MobiLAP: mobile learning combined with authentic citizen science practice to foster scientific citizenship identity

Design · All designs
Evidence · 4 claims (3 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description

MobiLAP is a learning approach that, as the article states, "integrates citizen science, mobile learning and authentic practice" to foster scientific citizenship in participants. Students use their own smartphones (a BYOD approach) with apps such as Leafsnap and Where Am I At to observe, record and submit real phenology data to a national citizen science project, acting like professional scientists on a legitimate research task. The approach builds on work by Gaydos and Squire (2012) and rests on identity theory and transformative learning accounts holding that engagement in authentic activity, plus reflection on it, can shift learners' perceptions, frames of reference and identities.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Access to mobile devices (73% of teens have smartphone access, per the article)
• Training in the apps and observation protocols, which the literature recognizes as essential for citizen science data collection
• A legitimate citizen science project to contribute data to

Constraints

• Tested only as a brief four-day intervention with one day of field data collection, limited by mandated curriculum time
• Relied on convenience sampling from a single high school, limiting generalizability
• Fall timing coincided with leaves changing and falling, complicating data collection

Target Learners

• ninth-grade high school biology students

Learning Goals

• scientific citizenship identity formation
• STEM career and education interest
• understanding of climate change through phenology observation

Claims

• Mobilap Significant Overall Sci Ml Interaction [+M]
• Mobilap Increased Citizen Science Identity [+M]
• Mobilap Increased Stem Career Interest [+M]
• Mobilap No Effect Learning And Mobile Attitudes [~M]

Related Designs

Examples

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Key Sources

• Duane E. Wallace & Alec M. Bodzin. (2017). Developing Scientific Citizenship Identity Using Mobile Learning and Authentic Practice. Electronic Journal of Science Education, 21(6). http://ejse.southwestern.edu

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	mobilap-approach
title	MobiLAP: mobile learning combined with authentic citizen science practice to foster scientific citizenship identity
description	MobiLAP is a learning approach that, as the article states, "integrates citizen science, mobile learning and authentic practice" to foster scientific citizenship in participants.
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-02
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — duane-e-wallace-alec-m-bodzin-2017

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