The Nature Tour Mobile Learning Application

Implementing the Mobile Application in Finnish Early Childhood Education

Settings

Jenni Rikala

and Marja Kankaanranta

Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014, Yväskylä, Finland

Faculty of Information Technology and Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä,

P.O. Box 35, FI-40014, Yväskylä, Finland

Keywords: Early Childhood Curriculum, Mobile Learning, Mobile Learning Framework, Outdoor Learning.

Abstract: This paper explores the implementation of the Nature Tour mobile learning application in Finnish early

childhood education settings. The interest is to explore whether the concept of Nature Tour mobile

application meets the needs of early childhood education in field trips. The idea of the mobile application is

to help recording and comparing nature observations as well as to arouse children’s interest in nature. The

feasibility of the mobile application was evaluated through a theoretical framework, which includes the core

aspects of mobile learning. The evaluation framework consists of two levels titled core level and medium

level. Three of the core level aspects were realized well. These aspects were the aspect of context, time and

space. The medium level aspects that were realized well were social aspect and learner aspect. While the

device aspect was a slightly more challenging as the Nature Tour mobile application required literacy skills

and therefore it required adult guidance. The study indicated that the technology use in the early childhood

settings evidently requires balance between the curriculum, children’s needs, human interactions, as well as

technological and pedagogical support for the effective use of technology.

1 INTRODUCTION

The presence of media and technology has become

extensive and ubiquitous in Finnish children’s lives

and the children usually learn to use media and

technology at the very early age (Suoninen, 2010).

Since the media and technology are so closely

intertwined with children’s everyday life, integrating

those into curriculum can be an effective way to

engage children in learning activities.

During recent years, the potential of mobile

technology for enhancing and diversifying learning

has received increased attention. Earlier studies have

indicated that mobile technologies can enhance

natural science and outdoor learning in many ways.

For example, mobile technology can arouse

children’s interest in nature. In particular,

technological tools can provide new choices and

more flexibility for personal expressions and

learning for children (Blagojevic & Thomes, 2008).

Especially the benefits for study motivation and

learning achievements are highlighted (e.g.,Tan, Liu

and Chang 2007; Chen et al. 2008; Hwang, Shi and

Chu 2011). Also considerable changes in teacher

teaching and student learning have been reported

(Zhang et al., 2010). According to Huang et al.

(2010) mobile technologies and an outdoor learning

strategy are very useful tools when teaching children

about plants. However, many researchers are mainly

studying primary and secondary school students and

there are only a few studies that are focusing on

children under school-age (aged 5-6 years).

This paper explores the implementation of so-

called Nature Tour mobile application in Finnish

early childhood education settings. The feasibility of

the developed mobile application was evaluated

through a theoretical framework, which includes the

core aspects of mobile learning (such as the aspect

of context, time and space, device aspect, social

aspect and learner aspect). In this study, the interest

is to explore whether the concept of Nature Tour

mobile application meets the needs of early

childhood education in field trips. The data was

mainly collected with the teachers’ group interview.

The study is part of a larger research where the aim

is to develop both a theoretical framework for

171

Rikala J. and Kankaanranta M..

The Nature Tour Mobile Learning Application - Implementing the Mobile Application in Finnish Early Childhood Education Settings .

DOI: 10.5220/0004777201710178

In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2014), pages 171-178

ISBN: 978-989-758-022-2

 2014 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

mobile learning as well as tools and practices for the

use of mobile technology for teaching and learning

at different levels of education.

Finland has a national curriculum that provides

guidelines on early childhood education, but

municipalities and the local authorities have the

freedom to decide how early childhood education is

organized (Stakes, 2003). Mobile technologies have

made inroad in educational contexts little by little in

Finland too, but unfortunately early childhood

authorities and educators are not early adopters of

these kinds of new technologies, even though mobile

technologies could create new opportunities to early

childhood education as well. This paper aims to

highlight some of these opportunities.

In the following section, the mobile learning

framework is presented with the focus on mobile

technologies in outdoor learning. After this, the

mobile nature tour application and Finnish early

childhood education as the context of this study are

described. The paper continues with the sections of

the research design, results and finally, concludes

with reflective remarks and proposals for the future

research.

2 MOBILE LEARNING

FRAMEWORK

This study has adopted the mobile learning

definition given by O´Malley et al. (2005) “any sort

of learning that happens when the learner is not at a

fixed predetermined location or learning that

happens when the learner takes advantage of the

learning opportunities offered by mobile

technologies” as it highlights that mobile learning is

not merely about learning by using mobile devices,

but also learning across different contexts.

