Smartphones in science classes

As with all learning strategies in class; it's the right tool for the right job. I recently read Practical Work in Science: Misunderstood and Badly Used by Jonathan Osborne. It is a worthwhile read and I highly recommend it.
Among some of the ideas that reading Osborne's article sparked in me was the idea of leveraging smartphones for data collection during practical work captured my attention. Being a digi-geek I decided to investigate how this might work and how accurate is the data created. Osborne talks about practical work being used in a science classroom for two reasons: 1) the practical's role in demonstrating a phenomena/ idea/ theory and 2) the opportunity for students to engage in the whole process of experimentation. If the teacher sets aside time for pre-, during-, and post- practical learning then it is a waste of time if a large chunk of that combined time is taken up collecting the data and calculating an answer because there won't be enough time for students to think about what their data might mean and how it might link to ideas. I have been guilty of this and I unreservedly apologise to my students for duping them out of the time and pleasure of mulling over data and making their own meaning of it. Osborne says that students don't make links between practical work and scientific ideas because they are not given the time or direction to talk about science ideas, write about them, read about them or create representations of those ideas. He says just 'doing' the experiment isn't enough to develop a deep understanding of an idea.
So, using smartphones as a way of collecting data during practical work is a good way of creating some time to think and understand.

This You Tube video What Sensors are in a Smartphone by Scientific America shows the basics of what kinds of sensors are in most smartphones and how they might work together. Today I have explored three that you might use.

Measuring Light Levels

A lux meter is a scientific instrument that measures light. I found a study (Smartphones as a light measuring tool) that compared a lux meter with the ambient light sensor in a smartphone and with the light detection system in the smartphone camera. The study concludes that the smartphone can be used to detect the amount of light when high precision data is not required. It also concludes that the ambient light sensor is more precise than the camera light detector. They also noticed that there are differences between different brands and models of smartphones. I think this is to be expected.

Most smartphones today have an ambient light sensor built into the hardware and it commonly is used by the phone to check surrounding light and adjust the screen brightness accordingly. The cameras on smartphones can also detect light and adjust the brightness of the image taken. Smartphones can be used to connect with external light detectors via Bluetooth or wi-fi which you would need to purchase.
My recommendation:
Based on the information given in the study Smartphones as a light measuring tool and my own long experiences of science education, this is my recommendation and why. Use the ambient light sensor in the smartphone, not the digital camera. This is because the process the Smartphone Light study went through to work out the amount of light measured by the digital camera would sap the soul of any student. The ambient light sensor is a direct measure of the amount of light falling on the screen.  Using an external Bluetooth or wi-fi connected light meter would also be good, but obviously, you have to purchase the external device(s). There are plenty of free light meter apps, look for one that uses the internal ambient light sensor, not the smartphone digital camera.

Sound 

So How Accurate are these Smartphone Sound Measurement Apps? was published by the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention. They concluded that the apps were accurate enough to make meaningful measurements of noise in the environment.  In a science classroom, this means that the data students collect will be accurate enough to notice accurate patterns and trends of the sound recorded.  When installing a sound detection app on a smartphone, permission will need to be given to access the microphone or the app will not work. Most apps show the level of noise in the sound in decibels and some apps show a graph of the sound recorded so you can see how that sound graph changes over time.

Acceleration

Apps like this can measure speed and acceleration. Make sure the app chosen does standard international units, not just imperial units. Then it directly translates to the NZ Curriculum expectations. Many of the apps produce graphs of motion over time as well as number style data. However, there is usually no flexibility to adjust how the graph looks. Most apps don't store many episodes of data collection and most store only one. If this is the case, I recommend taking a screenshot of the data before moving on to the next episode of data collection. Some of the apps allow data to be exported which takes a little time.

Acceleration apps are great. The amount of time saved in measuring distance and time, calculating speed and then acceleration is long, even if you put the data into a spreadsheet. If your lesson is focused on the ideas of speed and/or acceleration rather than how to calculate these, then this kind of pattern-seeking in the data from the app is the perfect learning experience. Students can very quickly see in real-time how their changes in the experiment affected the speed or acceleration of the phone and they can go through many adjustments of key variables in a short time and see the effects instantly. There will be plenty of time for a conversation about trends and patterns in their data  afterwards and how the data links to ideas about speed or acceleration

Things to consider in utilising a smartphone as a learning tool in class:

Classroom management: expectations of the use of smartphones needs to be openly understood by all in the classroom. This includes shared and explicit understandings between the teacher and students of when and how smartphones can be used in class. 

The risk to property: The phone belongs to the student and so, they must be comfortable with the intended use of their phone during the class activity. If the student doesn't wish to use their phone for these activities, then alternatives need to be provided by the teacher, the student shouldn't miss out on such a valuable learning experience that you have taken the time to craft.

Downloading apps: this is also the responsibility of the owner. Some students will not have permissions to download their own apps and some students may not wish to download an app, even if they have permissions to do so.  Again, the student shouldn't miss out on valuable learning; what equally effective alternatives have you got up your sleeve?