Comparing the effects of mobile computers and traditional approaches in environmental education Markus Ruchter a, * , Bernhard Klar b , Werner Geiger c a Institute of Applied Computer Science / Automation (AIA), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstraße 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany b Institute for Stochastics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstraße 89, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany c Institute of Applied Computer Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstraße 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany article info Article history: Received 12 March 2009 Received in revised form 4 October 2009 Accepted 13 October 2009 Keywords: m-Learning Environmental awareness Evaluation of CAL systems Media in education Mobile guides abstract Environmental education and computers? That was traditionally seen as an antagonism. But environ- mental educators who compete for attention and face new challenges in an age of mobile devices, have begun to explore the opportunities that mobile computers may offer in supporting environmental learn- ing experiences. This study investigates the impact of a mobile guide system on different parameters of environmental literacy in comparison to traditional instruments of environmental education (i.e. bro- chure, human guide). In a field experiment at a floodplain conservation site, 185 school children and 76 adults participated in a guided tour using different media. Despite the novelty of mobile devices and usability issues associated with the prototype mobile nature guide, participants using the com- puter-assisted medium achieved similar results concerning environmental literacy components. The computer as mobile guide can lead to an increase in environmental knowledge and in case of the children it can increase their motivation to engage in environmental education activities. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In recent years educators have begun to consider mobile learning (m-learning) with the prospect of extending the realm of computer- mediated education to learning situations outside of traditional educational settings (Uzunboylu, Cavus, & Ercag, 2009). There have been a number of studies investigating the potential of m-learning in disciplines such as science learning that commonly take place in informal settings such as museums (Hsi, 2003; Rogers, Connelly, Hazlewood, & Tedesco, 2009). Even more so than science learning, it is the field of environmental education (EE) that heavily depends on direct experiences of natural phenomena outside the classroom. However, many environmental educators have considered the application of computer-based instruments in EE as ambiguous (Shultis, 2001). The use of the computer is traditionally seen as an antagonism to the experience of nature, especially since it has so far kept the participant from directly experiencing the natural environment (Apel & Wolf, 2005; Shultis, 2001). From this perspective, computer-mediated education may contribute to one of today’s fundamental challenges for environmental education – the alienation from nature (Brämer, 2003; Van Velsor, 2004). Still, in search for novel methodologies to confront this challenge, environmental educators have become aware of the high interest in new technologies that can be observed among young people in particular (Apel & Wolf, 2005; Van Velsor, 2004). Consequently, there has been extra encouragement to add computer-based media to EE methodologies (Apel & Wolf, 2005). A variety of approaches can be found in the literature (Spicer & Stratford, 2001; Ramasundaram, Grunwald, Mangeot, Comerford, & Bliss, 2005) but they are mostly based on virtual environments of different degrees of immersion and Spicer and Stratford (2001) stress, that these virtual environments cannot replace traditional field trips. Mobile devices, on the other hand, hold a variety of features that can help to pair the benefits of com- puter-mediated learning with direct nature experience. Studies like the ones presented by Rogers et al. (2009) show that handhelds can accompany the learner into the field and can at the same time scaffold exploratory activities, for instance by enabling students to sense and record aspects of the local environment, while giving the opportunity for taking electronic notes and at the same time draw upon a variety of digital resources and representations. Further, they can assist the educator in guiding the participants and monitoring their pro- gress (Abe et al., 2005). 0360-1315/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.10.010 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 7247 82 5724; fax: +49 7247 82 5786. E-mail addresses: markus.ruchter@kit.edu, mruchter@web.de (M. Ruchter), bernhard.klar@kit.edu (B. Klar), werner.geiger@kit.edu (W. Geiger). Computers & Education 54 (2010) 1054–1067 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers & Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu