Shih, J.-L., Chuang, C.-W., & Hwang, G.-J. (2010).

An Inquiry-based Mobile Learning Approach to Enhancing Social Science

Learning Effectiveness. Educational Technology & Society, 13 (4), 50–62.

An Inquiry-based Mobile Learning Approach to Enhancing Social Science

Learning Effectiveness
Ju-Ling Shih1, Chien-Wen Chuang2 and Gwo-Jen Hwang3*
1
Department of Information and Learning Technology, National University of Tainan, Taiwan
2
Graduate Institute of Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
3
Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology,
Taiwan
juling@mail.nutn.edu.tw // chienwen.academic@gmail.com // gjhwang.academic@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

ABSTRACT
This study presents a mobile exploration activity that guides elementary students to learn during a social science
activity with digital support from mobile devices and wireless communications. The students are situated in both
the real world and the virtual world to extend their learning experiences. The learning activities between the
field and the digital system not only demonstrate the practices of mobile learning, which emphasizes learning
that happens close to real life, but also provides digital learning content to facilitate students’ field studies. To
enhance the learning performance of the students, an inquiry-based mobile learning approach is employed to
assist the students in constructing their own knowledge by taking cognitive load into consideration. To evaluate
the effectiveness of the innovative approach, 33 fifth grade students were arranged to carry out investigations in
the Peace Temple of southern Tainan with the inquiry-based mobile learning system. Through pre- and post-
class questionnaires as well as observations and focus group interviews, descriptive quantitative and qualitative
data were collected and analyzed. The results show significant positive results in terms of the students’ learning.

Keywords
Mobile learning, inquiry-based learning, historic monument investigations, cognitive load

Introduction
Mobile learning entails the kind of learning in which learners use mobile devices with digital content inside, to learn
in “anytime, anywhere” situations. Such devices include PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), laptop computers,
cellular phones with wireless communication capabilities, as well as customized hardware (Liu & Hwang, 2010;
Shih, Chu, Hwang, & Kinshuk, in press). To avoid students aimlessly wandering around, instructors need to
carefully arrange the learning environment and design an interactive learning model, along with meaningful learning
content provided in time. In the past decade, mobile learning has been used in a variety of educational fields in both
informal and formal settings, such as bird-watching (e.g. Chen, Kao, & Sheu, 2003), chemistry experiments (e.g.
Hwang et al., 2009), math (e.g. Zurita & Nussbaum, 2004), language learning (e.g. Cui & Bull, 2005), environmental
investigation (e.g. Rogers et al., 2005; Lai et al., 2007; Chu, Hwang, Tsai, & Tseng, 2010), and butterfly ecology
learning (e.g. Chu et al., 2008; Hwang, Kuo, Yin, & Chuang, 2010; Hwang, Shih, & Chu, in press).

Most of the existing research has been carried out for science, language, or technique-oriented content that trains
students to master certain structural or systematic knowledge or skills, while the use of mobile learning technology
for social science learning is seldom reported. Moreover, researchers have indicated that, although mobile learning
seems to be innovative and interesting to the students, their learning performance could be disappointing without
proper learning strategies or tools (Chu et al., 2010; Hwang, Chu, Shih, Huang, & Tsai, 2010). Unfortunately, so far
few scholars have applied mobile learning practices in the social science subjects, not to mention proposing effective
strategies or tools to facilitate social science learning.

To cope with this problem, this research aims to develop a mobile learning system for supporting exploration
activities in authentic learning environments. Moreover, to evaluate the effectiveness of this innovative approach, a
mobile learning activity for a social science course is conducted by guiding elementary students in southern Taiwan
to learn in a local temple with PDAs. The project is targeted, as social science, to include geographical, historical,
and cultural issues since learning about the temple in the students’ hometown requires overall content learning about
these aspects. The students are situated in a learning scenario that combines both the real world (a local temple) and
the virtual world (the PDA learning system with access to digital materials) to extend their learning experience. A

ISSN 1436-4522 (online) and 1176-3647 (print). © International Forum of Educational Technology & Society (IFETS). The authors and the forum jointly retain the
50
copyright of the articles. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies
are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by
others than IFETS must be honoured. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior
specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from the editors at kinshuk@ieee.org.
series of educational activities between the field and the digital system are designed to demonstrate the practices of
mobile learning, which emphasizes learning that happens close to real life. To achieve this objective, an inquiry-
based approach is proposed for developing the mobile learning system to facilitate students' field studies; in the
meantime, the cognitive loads of the students were taken into account when designing the user interface.
Furthermore, both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods were used to evaluate the learning performance of
the students.

