’s Materials (N=66) -
blended
• year 2 Earth Science (N=37) -
online
• year 3 Biology course (N=36) -
online
• INTERVIEWS
• 11 semi-structured interviews
(triangulation)
COVARIATES (explanatory variables)
• Age
• Gender
• Module type
• Previous experience of using a
traditional/physical microscope (TM)
and a VM,
• Problems encountered when using the
VM
Three separate ANCOVAS with DVs:
• Enjoyment: ‘I enjoyed using the VM
during the course’
• Teaching approach: ‘I liked the way
the VM was integrated into the course’
• Perceived learning: ‘Using the VM
improved my observation skills’
Blended students more satisfied with how the VM is integrated in the module
and greater perceived learning improvements (observation skills) than online
students.
Herodotou, C., Muirhead, D. K., Aristeidou, M., Hole, M. J., Kelley, S., Scanlon, E., Duffy, M. (2018). Blended and online
learning: A comparative study of virtual microscopy in Higher Education. Interactive Learning Environments (In Press).

20. Insights - interviews
Pedagogical integration
Blended learning students:
more satisfied with the
teaching approach
Why? Interview data…
BLENDED ONLINE
Practise observation and
identification of sections,
basic means of viewing and
understanding images.
Need for a tutor to complement
online VM activities, tutorials and
videos.
A tutor could provide guidance
when recognising samples and
feedback to students'
understanding.
Various teaching
activities (quizzes,
assessment,
homework),
complementary to a
physical microscope
VM was introduced
by their tutors
though different
activities.
Herodotou, C., Muirhead, D. K., Aristeidou, M., Hole, M. J., Kelley, S., Scanlon, E., Duffy, M. (2018). Blended and online
learning: A comparative study of virtual microscopy in Higher Education. Interactive Learning Environments (In Press).

21. Science learning across settings
Personal Inquiry: formal inquiry learning
nQuire-it (Nominet Trust):
informal citizen inquiry
learning
nQuire (BBC/OU):
informal citizen inquiry
learning at mass scale

22. Citizen Inquiry
Educate the public through participation in citizen inquiry
Citizen
science
Mass participation
Engagement with
scientific activities
Inquiry
learning
Scientific method
Negotiation/Reflection
Shared interest
Creativity
Personally
meaningful
projects

24. Scientific activities set by citizens
“In this book, the notion of ‘citizen inquiry’ emphasises the active
engagement of the public in scientific activities that are not
restricted to processes of data collection and analysis, and
includes examples of citizen science projects initiated and
implemented by volunteers. In citizen inquiry, the focus shifts from
scientists to members of the general public as active agents who
define their own research agenda underpinned by models of
scientific inquiry, producing identifiable learning benefits.” (Introduction
chapter, Citizen Inquiry book)

25. Scientific activities are scaffolded by
technology, experts, and community
members.
“In this respect, citizen inquiry points to extensive use of
online social networks and mobile technologies, with
professional scientists joining not to instruct but to
facilitate and support massive participation of the public of
any age in collective, inquiry-based activities.” (Introduction chapter,
Citizen Inquiry book)

26. Citizen Inquiry as an inquiry learning
approach applicable across disciplines.
“Citizen inquiry perceives science and scientific activities
broadly, to encompass both natural and physical sciences,
and social and applied sciences such as education,
psychology, sociology, and medicine. One example of how the
public could engage with scientific activities in the field of
education is the provision of personalised feedback to
learners. Teachers could propose and gather together
alternative methods to solve problems and help learners in
choosing a method that matches their understanding and
ability, thus tailoring learning to individual needs (Heffernan et
al., 2016).” (Introduction chapter, Citizen Inquiry book)

27. 12 case-studies showing how citizen
inquiry is put in practice to educate the
public in scientific thinking.
• 3 chapters explore the concept of citizen inquiry in educational settings. For
example Chapter 8 presents the motivations of university students to
participate in citizen inquiry and how these relate to level of task difficulty.
• 3 chapters focus on education and humanities (e.g., Chapter 3 explores the
kinds of knowledge created in citizen science projects to help the design of
citizen humanities projects.
• 6 chapters draw evidence from natural and physical sciences (e.g., Chapter 2
investigate online citizen science projects and how they relate to opportunities
for informal learning.

28. nQuire-it by Nominet Trust
Young people and citizen science
• Open access tools for scientific investigation in collaboration
• Support for creating personally meaningful investigations
• Reinforce positive attitudes about science.

29. nQuire-it platform
www.nquire-it.org
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Win-it missions text-based
missions, set challenges with
prizes for the winners.
Sense-it missions make use of
the Sense-it mobile app to collect
and share data using smartphone
sensors.
Spot-it missions allow users to
capture images and spot things
around them.
Social features: comments,
forums, SNS

30. 30
Available in
Google play
5000+ downloads
Linked to nQuire-it
platform
Sense-it missions
Herodotou, C., Villasclaras Fernandez, E., Sharples, M. (2014). The design and evaluation of a sensor-based mobile application
for citizen inquiry science investigations. In: Rensing, C. et al. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (8719). Springer
International Publishing, pp. 434–439.
Sense-it application

31. Weather-it missions
Investigating weather on nQuire-it platform
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32. Policing-community missions

33. Tomorrow’s world nQuire
Herodotou, C., Aristeidou, M., Sharples, M., Scanlon, E. (2018). Designing citizen science tools for learning: lessons learnt
from the iterative development of nQuire. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 13(4) OPEN ACCESS.
www.nquire.org
Open and closed missions
Personalised feedback

35. Closed mission

36. Open mission

37. LEARN Cit Sci:
Young people and museum-led citizen science
Duration: 2017-2021
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38. A museum-led citizen science
programme Field-based and online components
• Cal Academy San Francisco
• Ongoing: June 23rd-July 2nd 2017
• Document all coastal biodiversity

39. Concluding remarks
Open learning, inquiry learning, mobile learning,
enabling the learner’s transitions between formal
and informal settings and contexts can offer
benefits for science learners.
Towards our vision:
“Learners engage enthusiastically with science
learning”
39
Thank you!