Using Mobile Devices to Connect Teachers and Museum Educators

• In Event: Using Technology to Enhance Informal Experiences

Abstract

In this study, we designed a new mobile application called Zydeco to connect classrooms and museums. Before the field trip, teachers and museum educators created an investigation together by designing a driving question to guide the field trip. During the field trip, students collected their own data by using iPods or iPads to take pictures or record videos of the exhibits. When students returned to the school, they used the museum data with their peers as they tried to answer the driving question. This paper focuses on how Zydeco and the use of driving question in this process helped five educators (three middle school teachers and two museum educators) create connections between classrooms and museums.

Authors

• Ibrahim Delen, Michigan State University

• Wan-Tzu Lo, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Alex Kuhn, University of Michigan

• Steven McGee, Northwestern University

• Jennifer Duck, The Learning Partnership

• Chris Quintana, University of Michigan

• Joseph S. Krajcik, Michigan State University