Literature Review
Inquiry-based learning

Inquiry-based learning is a concept which encourages teachers to allow learners to get in touch with authentic
situations, and to explore and solve problems that are analogs to real life (Feletti, 1993; Li & Lim, 2008). By means
of exploration, investigation, and observation, students become involved in more rigorous social interactions as well
as higher level thinking. In inquiries, students not only develop a deeper understanding of the subject, but also ‘learn
how to learn’ (Price, 2001). Lim (2004) stated that online inquiry learning ensures students’ positive participation,
on-task behavior, and rich collaboration, as well as empowering students’ ownership and self-directed learning by
increasing their involvement and responsibility for their own learning. Creedy et al. (1992) affirmed that whereas
traditional approaches to education focus on the transmission of knowledge from teacher to student, inquiry-based
learning is intended to encourage students to be active learners rather than passive recipients of knowledge. Colburn
(2000) defined inquiry-based instruction as the creation of a classroom where students are engaged in essentially
open-ended, student-centered, hands-on activities. Moreover, various approaches, such as structured inquiry, guided
inquiry, open inquiry and learning cycles can be used in an inquiry-based learning activity to assist the students in
discovering relationships between variables, or otherwise generalize from data collected. After the teacher provides
the concept, the students take ownership of the concept by applying it in a different context.

The National Science Education Standards noted that scientific inquiry refers to the diverse ways in which scientists
study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work. Therefore, Edelson,
Gordin, and Pea (1999) stated that inquiry experiences can provide valuable opportunities for students to improve
their understanding of both science content and scientific practices. In the recent decade, inquiry-based learning has
largely been used in nursing (e.g. Akinsanya, & Williams, 2004; Finn, Fensom, Chesser-Smyth, 2010; Horne,
Woodhead, Morgan, Smithies, Megson, & Lyte, 2007; Kirwan & Adams, 2009; Rush & Barker, 2006) with or
without the combined use of mobile devices to enhance students’ learning in both theory and practice. This research
aims to extend the experience to social science learning which requires systematic investigation of real-world
historical relics.

According to Collingwood (1994), history is a kind of science which involves inquiry into the past. Inquiry-based
learning opens a new way for social science learning. Educators believe that students should "systematically employ
processes of critical historical inquiry to reconstruct and reinterpret the past, such as using a variety of sources and
checking their credibility, validating and weighing evidence for claims, and searching for causality" (National
Council for the Social Studies, 1994).

However, unguided online historical inquiry does not guarantee meaningful learning (Molebash, 2004). In the
research of Manlove, Lazonder, and de Jong (2009), it was found that cognitive regulation involves the recursive
processes of planning, monitoring, and evaluation during learning. A support tool incorporating goal-lists, hints,
prompts, cues, and templates is needed to support the cognitive regulation skills of students during a fluid dynamic
task. Meanwhile, in Singapore, Li and Lim (2008) examined the different dimensions of scaffolding for online
historical inquiry. The fixed scaffolds include written prompts and argumentation templates, while the adaptive
scaffolds include questioning, modeling and peer interaction. Similarly, in Finland, Lakkala, Lallimo, and
Hakkarainen (2005) applied inquiry-learning units in 12 primary and secondary level classrooms for various subject
domains. The guiding principles behind the designs were the objectives of progressive inquiry, such as facilitation of
question- and explanation-driven learning, and the use of collaborative technology to support the sharing of
knowledge. They created a Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) and found it a valuable way to foster
collaboration in classroom work. These are valuable learning activity design principles for this research to adopt, in

51
that using question-and-answer style activities with constructive feedback as well as collaborative group assignments
might help the students to enhance their learning.

Mobile Learning

Due to the advancement of technology, some educators have quickly adopted the prevalent wireless handheld
devices to build learning environments for students to not only extend their learning experience to outside the
classroom, but also to enhance their thinking abilities (Hwang, Wu, Tseng, & Huang, in press). Wu and Lai (2009)
used PDAs to support a clinical nursing practicum course in which students can record information, organize ideas,
assess patients, and interact, as well as collaborate with peers during an on-site clinical practicum. They proved that
handheld devices can provide students with scaffolds to enhance learning and at the same time facilitate peer
cooperation and interaction with the instructor. Other researchers have placed emphasis on the design of mobile and
ubiquitous systems to support student learning. For example, Peng, Chuang, Hwang, Chu, Wu, and Huang (2009)
proposed a Ubiquitous Performance-Support System (UPSS) that facilitates instructional decision making and
provides learning assistance. Students’ motivation, interactivity, and learning effectiveness were found to be positive
in their research. Other than facilitating individual learning from the cognitive perspective, some researchers have
focused their attention on fostering collaborative learning environments. Huang, Jeng, and Huang (2009) developed a
mobile blogging system to create virtual classrooms for students to publish their comments in authentic contexts
anytime and anywhere. From these previous experiences we see that adopting mobile devices in various educational
fields requires different instructional strategies, and the learning effectiveness can also cover a wide range including
cognitive and social interaction perspectives.

