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Datalogging: a unique affordance unrealized?
Citation
Paper presented at the 36th Australasian Science Education Research Association Conference, Hamilton, New Zealand, 2005.
Abstract
Datalogging has the potential to facilitate and extend opportunities for inquiry-based science by providing data and different modalities of representation with minimum effort. The real-time data display provides an immediate link between an experiment and its graphical representation, enabling students to visualize the course of the experiment. It also frees experimentation from time constraints as data can be collected over days, and relieves students from tabulating data and drawing graphs by hand, allowing them to concentrate on the interpretation of data. This paper describes some aspects of a national survey of 593 science teachers on the use of datalogging in Singapore secondary schools (Grades 7-10) and junior colleges (Grades 11-12), interviews of three Science Heads of Department, and classroom observations of datalogging activities. The results suggest that the unique affordances of datalogging are not being fully realised in science learning because teachers generally lack the vision for how dataloggers can be used to enhance the student learning experience in inquiry-based science.
Date Issued
July 2005
Project
CRP 15/03 TKC