The Goat Island REEF – Research into Ecological Enhancement Forum – project seeks to investigate how mobile learning technology can enhance learners’ knowledge of, attitudes of care towards, and motivation to act for protection(i.e. ecological literacy) of our marine environments.

 

An understanding of how mobile learning technology can be integrated into the teaching and learning of science and sustainability education that incorporates free-choice learning contexts is of strategic importance to education in New Zealand. Free-choice learning experiences are critical in helping students gain perspectives which cannot be gained easily in school, as well as for adult learners to have access to relevant knowledge that may be otherwise difficult to gain. The increasing availability and sophistication of mobile technologies provides opportunities for deeper learning that networks students and adult learners to knowledge platforms and experts, which can complement the real and hands-on experiences that help connect learners to their local places.

 

This integration of mobile and free choice learning experiences needs careful design and this study drew on theoretical ideas about mobile learning and sustainability education, and brought together a collaborative team of experts to explore the development of a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) framework to achieve this. The project has involved designing a teaching unit on marine reserves that incorporates learning through mobile technologies by a class of senior primary students, their teacher and their parents before, during and after a visit to Goat Island marine reserve in North Auckland, New Zealand and the associated Goat Island Marine Discovery Centre.