In this research, we chose to place the research focus on applying inquiry-based learning strategies to facilitate
students’ field learning, especially in the context of social science subjects. A mobile learning model that supports
field learning with learning guidance and supplementary material via the PDA is developed. Furthermore, we
investigated the learning effectiveness and the cognitive load of the students who employed the innovative approach
to learn during field observation activities, which are the main concerns of teachers and researchers in conducting
technology-enhanced learning activities.

Cognitive Load

Researchers have indicated that the background of the learners and the environmental contexts are the main sources
of cognitive load (Paas & Van Merriënboer, 1994). Sweller, van Merriënboer and Paas (1998, p. 251) further
indicated that "Cognitive load theory has been designed to provide guidelines intended to assist in the presentation of
information in a manner that encourages learner activities that optimize intellectual performance." They suggested
that instructional designs should facilitate learners to establish automatic formation of schema; moreover, during the
learning process, there are two types of cognitive load to be noted:
 Intrinsic cognitive load, which comes from the nature of the learning materials, the learners’ cognitive levels,
and their cross-effects. It can be decreased by obtaining schema and automation, and by matching the teaching
materials to the learners’ abilities.
 Extraneous cognitive load, which can be decreased by the appropriate organization and presentation of
information.

Thus, in this study, we attempted to design the mobile learning system and the presentation of the information on the
PDA by taking into account the factors that might affect the cognitive load of the students. Consequently, the
following instructional design principles for minimizing cognitive load proposed by Sweller et al. (1998) are
adopted:
 Goal-free effect: Students should have free thinking space instead of being bounded by teachers’ goals so that
they can more freely express their learning process.
 Worked example effect (Cooper & Sweller, 1987; Sweller & Cooper, 1985): Teachers can provide examples in
the problem-solving process to establish schema on students in order to decrease their cognitive load.
 Completion problem effect (Paas, 1992): Provide students with half-completed worked examples to enhance
their in-depth reading.

52
 Split-attention effect (Chandler & Sweller, 1992): When students are facing multiple information sources, the
appropriate integration and presentation of the information can help them process the information more easily.
 Modality effect (Moreno & Mayer, 1999; Mousavi, Low, & Sweller, 1995): Baddeley (1976) stated that the
working memory system includes the central executive system, and the articulatory system and visuo-spatial
sketchpad system to support the function. Students’ cognitive load can be decreased by enhancing the
distribution of information to use different working memory systems.
 Redundancy effect: Avoid sending the same information repeatedly using more than two working memory
systems. The repeated information will increase students’ cognitive load because learners have to make
redundant associations between information from two sources.
 Variability effect: Teachers can use different teaching methods and presentations of information so that students
can be more involved in those learning tasks and their learning transfers can be more obvious.

The inquiry-based mobile learning model is developed based on these principles. For example, in the learning
activities, appropriate tasks, a sequence of hints and clues in question-and-answer style, and interactive dynamics are
designed to minimize the students’ cognitive load. In addition, the PDA learning system has been designed with the
minimum number interface icons and messages, few hyperlinks, and a step-by-step Q&A procedure to simplify the
learning process. These considerations mainly aim to avoid increasing the students’ extraneous cognitive load
(DeStefano & LeFevre, 2007).

Students’ cognitive load is usually measured in terms of the task-oriented dimension and the learner-oriented
dimension. The former is to evaluate the “mental load” that is generated when the students face tasks. It includes the
intrinsic characteristics of the tasks such as their complexity and difficulties, and extraneous characteristics such as
learning material designs and presentation methods. The latter is called “mental effort”, and represents the energy
and resources which the students devote to completing the tasks (Sweller et al., 1998). In most previous studies,
subjective measures with seven or nine point rating scales were widely used to assess the cognitive load; this
assumes that students have the ability to think retrospectively and reflect on their cognitive changes in the learning
process, while at the same time quantifying their feelings using the rating scale. It has been recognized as being a
convenient and efficient way of measuring students’ cognitive load (Paas, Tuovinen, Tabbers, & Van Gerven, 2003).
Thus, this study applies the subjective measure to evaluate students’ cognitive load.

Research Methods
Instructional Design

This study facilitated the investigation of a historic site using handheld devices, i.e. PDAs. The objective of the
teaching was to support students’ cognitive learning, and increase their inquiry learning ability. We first designed
learning content and activities related to the historic site, and then designed an application model for the mobile
devices according to the learning themes, based on which a supportive learning system for the students’ field
investigation was developed. Three learning stages were designed to guide the students through the inquiry process.

Before the first stage activity, there was a PDA orientation. The teacher used an 80-minute class session to provide
the course orientation to the students by bringing them to the library to find materials related to local culture. Then,
the teacher introduced the historic background of the temple, local cultures and religions, and other related
information so that the students could be aware of the basic concepts related to the trip. This warm-up activity was
designed to provide the students with basic knowledge, and stimulate their learning motivation.

In the first learning stage (Figures 1 and 2), the students were led out on the fieldtrip to the Peace Temple. It was a
two-hour class session. They were randomly divided into groups, to which different themes were assigned by the
digital system, such as “Gods”, “the religious world”, or “culture”. The students then used the mobile devices to
explore the temple in person. They visited spots of interest guided by the pre-designed hints for each learning theme
in the PDA. They could gather more information with the PDA by finding out answers to the hints and taking notes
when there were open-ended questions. For example, some hints were given to guide them to conduct detailed
observations of the architecture and placement of the Gods, and they interviewed the temple keepers and people
living in the neighborhood regarding their thoughts about and impressions of the temple. In addition, through the

53
wireless connection, they could even access the Internet and search for more information about what was not taught
in class.

Figure 1. Learning Stage 1- Field Observation for Figure 2. Learning Stage 1- Field Observation for Task
Task 1 2

In the second learning stage, the students participated in an 80-minute in-class session for the production stage of the
activity. They were asked to synthesize and categorize their data collected in the field, and then to construct reports
to share with their classmates. The discussions and feedback stimulated higher levels of thinking. Assessments of
learning were conducted from various perspectives, including by the teacher, their peers, and themselves. Hence,
multiple assessments were performed. Learning effectiveness was assessed based on the students’ perceptions and
their group discussions, collaboration and communication behaviors. Learning achievements were evaluated based
on their oral and artifact reports, the feedback they gave to others, and their academic examination scores in the
social science course.

Figure 3. Learning Stage 2- Classroom Discussion for Figure 4. Learning Stage 2- Classroom Discussion for
Task 1 Task 2

In the third learning stage, the students were asked to give a learning result presentation (Figures 5 and 6) which
consisted of two tasks. The learning tasks were designed to identify whether inquiry-based mobile learning can
expand the students’ breadth and depth of knowledge. In the first task, they collaborated to tell a historical story
relevant to the temple. They were required to creatively use their field collections to make up a story. The purpose
was to require the students to demonstrate the results of their field inquiry. In the second task, the students were
asked to design a new temple using paper crafts. They had to describe the special features of the temples to their
peers. The purpose was to encourage them to observe the temple architecture, decorations, and displays. Most of the
students were very enthusiastic about the task, and felt a sense of achievement when they were able to illustrate what
they had dreamed up during the project.

54
 Figure 5. Learning Stage 3 Group Presentation for Figure 6. Learning Stage 3 Group Presentation for Task 2
Task 1

System Design

The nature of social science is very different from that of science. Science, in general, consists of clear-cut facts and
unambiguous conceptual relationships, where all items are mostly in a linear, structural, and systematic hierarchy; on
the contrary, social science consists of items that have different attributes or which belong to different conceptual
categories. The concepts should be in dynamic flux rather than in a static and fixed form.

Figure 7. PDA interface for Inquiry

For this reason, inquiry-based learning is appropriate for social science learning since the knowledge form is
dynamic and can be expanded according to students’ exploration. Inquiries are designed to enhance students’ contact
with instructional items that are related to the people, things, times, places, and objects around them. Students are
given two tasks, four themes for each task, a few hints for each theme, and selected choices for every hint. They can
use those hints to collect the necessary information in order to complete the tasks. The hints are organized under the
themes, and are prompted consecutively and progressively. With each hint, the students can look up more
information from either the database or the Internet. There are two kinds of hints: closed hints were questions with
suggested choices, and open hints were questions that led the students to write down their observation notes.

On the PDA, the interface design was kept simple for the small screens. At the top of the screen, there is a dynamic
menu of the themes. One hint is displayed at a time with the related choices (Figure 7).

55
In the field, students can also conduct digital inquiries online. Whenever they feel the need, they can use the “online
search” function to use the Google search engine (Figure 8). The students can retrieve their observation notes on the
PDA (Figure 9) with their own account number and password. Notes are documented according to hint order. The
students can then prepare for the task of reporting by comparing their notes with those of their peers.

Figure 8. PDA interface for digital inquiry with Google

Figure 9. PDA interface for observation notes

Research Process

This research is designed as shown in Figure 10. There were thirty-two fifth grade elementary school students who
participated in this research. At the beginning of the learning process, the teacher provided orientation in the use of
the PDAs. Then, after the students filled out the pre-class questionnaire, which is for the researchers to understand
their initial understanding of the course materials, the students went through the three learning stages. In order to
further understand the students’ learning, both internally and behaviorally, we made close observations of the
students’ learning process.

After completing the learning tasks, the students returned to the classroom and filled out the learning sheets with
regards to their thoughts about the learning process and outcomes. At the same time, a post-class questionnaire and
cognitive load assessment were distributed. After the researchers obtained the preliminary results of the

56
questionnaires, a follow up focus group interview was conducted to obtain further explanation of some parts of their
thinking that were unclear in the questionnaire responses.

