Smartphones as an Educational Intervention for PER. Framing an Analysis for Determinants and Perspectives

Abstract

This chapter examines, through a literature review, the use of mobile resources and more specifically smartphones, as challenges for teachers to support physics education, with an emphasis on their use as support for the experimental process. The use of smartphones, through the perspective highlighted by relevant research, is related to the context of connecting the scientific and technological capabilities they provide and the educational practices proposed. The study examines the use of smartphones as a means of support of the educational experimental process, the technological capabilities of the devices and their sensors, and the most widespread applications of data capture, processing, and presentation. In addition, the proposed educational approaches for their utilization in physics are recorded, the perspectives, but also the concerns that are developed for the use of smartphones in education. The review provides a complete picture of the path followed, the current situation, and the potential future uses of smartphones in the educational practice of Physics, a synopsis of modern applications as well as the technologies related to smartphones in teaching and learning according to Physics Education Research (PER).