Mathematics

1.3 Tablet support
Furthermore, Castek and Beach (2013) describe how tablets enforce reflection
on scientific inquiry: apps provide students with the affordances to share their
production, present inquiry in a multimodal manner and to collaborate with
others when the apps are embedded in a learning environment. Video journals
made by students incorporate these affordances. Producing a video using a
tablet forces students to collaborate by taking on different tasks and being
dependent on each other (e.g. holding the camera/tablet, being the actor or
speaker). Students’ productions (video journals) are multimodal
representations of the inquiry process they have conducted. This back-andforth
transfer between visual or auditory representation provides possibilities
not just for interpreting results and criticising them, but also for presenting
them convincingly. Sharing with others facilitates reflection on the entire
process of acquiring scientific knowledge, as students do not just present their
data and conclusions, but also reason their planning process and document
the precise realization of their experiment. Thereby they have to decide on
how best to explain to and convince their audience. Thus, video journals open
a window to students’ inquiry processes and make each step they take
transparent and reproducible.
Useful computer tools for supporting inquiry-based learning are already
described by Bell et al. (2010). The authors emphasize the use of computers
for enabling (i) higher learning processes in inquiry such as constructing
knowledge by organizing and visualising data and (ii) self-regulated learning
by opening information access through the interface. Altogether, each inquiry
step (e.g. Questioning & Hypothesizing, Planning, Conducting, Reflecting &
Communicating) is promoted by a computer tool (Bell et al. 2010). Similar
possibilities are described by Bruckermann et al. (2013) related to tablet-use.
Condensed in the outcome of a video journal, those app possibilities may
facilitate inquiry learning considering both knowledge gain as wells as
promoting skills.
2 Key Objectives and Hypothesis
The concept of promoting inquiry skills by self-regulation and tablet support
addresses teacher trainees in biology education in Germany. The practical
course presented is implemented at the University of Cologne and aims to
promote teacher trainees’ inquiry skills in the first and second semester.
Implementation is followed by an evaluation of our concept. This evaluation
aims to investigate whether inquiry skills are promoted by i) tablet-supported
experiments or by ii) self-regulation through the “Kölner Handlungskreismodell”
or by both, iii) tablet support as well as self-regulation. We predict that
combination of tablet support and self-regulation in our blended learning
concept will promote more learning of inquiry skills. Since inquiry skills do not
only focus on skills but also involve knowledge (as stated by the new term
“practices”, NRC, 2013), the predicted effects on learning should promote
knowledge gain too.
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