Figure 10. The Research Process Diagram

The pre- and post-class questionnaire include three parts, namely the learning content, peer interaction, and learning
satisfaction, all using a six-point Likert scale. In addition, the cognitive load questionnaire developed by OuYang,
Yin, and Wang (2010) was adopted. It consists of seven items using a 9-point Likert scale of which a higher rating
implies a higher cognitive load. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of the questionnaire is 0.857, which shows high
reliability.

Research Results
Learning Achievement

From the students’ test scores before and after the inquiry-based mobile learning activity of the social science course,
it was found that they made significant improvement in learning achievement. The average score for their pre-class
understanding of the course materials was 85.56, while the average score of their post-class understanding increased
to 95 (as shown in Table 1). That is, the inquiry-based learning model proposed in this research had significant
positive effects on the students’ learning achievement.

Table 1. Paired-t test for pre-test and post-test learning achievement

Mean N SD t
Learning achievement (pre-test) 85.56 32 8.84 -6.50***
Learning achievement (post-test) 95.00 32 3.81
*** p<.001

57
In the process of the learning, the students had a chance to gain in-depth understandings of the learning content since
they could physically observe the objects mentioned by the teacher in class, and the experience strengthened their
impressions of and feelings about the local culture. Since most students did not have any prior experience of
conducting field inquiries with a mobile device, they showed high interest in this activity and were excited about it.
They not only performed their individual observations, but also discussed with their peers to exchange opinions.
Although there were some students who were shy and did not attempt to interact with the temple guards, most
completed their tasks by interviewing the temple guards about the history of the temple and the stories of the cultural
relics.

At the end of the learning activities, the students completed a learning sheet for the researchers to confirm what they
had learned about the content of the temple, as well as their thoughts about mobile learning. From these sheets we
can see that they were very devoted to this activity. Most of them were able to properly complete the answer sheets,
answer all the questions, give constructive feedback, and share memorable content and events that they learned
during the process. They could mostly answer the questions on the learning sheets with rich information. For the last
question that asks the students to draw the most impressive temple architecture feature or decoration observed in this
learning activity, about 80% drew the 9-level temple top on their learning sheets, implying that they were able to
conduct in-depth observation in the activity.

Cognitive Load

Table 2 shows the mean and standard deviation of each cognitive load questionnaire item. It can be seen the almost
all of the means are very low (between 2.36 and 3.65) except for item 4. Therefore, it can be concluded that
developing a mobile learning system by taking cognitive load into consideration is a successful approach. For item 4
“The attention required for learning these materials”, the mean is in the medium to high position (5.91), implying
that the students needed to pay proper attention to the learning materials in order to answer the questions raised by
the inquiry-based mobile learning system. This finding conforms to those of previous studies (Xie & Salvendy, 2000;
Kirschner, 2002; DeStefano & LeFevre, 2007).

To better understand how the students with different levels of learning achievements reacted to the inquiry-based
mobile learning, we divided them into groups of low learning-achievement, middle learning-achievement, and high
learning-achievement using their social science course scores. As two students had the same score, the three groups
included 10, 12, and 11 students, respectively.

Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics of the cognitive load ratings for the three groups of students. By applying
one-way ANOVA to analyze the ratings, it was found that there was no significant difference among the three groups
(F=.275, p=0.762). Moreover, the means of the ratings for the three groups are 24.18, 21.80 and 24.92, respectively,
which is much lower than the medium (32) of the maximum cognitive load (63). That is, the inquiry-based mobile
learning system caused a similar level of cognitive load for students with different learning achievements.

Table2. Descriptive statistics of each cognitive load questionnaire item

Standard
Questionnaire item n Mean
deviation
1 Completing this learning activity is (1 very easy - - - 9 very difficult) to me. 33 3.42 1.68
2 In the process of this learning activity, my frustration is (1 very small - - - 9 very big). 33 2.91 1.55
3 Learning these materials is (1 very easy - - - 9 very difficult) to me. 33 3.12 1.65
4 The attention required for learning these materials is (1 very small - - - 9 very big) for 33 5.91 2.27
me.
5 Answering these questions is (1 very easy - - - 9 very difficult) to me. 33 3.64 2.19
6 When answering these questions, my stress is (1 very small - - - 9 very big). 33 2.36 1.60
7 Using the PDA is (1 very easy - - - 9 very difficult) to me. 33 2.36 1.67

A student focus group interview was further conducted to find out the reasons behind the findings. It was interesting
to find that some low-learning-achievement students said “Direct and physical observation can make the learning
materials have deeper impressions. We got to know what the objects are and what they look like. Observation is
much more interesting than sitting in the classroom. We had more sense of achievement (fg-20081124-001, fg-
58
20081124-002, fg-20081125-003).” Another student said “Physical objects are more realistic than text descriptions
in the textbook. We get to know whether the answer is correct by seeing and feeling it (fg-20081125-003).” In the
same vein, those in the middle learning achievement group expressed that “We learned much more from physical
observation than from listening to teachers’ lectures (fg-20081124-001).” On the contrary, students with high
learning achievement said “Sometimes we cannot find the correct answers from observation. It is troublesome to find
new things. It is better and faster to know new things from the teacher (fg-20081124-001).”