One of the main aims of this study is to further

build the theoretical framework for mobile learning

(Rikala, 2013). The framework advances the two

most recent theoretical frameworks (Koole, 2009

and Kearney et al., 2012), that suggest that mobile

learning has certain elementary characteristics that

separate it from other types of learning. The current

framework consists of two levels (see Figure 1.)

titled core level and medium level. The core level

and medium level are shortly explained as follows.

The mobile technologies have the unique ability to

support learning anywhere and anytime. For

example, they can expand the learning environment

to authentic contexts such as parks, museums, and

nature. Therefore, the aspects such as context, time

and space form the core level of mobile learning.

Figure 1: The Mobile Learning Framework.

The medium level comprises the other important

aspects in the mobile learning process, which are the

learner aspect, device aspect, and social aspect. The

learner aspect refers to an individual learner’s

cognitive abilities, memory, emotions, possible

motivation, attitudes, and experiences, which are in

a significant role in the learning process and thus

mobile learning process as well. In the device aspect

the physical, technical, and functional characteristics

of a mobile device are emphasized as they are

important factors of the device usability. The

physical, technical and functional characteristics

include input and output capabilities, storage

capabilities, power, processor speed, compatibility,

and expandability. These characteristics influence

the device usability which in turn influences the

learner’s experience, perceived ease of use, and

perceived usefulness. The social aspect, in turn, is

associated with the processes of social interaction

and cooperation. For instance, the philosophy of

social constructivism views learning as collaborative

and it emphasizes social interactions. Thus, the

impact of interaction on learning cannot be

underestimated. (Koole, 2009)

The pedagogical aspect (i.e. pedagogical

practices) was also added to the evaluation

framework. The earlier mobile learning pilot tests

have indicated that the pedagogical aspect is one

considerable aspect (Rikala and Kankaanranta,

2012).

In this framework, the learner aspect can be

realized by ensuring that the learner’s needs are

taken into account, whereas the social aspect can be

realized by ensuring that the learners can exchange

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information and collaborate. The device aspect

should be taken into account when planning the

mobile applications as well as when planning the

mobile learning activities. Pedagogical practices and

especially the activity design, in turn, influences on

the core and medium level aspects and how those are

realized. In this study, these aspects provide an

evaluation framework in which the feasibility of the

Nature Tour mobile application is analyzed.

3 OUTDOOR LEARNING

MEDIATED BY MOBILE

TECHNOLOGIES

Outdoor education is widely recognized as the most

feasible method of teaching the phenomenon of the

natural world (Tan et al., 2007). Nonetheless, the

field trips can be physically and mentally

challenging and sometimes difficult to fit in

educational situations (Bedda-Hill, 2012). However,

the experiences and quality of outdoor education can

be enhanced with information and communication

technologies (Osawa et al., 2007).

The core level aspects (context, time and space)

can be fulfilled with mobile technologies. For

instance, mobile systems can enable learning with

the learner’s own preferred route and speed (Shih et

al., 2011). Real-life observations conjoin with access

to digital technology and contents can help learners

to make distinctions for example between the plants

in authentic context (Shih et al., 2011). Thus, at the

best learners can learn anytime and anywhere so

learning can be very personalized, situated and

authentic. This kind of spontaneous use has been

raised as one of the core features of mobile learning

in many mobile learning studies (e.g., Traxler 2005).

The learner aspect can be fulfilled in many ways.

Firstly, the mobile devices can support, guide, and

extend the learner’s thinking process within and out

of the classroom (Chen et al., 2008). Secondly, the

mobile systems can improve learner creativity as

well as ability explore and absorb new knowledge as

well as solve problems in different locations (Tan et

al., 2007). Thirdly, when learners are using mobile

devices they can express their own perspectives

more freely (Shih et al., 2011). Fourthly, as the

mobile systems can enable learning with the

learner’s own preferred route and speed, and can

support and guide the learner’ thinking process, the

learning can be more independent and self-reliant

(Chen, Kao and Sheu, 2003). For these reasons

mobile technologies can have positive effect on the

involvement and motivation (Huizenga, Hordijk &

Lubsen, 2008). Hence, outdoor learning could be

more enjoyable and challenging for learners.

Also the social aspect can be fulfilled as the

mobile systems can encourage social interaction.

Huang et al. (2010) for instance argue that the

mobile technologies can stimulate students to

engage enthusiastically in assigned outdoor learning

activities, as well as stimulate social interaction and

discussion about course material.

The device aspect should be taken into account

when planning the mobile applications as well as

when planning the mobile learning activities as the

device usability influence the learner’s experience,

perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness.

