Science: Learning through experimentation and practice

Learning science is a hands-on activity that requires students to engage in the scientifi c processes through practice. The practice of science necessitates the use of technologies to experiment, assess, and evaluate ideas, theories, and laws. Technology in the science classroom has often aligned directly to the content of the class, microscopes, and X-ray devices for biology, balances, stopwatches, and other measuring tools for the physics classroom, etc. While there will always be a need for discipline-specifi c technologies, a number of technologies can be used across the disciplines. As the personal computer began to creep into the classroom, it became a much more universal tool for science education. In recent years the advent of mobile technologies has made it possible to access, analyze, and distribute understandings outside of the traditional “lab” environment. This chapter focuses on the tools that cut across the disciplines and how they can be used to support students in the K-12 environment in their growth as consumers and developers of scientifi c understandings.