Table3. Cognitive load for students with different learning achievements

Group n Mean Standard Deviation
High Learning Achievement 11 24.18 8.39
Middle Learning Achievement 10 21.80 6.78
Low Learning Achievement 12 24.92 8.45
Total Number of Students 33 23.72 7.82

Furthermore, we tried to compare the feedback from the students with that from the teacher. The teacher said
“Students with high learning achievement place greater demands on themselves than other students. They learn
almost the same number of things in any learning strategy. For them, it’s very much the same. However, to those
with middle and low learning achievement, the mobile learning activities are more helpful. They can learn more from
different means (fg-20081124-001).”

From the results of the quantitative analysis, it was found that the students with different learning achievement levels
had no significant different cognitive load when using this inquiry-based mobile learning strategy. This implies that
such an instructional design for inquiry-based learning would not increase students’ learning burdens for students of
any learning level. On the other hand, from the observations, we can see that since physical observation has made
students interact with their living environment more than reading in the classroom and listening to teachers, the
students with low learning achievement can even reduce their cognitive load since they can learn by doing and
seeing instead of by memorizing. However, the activity had little influence on students of middle and high learning
achievement.

Learning Satisfaction

Table 4 shows the results of the questionnaire. From the statistics, we can see that most students felt satisfied with
the learning activities, among which we found that the average of the students' answers to all items was above 5;
except for items 1, 3, and 8, the average of all other items was between 5.5 and 6. Item 4 was especially high (5.91)
which shows that the students felt that the inquiry-based learning field trip was more liberating and relaxing than
learning in the classroom.

Table4. Results of the Questionnaire of Students’ Satisfaction

Strongly Slightly Slightly Strongly
Agree Disagree Mean
agree agree Disagree disagree
1. I think using PDAs in field learning is
more interesting than teacher-guided field 90.6% 3.1% 3.1% 3.1% 5.50
trips.
2. I like to learn with physical object
78.1% 15.6% 6.3% 5.72
manipulation and observation
3. I like to conduct inquiries and
65.6% 12.5% 6.3% 9.4% 6.3% 5.22
explorations in groups.
4. I feel more free and relaxed in inquiry-
based learning field trips than in traditional 90.6% 9.4% 5.91
lectures.
5. I think I learned more in this inquiry-
based learning field trip than by listening
68.8% 25.0% 3.1% 3.1% 5.56
to the teacher’s explanation in the
classroom.
6. Using PDAs can increase my learning 75.0% 18.8% 3.1% 3.1% 5.66
59
motivation.
7. I wish I can have more chances to use
78.1% 9.4% 9.4% 3.1% 5.56
PDAs to learn in the future.
8. I will recommend inquiry-based learning
59.4% 21.9% 6.3% 9.4% 3.1% 5.22
field trips to my classmates.
9. If I had to give a grade to this learning
78.1% 15.6% 3.1% 3.1% 5.62
experience, I would give it …

Conclusions
This research emphasizes inquiry-based learning practices which integrate digital and physical environments. By
using mobile devices, students can have a more customized learning pace and process, and can receive individual
attention and learning guidance when they are distributed in the field. The results show that the students’ cognitive
learning achievements made significant improvement, and their satisfaction level was high. Based on the teacher
interview, in terms of the students’ learning performance, their presentations of both task results gained high
appraisal from their teachers, and their physical participation and affective involvement were both significantly better
than for traditional classroom lectures. Through pre-designed materials, field investigations in authentic
environments, as well as in-depth community visits and interviews, students’ understanding of historical monuments
can be increased. In social science lessons such as this, especially for geographical and historical content, inquiry-
based learning strategies can be useful. When we integrated the mobile learning concept, by giving each student a
PDA in their field inquiry, the learning effectiveness was greatly increased.

We are glad to see that the students with different learning achievement levels had no significant different cognitive
load when using this inquiry-based mobile learning strategy. This implies that such instructional design for inquiry-
based learning would not increase students’ learning burden for students at any learning level. On the other hand, the
field trips with the PDAs lowered the cognitive load of low achievers because they could interact with their living
environment instead of only reading in the classroom and listening to teachers. Thus, students with low learning
achievement can even reduce their cognitive load since they can learn by doing and seeing instead of by memorizing.
However, it had little influence on students of middle and high learning achievement.

