Abstract:

Educational apps on mobile phones can contribute to the creation of directed, centered, and creative learning environments. In terms of availability and popularity, mobile apps are seen as an essential and developing technology for offering instructional information to young learners.

The app Roteiro Entre-Marés provides a series of digital itineraries designed to explore intertidal zones, particularly the rocky platform of the Marine Protected Area of Avencas and a saltmarsh, with Ria Formosa Natural Park as an example. These itineraries offer several challenges to the users as they walk through them, emphasizing the biodiversity, the adaptations of resident species, and environmental stressors which these ecosystems are currently facing. Through the species zonation exploitation on the biodiversity itinerary, the students were challenged to identify in situ the species present on the different zones of the intertidal ecosystem, namely the upper, middle, and lower intertidal zone, while estimating their abundance in each zone.

This app was used by a group of 8th grade students and their teachers, and as an evaluation tool, survey items were provided to 80 students and three teachers to assess the app's usability. Furthermore, interviews with teachers and volunteer students were conducted in order to analyze the use of mobile apps as educational tools.

The fact that they have learned a lot (60%) in a practical class in the field (56%) with the information provided on the app (56%), while conducting group activities (60%) autonomously (48%) and being aware of environmental problems (60%) are among the things that the students appreciated the most about the App Roteiro Entre-Marés. Nonetheless, the biggest challenges that students encountered were the species register (72%), as well as interpreting the experimental design and graphs of species distribution (56 %). Still, 52% of the students surveyed enjoyed the app utilization as an educational tool, 64% believe it aided in the acquisition of new knowledge, and 52% desire to learn more about this topic.

During the interviews, students described the App as an interesting and interactive instructional tool in situ, but also as a resource for future group projects, being informative, organized, and a source of information where they can learn more about the species, their habitats and interaction.

Teachers believe that the app provides clear and reliable information that acts as a link between theory and practice, being valuable for its ease of access. However, because students are often distracted by other apps, this must be done under supervision.

In this context, this presentation describes the potential of the App Roteiro Entre-Marés as a educational tool, taking into consideration that mobile apps, if well planned, can motivate students, drawing their attention to achieve better outcomes in the classroom.

Acknowledgement:
The project (FA_06_2017_011) is funded by Fundo Azul (Direção-Geral de Política do Mar).

Keywords:

Educational App, Mobile Learning, Ocean Literacy, Science Education, Citizen Science.