When the device is comfortable to use it can help to

reduce learner’s cognitive load and increase task

completion rates as the learner is able to concentrate

on the activity rather than the mobile device. (Koole,

2009)

Based on the literature review, mobile

technologies can enhance natural science and

outdoor learning in many ways. However, there are

only a few studies that are focusing on children

under school-age (aged 5-6) which increases the

significance of the present study.

4 THE NATURE TOUR

MOBILEAPPLICATION

The Nature Tour mobile application was developed

and implemented as a part of the Personal Mobile

Space project (during the years 2009-2012) in the

University of Jyväskylä, Finland (see Kankaanranta,

Neittaanmäki and Nousiainen, 2013). The Nature

Tour mobile application is developed especially

considering the early childhood and lower primary

education settings. The idea for the application was

based on the demands of the day care experts.

The primary objective of the developed Nature

Tour mobile application is to enhance children’s

outdoor learning experiences by helping the

documentation of the field trips. Continuity of the

learning experience is promoted with activities

before and after the field trip. Before the field trip,

children can familiarize themselves with plants,

animals or fungi as the mobile application is

associated with a web page which contains relevant

information. After the field trip, the children can

view the recorded observations and for example

create stories. The idea of the web page is

also to enable the comparison of what species or

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Figure 2: The screen captures of the application (the

opening view, relevant information about the species,

taking a photograph, and child recording observation).

phenomena have been observed across the country.

For example, one group from southern Finland and

another group from northern Finland can record their

observations and make comparisons.

The function of the developed mobile

application (see Figure 2) is to help recording

observations during the field trip. The mobile

application allows the user to save observations with

photographs or with audio recordings and to send

these recordings to the web page, where they can be

viewed later on. The main categories of the Nature

Tour mobile application (in the opening view) are

Nature Tour, Outdoor Plays, Indoor Plays, and

Celebrations. The nature tour category is used for

the nature observations during the field trips. Other

categories allow the wider use of the mobile

application in daily life.

The nature tour category includes subcategories

such as animals, plants and fungi. Each of these

categories opens up a list of the species as well as

small pictures. By choosing the species, the user can

have relevant information (e.g., picture and core

information) about the species and can record

observations. For instance, a child can take a picture

of a plant or try to record bird’s chirping.

The mobile application requires the ability to

read and for that reason it requires adult guidance.

Hence, the application is designed to provide

concrete experiences in nature with the guidance of

an adult inasmuch as it is important that the educator

describes and explains situations.

5 EARLY CHILDHOOD

EDUCATION IN FINLAND

In Finland, the compulsory primary school starts

usually at the age of seven and the early childhood

education concerns children under school-age.

Therefore, the preschool is considered a part of early

childhood education and it is intended especially for

six-year-olds but it is voluntary. (National Board of

Education, 2000)

The national curriculum gives guidelines on

early childhood education, but municipalities and the

local authorities can decide for themselves how early

childhood education is organized (Stakes, 2003).The

core of the learning in Finnish early childhood

education is the interactions between children, adults

and the environment rather than accurate contents.

Hence, nature and the immediate neighbourhood are

considered the important elements of the learning

environment. (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health,

2004)

All the themes, phenomena and contents covered

with should be linked to children’s immediate

environment, daily life and concrete experience. For

instance, animals and plants can be located in

children’s immediate environment indoors and

outdoors. For example, modern information

technology offers possibilities to create and share

contents in different contexts. (Stakes, 2003)

The early childhood educator’s role is to set up

the fertile activities and learning environment for the

children where the information technology can be

one component but not dominating. It is important to

find the right balance as technology cannot replace

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human interactions or relationships. The successful

integration also requires educator’s knowledge about

learning as well as knowledge of how to integrate

technology into the curriculum to meet the needs of

children.

New creative media and information technology

in early childhood settings is a quite seldom used in

Finland. There are some projects funded by the

Finnish national board of education (e.g., Molla

project) which aims to bring updated information

and action models to people implementing media

and information technology such as iPads at pre-

school education. The first findings of the Molla

project are indicating that media and technology can

enhance children’s learning. Differentiated learning

materials can serve children with different learning

needs (the learner aspect). The mobile technologies

such as tablet devices also give the children

opportunity to perform tasks together which

encourages interaction (the social aspect).

6 THE RESEARCH DESIGN

This is a case study that examines the feasibility of

the Nature Tour mobile application in the context of

specific early childhood education in Central

Finland. The research included two parts: one short-

term pilot test in the spring 2012 and one longer-

term implementation in the autumn 2012. The use of

a case study method is appropriate because it

provides in-depth examinations and gives

understanding of perspectives, opinions, and

expectations of the smart phone usage and

application.