It should be noted however, that the practice of inquiry-based learning, especially when integrated with mobile
devices, presents more technical problems for teachers to deal with. Teachers need to digitize the content to be
placed in the PDA, make sure the PDAs function well, and also solve emergent technical situations including
problems with wireless links and system stability. The instructional process requires more effort from the teacher,
and might use up to a total of 8 class hours to complete. The instructional model also needs to be adjusted if it is to
be extended to other fields and learning situations.

To conclude, this study’s inquiry-based mobile learning model can be further extended to other lessons, courses, and
subjects. It is proven by this research that students’ learning achievements can be improved. For the future, we can
conduct research to understand other aspects of learning, such as critical thinking, creative thinking, cooperative
learning, and so forth in the context of mobile learning. We hope this research has provided some fundamental
understanding for future research.

Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Science Council in Taiwan under projects NSC 98-2631-S-024-001,
NSC 99-2511-S-011-011-MY3 and NSC 99-2631-S-011-002.

References
Akinsanya, C., & Williams, M. (2004). Concept mapping for meaningful learning. Nurse Education Today, 24(1), 41-46.
Baddeley, A.D. (1976). The psychology of memory. New York: Basic Books.

60
Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (1992). The split-attention effect as a factor in the design of instruction. British Journal of Educational
Psychology, 62, 233–246.
Chen, Y., Kao, T., & Sheu, J. (2003). A mobile learning system for scaffolding bird watching learning. Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning, 19, 347-359.
Chu, H. C., Hwang, G. J., Huang, S. X., & Wu, T. T. (2008). A knowledge engineering approach to developing e-libraries for
mobile learning. The Electronic Library, 26(3), 303-317.
Chu, H.C., Hwang, G. J., & Tsai, C.C. (2010). A Knowledge Engineering Approach to Developing Mindtools for Context-Aware
Ubiquitous Learning. Computers & Education, 54(1), 289-297.
Chu, H. C., Hwang, G. J., Tsai, C. C., & Tseng, Judy C. R. (2010). A two-tier test approach to developing location-aware mobile
learning system for natural science course. Computers & Education, 55, 1618-1627.
Colburn, A. (2000). An inquiry primer. Science Scope, 23(6), 42-44.
Collingwood, R. G. (1994). In Jan van Der Dussen (Ed.), The idea of history [1946] revised edition with lectures 1926–1928.
Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Cooper, G., & Sweller, J. (1987). "Effects of schema acquisition and rule automation on mathematical problem-solving transfer".
Journal of Educational Psychology, 79(4), 347–362
Creedy, D., Horsfall, J., Hand, B., (1992). Problem-based learning in nurse education: an Australian view. Journal of Advanced
Nursing, 17, 727-733.
Cui, Y., & Bull, S. (2005). Context and learner modelling for the mobile foreign language learner. System, 33, 353-367.
DeStefano, D., & LeFevre, J-A. (2007). Cognitive load in hypertext reading: A review. Computers in Human Behavior, 23, 1616–
1641.
Edelson, D. C., Gordin, D. N., & Pea, R. D. (1999). Addressing the challenges of inquiry-based learning through technology and
curriculum design. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 8(3-4), 391-450.
Feletti, G. (1993). Inquiry based and problem based learning: how similar are these approaches to nursing and medical education?
Higher Education Research & Development, 12(2), 143-156.
Finn, F. L., Fensom, S. A., Chesser-Smyth, P. (2010). Promoting learning transfer in post registration education: A collaborative
approach. Nurse Education in Practice, 10(1), 32-37.
Fischer, G., & Konomi, S. (2007). Innovative socio-technical environments in support of distributed intelligence and lifelong
learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23, 338-350.
Horne, M., Woodhead, K., Morgan, L., Smithies, L., Megson, D., & Lyte, G. (2007). Using enquiry in learning: From vision to
reality in higher education. Nurse Education Today, 27(2), 103-112.
Huang, Y. M., Jeng, Y. L., & Huang, T. C. (2009). An Educational Mobile Blogging System for Supporting Collaborative
Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 12(2), 163-175.
Hwang, G. J., Chu, H. C., Shih, J. L., Huang, S. H., & Tsai, C. C. (2010). A decision-tree-oriented guidance mechanism for
conducting nature science observation activities in a context-aware ubiquitous learning environment. Educational Technology &
Society, 13(2), 53-64.
Hwang, G. J., Kuo, F. R., Yin, P. Y., & Chuang, K. H. (2010). A heuristic algorithm for planning personalized learning paths for
context-aware ubiquitous learning. Computers & Education, 54, 404-415.
Hwang, G. J., Yang, T. C., Tsai, C. C., & Yang, Stephen J. H. (2009). A context-aware ubiquitous learning environment for
conducting complex science experiments. Computers & Education. 53, 402-413.
Hwang, G. J., Wu, C. H., Tseng, Judy C. R., & Huang, I. W. (in press). Development of a Ubiquitous Learning Platform based on
a Real-Time Help-Seeking Mechanism. British Journal of Educational Technology. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2010.01123.x
Hwang, G. J., Shih, Y. R., & Chu, H. C. (in press). A concept map approach to developing collaborative Mindtools for context-
aware ubiquitous learning. British Journal of Educational Technology. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2010.01102.x
Kirwan, A., & Adams, J. (2009). Students’ views of enquiry-based learning in a continuing professional development module.
Nurse Education Today, 29(4), 448-455.
Kirschner, P. (2002). Cognitive load theory: Implications of cognitive load theory on the design of learning. Learning &
Instruction, 12, 1-10.

