The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using mobile devices for promoting subject learning in school education. A total of 43 Chinese students from two Primary 4 classes in a primary school in Hong Kong participated in this study. One class was randomly assigned as the experimental class, while the other class as the control class. Students in the experimental class used mobile devices to learn about perimeter of polygons while those in the control class learned the same topic with paper-based materials. The results of pre-test and post-test show that students in the experimental class achieved a significant improvement in their learning performance. Furthermore, the responses from student interview indicate that students in the experimental class were generally satisfied with classroom learning with mobile devices because of two reasons: i) an increased level of student control, and ii) an enhanced communication between peers and between the teacher and students. These findings reveal the pedagogical potential of mobile devices to promote deep learning through classroom-based dialogic interaction in class time.
[Copyright © 2012 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.]