The short-term pilot test provided guidelines for

the further development of the mobile application

and ideas for the longer-term pilot test. The short-

term pilot experiment was entirely research-led

activity involving observations as a research method.

Eleven children and one teacher were participating

in the field trip which duration was three hours. At

the end of the field trip, the teacher stated that she is

voluntary to continue the experiment in the autumn.

In the longer-term experiment two early

childhood education groups were participating. Total

of 29 children, two teachers, and one assistant were

participating for two months. They used loaned

smart phones which were preinstalled with the

prototype of the nature tour application. The

teachers were able to use the application

independently and could plan the activities by

themselves. The researcher provided a short

orientation session for the teachers but otherwise the

teachers worked independently. The mobile

applications were used in appropriate situations. The

teachers’ and assistant’s feedback about the mobile

application was collected after the experiment with a

group interview. The interview covered the core

level and the outer level aspects, as well as the

pedagogical aspect.

7 THE RESULTS

The feasibility of the Nature Tour mobile application

was evaluated through a mobile learning framework

(see Figure 1). The core level aspects, medium level

aspects as well as pedagogical aspect are described

in the following chapters.

7.1 The Core Level Aspects

The context where the Nature Tour mobile

application was mainly used was field trips but the

teachers also reported that they used it within doors

and when they were documenting the phenomena of

the first snow. Hence, the learning was applied

appropriately in real-world contexts. The teachers

reported that the Nature tour mobile application

extended learning beyond the traditional learning

space (i.e., classroom) in a motivating way. Both

teachers reported that they organize several field

trips for their groups during the year. The field trips

so far, however, have been less structured (e.g. the

children have been able to play and build huts). The

teachers argued that the device and related

instruction clearly directed the children's attention to

nature.

The frequency of the application use was not

very high. One of the teachers reported that she used

the application three times with her group and the

other teacher reported that she used the application

several times but not every day. According to the

teachers the use of the application was not

specifically designed, but instead the activities were

rather spontaneous situations. The children were

able to take pictures without restrictions. However,

the time when the application was used, in other

words field trips, were arranged according to the

schedule. This was mainly due to the fact that the

equipment was loaned and the fact that the pre-

school groups have plenty of other activities during

the autumn. Hence, unfortunately the

implementation was not as spontaneous as it at the

best could have been. At the best, a child could use

the application whenever the need arises (e.g. when

a child sees the first flower of spring).

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7.2 The Medium Level Aspects

The device aspect was slightly challenging as

according to the teachers there were various

technical problems during the experiment which

were difficult to solve alone. These encountered

problems reduced the teachers’ desire to use

application. For this reason the teachers experienced

the application difficult to use and this also led to the

situation where the children were not able to use the

application independently. This finding indicates

that the device usability strongly influences the

experience, perceived ease of use, and perceived

usefulness. The teachers stated that the mobile

application should be simplified more. As such, the

application contains too much content and requires

literacy skills. Pictorial information would be

sufficient for children under school-age (aged 5-6

years). In Finland children start compulsory school

at age of 7 and the majority of the children learn to

read during their first school year. Because the

application required literacy skills the teachers

thought that they had to open the application to the

state where the child could take pictures. The

teachers however believed that the children could

learn the use of the application very quickly and

added that they simply did not have the adequate

skills to guide children to use the application

appropriately. These findings indicate that the

teachers’ need sufficient technological support for

the effective use of technology. The Nature tour

mobile application could also be further developed

so that even small children would be able to use it

easily (e.g. by adding voices, pictorial information).

The application could be further developed in such

way that it could enhance children’s literacy skills at

the early stages. In other words, at the best the

Nature Tour mobile application could work as a tool

for acquiring literacy skills.

The learner aspect was realized well. The

teachers reported that the mobile device brought an

inspiring and motivating element for the children.

The mobile application inspired children to look at

their surroundings in novel ways. They observed

surroundings and tried to find interesting places and

things to be photographed. The children’s creativity

was reflected in the pictures as some of the

observation pictures were very imaginative and

artistic. These findings conform to those of previous

studies that have indicated that when children are

using mobile devices they can express their own

perspectives more freely and that mobile systems

can improve creativity and ability to explore and

absorb new knowledge (e.g. Tan et al., 2007; Shih et

al., 2011). The teachers mentioned that the children

had never paid as much attention to nature as during

the experiment. The mobile application therefore

opened up a whole new world for the children and

they began to construct knowledge and awareness of

nature. One of the teachers commented: “The

children observed nature more closely. For instance,

they noticed the flowers: "Hey! Here are still

growing some flowers. I will take a picture."

