Impact of data loggers on science teaching and learning - European ...

<strong>Impact</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>data</strong> <strong>loggers</strong> on science teaching and learningSelection <strong>of</strong> pilot schoolsNine schools from six countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom) wereselected to be part <strong>of</strong> the pilot. In total, the pilot study involved about 200 pupils and 30 teachers.The pilot schools were part <strong>of</strong> the European Schoolnet-Acer Educational Netbook pilot.Selection <strong>of</strong> schools was done in two steps. A first selection was made on the basis <strong>of</strong> thepedagogical plan <strong>of</strong> the netbook pilot school as well as on the number <strong>of</strong> science classesinvolved in the netbook pilot and on age <strong>of</strong> pupils. This pilot sought to include different agegroups to enable comparisons and larger analysis. The second selection step was madethrough the launch <strong>of</strong> a call among these schools. The final selection aimed to guaranteebalanced presence <strong>of</strong> age groups, subjects and countries in the pilot.Learning resources: the science experimentsTo allow comparison, a limited set <strong>of</strong> activities was chosen – eight experiments were proposed– but it still allowed a certain flexibility on the activities: two or three experiments per subject.Teachers had to choose the most appropriate ones for their lessons. A technical guide onexperiments translated into all project languages was made available to the teachers.Selection <strong>of</strong> experimentsBefore the project started, sixteen basic experiments in chemistry, physics and biology wereselected for their relevance to the European science curriculum, as this is an important factor forintegration into classroom activities (Flick, Bell, 2000). A survey submitted to the twenty-twocandidate schools enabled us to identify the experiments most relevant for their lessons and agegroups and most likely to be integrated into science lessons by the participating teachers. In eachsubjects, experiments relevant for more than 45% <strong>of</strong> teachers (and up to 80%) were selected.Content <strong>of</strong> experimentsThere were two experiments selected for biology classes: the greenhouse effect and effect<strong>of</strong> ventilation on heart rate; three for chemistry: freezing and melting <strong>of</strong> water; endothermicreaction (reaction <strong>of</strong> citric acid solution with baking soda), acid rain; and three for physics:measurements (finding the spring constant), converting potential and kinetic energy; positionand velocity measurements. Table 1 describes the content and duration <strong>of</strong> the activities.11