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SUMMARY:Personal Inquiry: Supporting school science investigations with pe
 rsonal technologies across formal and informal settings - Professor Mike S
 harples (University of Nottingham)
DTSTART:20100118T170000Z
DTEND:20100118T183000Z
UID:TALK19735@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Bryony Horsley-Heather
DESCRIPTION:Mike Sharples is Professor of Learning Sciences and Director o
 f  the  Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of   Nottin
 gham. He inaugurated the mLearn conference series and is President of the 
 International Association for Mobile Learning.  His  current projects incl
 ude: PI: Personal Inquiry\, a  collaboration  with the Open University UK 
 to develop 21st  century science  learning between formal and informal set
 tings\; a national Digital  Economy Hub on pervasive and contextual  techn
 ologies\; and research  into curriculum and pedagogy to  inform the UK Gov
 ernment's  Harnessing Technology Strategy.  Recent projects include MyArtS
 pace for mobile learning in museums and the L-Mo project with Sharp Labora
 tories of Europe to develop handheld technologies for language learning. H
 is publications cover the areas of interactive systems design\, artificial
  intelligence and educational technology.\n\nABSTRACT:\n\nThe Personal Inq
 uiry project\, funded by the ESRC and EPSRC  research  councils\, is inves
 tigating the value of 'scripted  inquiry  learning'\, where children aged 
 11-14 investigate science  topics  with classmates by carrying out explora
 tions between  their  classroom\, homes and outdoor locations guided by a 
  personal  toolkit. The toolkit\, running on small portable  computers\, i
 s being  designed to enable the children to  understand themselves and the
   world in which they live\, through  a scientific process of gathering  a
 nd assessing evidence\,  conducting experiments and engaging in  informed 
 debate. Their  activities are based around topic themes -  Myself\, My  En
 vironment\, My Community - that engage young learners  in  investigating t
 heir health\, diet and fitness\, their immediate environment and their wid
 er surroundings. I shall describe how scripted personal technologies can b
 e designed to support  effective learning across transitions between forma
 l and  informal settings and report the results of trials from the second 
 year of the project. These investigated the children's process of science 
 inquiry\, adoption and use of the technology\,  and compared with a  contr
 ol group changes in domain and science  inquiry knowledge and  attitudes t
 o science. Issues include: the  nature of personal  inquiry\, supporting t
 he continuity of  learning across settings\, how personal should an inquir
 y be\, and  problems of conducting research  in technology-enabled learnin
 g  outside the classroom.\n
LOCATION:GS5\, Donald McIntyre Building\, Faculty of Education\, 184 Hills
  Road\, Cambridge
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