Using Smartphones And Qr Codes For Supporting Students In Exploring Tree Species

Smartphones are increasingly being used on field trips to support students in exploring the natural world. In this paper we present a design and analysis of an inquiry-based learning field trip for primary school students. One problem for design is how to make use of smartphones to support, rather than distract, students in interacting with the physical environment. We approach this problem by comparing two alternative designs, where students use smartphones for identifying tree species either by using an identification instrument or by reading a text description. The results show that students made use of the instrument for identification, QR codes, for identifying tree species and made use of the text descriptions for searching for tree species. In this sense, QR codes, connecting contextual information on smartphones to the physical environment, work as a learning tool that may be used for orienting students in their interaction with the physical environment.