Normally, probably, no one would even notice the

flowers.” The mobile application clearly offered the

children new perspectives.

Also the social aspect was realized well. The

teachers reported that the children observed the

nature and paid attention to plants, fungi and other

interesting nature phenomena and creatures. Some of

the children even tried to identify the species

independently and all the children were eagerly

asking for the names of the species. The mobile

application clearly encouraged social interaction

with adults and with peers. The teachers reported

that the children compared pictures with each other

and gave the tips where they could take fine

pictures. The children also interacted with the

teacher by asking the species. The social aspect is

one of the significant aspects because technology

cannot replace human interaction or relationships.

Especially in early childhood education human

interactions and relationships are crucial as with

them a child learns how to act and express oneself

with an appropriate way in different situations

(National Board of Education, 2000). It was

encouraging to find out that the Nature Tour mobile

application stimulated interactions.

7.3 The Pedagogical Aspect

The teachers highlighted that they did not know how

to integrate the use of the application in daily life

and other materials. One of the teachers commented:

“The fact is that we already have plenty of material

what we are using here. If something new is brought

and it is just in a way "glued" top of all that, it does

not integrate easily especially if you are not

technically skilled. I think that this is the biggest

challenge in our case.” The lack of necessary skills

to integrate the mobile application in the daily life

was the main reason why the use of the application

mainly remained a tool for photographing various

things. The teachers mentioned that they just went to

the field and took some pictures. The teachers

considered that the use of the application and the

follow-up activities should be planned in a more

detailed manner and should be integrated into certain

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topics. In other words, there should be a clear

pedagogical objective for each field trip. One of the

teachers commented: “If we started to use this

application, then it would require more detailed

planning.”

The difficulty of integrating the use of the

application to other activities mainly was due to lack

of necessary skills. The teachers did not have

adequate knowledge about how to best integrate

technology into the curriculum as the technology use

in early childhood education in many places is a

novelty or a seldom used. The teachers highlighted

that the use of information technology cannot

become a part of daily routines until the teachers

have adequate training. The teachers’ education was

brought up and highlighted in the conversation. This

finding is consistent with Mohammad and

Mohammad (2012) who argued that successful

integration requires educator’s knowledge about

learning as well as knowledge about how best to

integrate technology into the curriculum. This

clearly indicates the need for sufficient support

(technological and pedagogical) for the effective use

of technology.

8 CONCLUSIONS

The aim of the present study was to explore the

implementation of the Nature Tour mobile

application in Finnish early childhood education

settings. The feasibility of the developed mobile

application was evaluated through a framework,

which included the core aspects of mobile learning.

In this study, the interest was to explore whether the

concept of Nature Tour mobile application meets the

needs of early childhood education in field trips.

The present experiment indicated that the

application has a lot of potential but also some major

challenges. The experiment indicated that the

application is quite easy to take into use and that it

provides children tangible, motivating, and

educative experiences in nature. The Nature Tour

mobile application also encouraged social

interactions with the adults and with the peers. The

device aspect, in turn, was a slightly more

challenging as the application required literacy

skills. Hence, the guidance and the role of the adults

were significant. On the one hand, the relationships

and interactions with adults are important as the

adult can guide children’s observations and teach

them how to act in different situations. Nevertheless,

on the other hand, it would reduce teacher’s

workload if the children were able to use the mobile

application more independently. For this reason the

experiment indicated that as such the mobile

application is not yet suitable for early childhood

education settings but it has a lot of potential.

Pictorial information would be sufficient for

children under school-age (aged 5-6 years) who do

not have literacy skills. The next step is to adapt the

Nature Tour mobile application considering the

discoveries and the feedback from the teachers.

One very significant observation was that the

pedagogical aspect is very important. Based on the

present findings it seems that the appropriate way to

utilize mobile applications in early childhood

education settings require the balance where

technology use is matched with the curriculum, the

children’s needs, and human interactions. The

technology use in the early childhood settings also

requires sufficient support, in particular because the

new creative media and information technology in

early childhood settings still is a quite seldom used.

The experiment also brought out one major

challenge: to promote mobile learning in early

childhood education settings requires considerable

change in teacher training as well as teachers’ and

policy-makers’ attitudes. Therefore, the teachers’

and policy-makers’ attitudes should be investigated

in more detail. Do the attitudes affect the way in

which early childhood education is organized? Are

the attitudes obstacles to the diffusion of

technologies such as mobile technologies in early

childhood education settings?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study and case studies were part of the TEKES

(Finnish Technology Agency) funded project

Personal Mobile Space for learning and wellbeing

lead by Professor Pekka Neittaanmäki and Marja

Kankaanranta, University of Jyväskylä.

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