No abstract

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology has developed a learning concept for school classes in science centres named “learning trails”. In this concept, groups of students perform a series of thematically related experiments with installations in the science centre. The learning trails are designed to support the generic learning outcomes for science centre visits. We argue that the previously developed Engagement Profile can be used to translate exhibit properties into both media forms and generic learning outcomes for such learning concepts. Further, we implemented the learning trails in two modes: one mode used paper-based content to guide the students, while the other mode supported the use of tablet PCs where engaging content is triggered when the students approach the location of an experiment in the learning trail. We studied the engagement factors of the learning trails and observed how school classes use these. In a study with 113 students from lower secondary school (age 16), they answered short questionnaires that were integrated into the implementation of the learning trails. While the concept of the learning trails was evaluated positively, we could not find significant differences in how engaging the two implemented modes were.

More knowledge of how the actual design of the laboratory work influence students’ communication, is needed to design and implement physics laboratory work lessons. The aim with this quantitative research, conducted at a Swedish upper secondary school, was to explore how the design of the laboratory work affects students’ communication. Twenty students divided into five groups participated in this natural case study and were video recorded while performing four practical tasks with the theme uniformly accelerated motion, designed by their teacher. The four workstations were categorised based on three predefined descriptors: outcome, approach and procedure. Students’ work at each workstation was coded according to five defined activities: planning, preparing equipment, collecting data, processing data and analysis of results. The activities were thereafter divided into shorter episodes that were coded for three different types of communication: disputational talk, cumulative talk and exploratory talk. The result shows that the amount of exploratory talk students engaged in are influenced by the style of the laboratory work and the character of the activity. Based on these research results, teachers can better accustom the laboratory work to facilitate fruitful physics discussions which endorse students’ learning. Keywords: different styles of laboratory work, different types of talk, quantitative analysis of students’ communication.

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology have developed a learning concept for school classes in science centres named ‘learning trails’. In this concept, groups of students perform a series of thematically related experiments with installations in the science centre. The learning trails are designed to support the generic learning outcomes for science centre visits. We argue for using the previously developed Engagement Profile in an indicator to determine both media forms and generic learning outcomes for such learning concepts. Further, we implemented the learning trails in two modes: one mode used paper-based content to guide the students, while the other mode supported the use of tablet PCs where engaging content is triggered when the students approach the location of an experiment in the learning trail. We studied the engagement factors of the learning trails and observed how school classes use these. In a study with 113 students from lower secondary school, they answered short questionnaires that were integrated into the implementation of the learning trails. While the concept of the learning trails was evaluated positively, we could not find significant differences in how engaging the two implemented modes were.