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

Abstract

This paper explores the process and impact of 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. Another key aspect that should be added to the framework is the pedagogical aspect. The technology use in the early childhood settings evidently requires balance between the curriculum, children’s needs and human interactions, in other words, pedagogy.