A mobile learning environment for supporting inquiry-based experimental activities in elementary school

This study aims to design and develop an inquiry-based learning environment by integrating wireless and mobile technologies with handheld devices for supporting science experimental activities in elementary school. The learning environment can facilitate students' involvement in experimental design, data collection, data analysis and discussion inside and outside classroom. The main study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of using the learning environment for an inquiry-based experimental activity. Two sixth-grade classes of 68 students participated in the study for two weeks. The Science Learning Attitude Scale and Scientific Explanation Ability Test were applied for pre-test and post-test evaluation and a single group, paired sample t-test was used for analysis. The results demonstrated that the emphasis on explanation driven inquiry-based experimental activities had positive effect on students' science attitude and scientific explanation ability in science learning with the support of the mobile learning environment.