2012 Volume 53 Issue 2 Pages 317-328
Teaching and learning as a conceptual change has become an important theme in science education research. Systems designed both to support teaching and learning as conceptual change and to run on mobile devices have not yet been developed. Mobile devices are expected to play an increasingly prominent role in the progress of education. Further, the development of science education systems designed to support teaching and learning as a conceptual change would be of great value. In this study, we developed a system that runs on mobile devices by improving on the existing Digital Fortune Line (DFL) system. The existing DFL system is, effectively, a digitized version of the paper-based fortune line method widely used in science education up to now. Network-enabled systems in particular aim to contribute to learning for conceptual change by facilitating the visualization and sharing of learners' commitment. On the basis of this system, we developed a new system in this study that runs on the iPhone and iPod Touch. In conjunction with this development, we conducted a preliminary assessment among graduate students aspiring to be teachers, and an assessment based on actual elementary science lessons. The purpose of these assessments was to consider, on the basis of the subjective assessment data of learners and teachers, whether such a system would have good usability and would provide support for learning. The results of these assessments based on the subjective assessments of learners and teachers showed that although the system have modification regarding input of line, the system has good usability on the whole, as well as good potential for supporting learning.