61
Lai, C. -H., Yang, J. -C., Chen, F. -C., Ho, C. -W., & Chan, T. -W. (2007). Affordances of mobile technologies for experiential
learning: the interplay of technology and pedagogical practices. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23, 326–337.
Lakkala, M., Lallimo, J., & Hakkarainen, K. (2005). Teachers’ pedagogical designs for technology-supported collective inquiry:
A national case study. Computers & Education, 45(3), 337-356.
Li, D. D., & Lim, C. P. (2008). Scaffolding online historical inquiry tasks: A case study of two secondary school classrooms.
Computers & Education, 50(4), 1394-1410.
Lim, B. R. (2004). Challenges and issues in designing inquiry on the Web. British Journal of Educational Technology, 35(5), 627-
643.
Liu, G. Z., & Hwang, G. J. (2010). A key step to understanding paradigm shifts in e-learning: Towards context-aware ubiquitous
learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(2), E1-E9.
Manlove, S., Lazonder, A. W., & Jong de, T. (2009). Trends and issues of regulative support use during inquiry learning: Patterns
from three studies. Computers in Human Behavior, 25 (4), 795-803.
Molebash, P. (2004). Web historical inquiry projects. Social Education, 68(3), 226-234.
Moreno, R., & Mayer, R. (1999). Cognitive principles of multimedia learning: The role of modality and contiguity. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 91: 358–368.
Mousavi, S., Low, R., & Sweller, J. (1995). Reducing cognitive load by mixing auditory and visual presentation modes. Journal
of Educational Psychology, 87(2): 319–334.
National Council for the Social Studies (1994). Expectations of excellence: Curriculum standards for social studies. Washington,
DC: National Council for the Social Studies.
OuYang, Y., Yin, M. C., & Wang, P. F. (2010). The cognitive load and learning effects of students with different learning styles
by using PDA device with wireless system. International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, 4(3), 281-293.
Paas, F. & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (1994). Instructional control of cognitive load in the training of complex cognitive tasks.
Educational Psychology Review, 6, 51-71.
Paas, F. (1992). Training strategies for attaining transfer of problem-solving skill in statistics: A cognitive-load approach. Journal
of Educational Psychology, 84, 429–434.
Paas, F., Tuovinen, J. E., Tabbers, H., & Van Gerven, P. W. M. (2003). Cognitive load measurement as means to advance
cognitive load theory. Educational Psychology, 38(1), 63-71.
Peng, H., Chuang, P.-Y., Hwang, G.-J., Chu, H.-C., Wu, T.-T., & Huang, S.-X. (2009). Ubiquitous Performance-support System
as Mindtool: A Case Study of Instructional Decision Making and Learning Assistant. Educational Technology & Society, 12(1),
107-120.
Price, B. (2001). Enquiry-based Learning: an introductory guide. Nursing Standard, 15(5), 45-52.
Rogers, Y., Price, S., Randell, C., Fraser, D. S., Weal, M., & Fitzpatrick, G. (2005). Ubi-learning Integrates Indoor and Outdoor
Experiences. Communications of the ACM, 48(1), 55-59.
Rush, B., & Barker, J. H. (2006). Involving mental health service users in nurse education through enquiry-based learning. Nurse
Education in Practice, 6, 254-260.
Shih, J. L., Chu, H. C., Hwang, G. J., & Kinshuk (in press). An investigation of attitudes of students and teachers about
participating in a context-aware ubiquitous learning activity. British Journal of Educational Technology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-
8535.2009.01020.x
Sweller, J., & Cooper, G. A. (1985). The use of worked examples as a substitute for problem solving in learning algebra.
Cognition and Instruction, 2(1), 59–89.
Sweller, J., Van Merriënboer, J. J. G., & Paas, F. G. W. C. (1998). Cognitive architecture and instructional design. Educational
Psychology Review, 10(3), 251-297.
Wu, C.-C., & Lai, C.Y. (2009). Wireless Handhelds to Support Clinical Nursing Practicum. Educational Technology & Society,
12(2), 190-204.
Zurita, G., & Nussbaum, M. (2004). Computer supported collaborative learning using wirelessly interconnected handheld
computers. Computers & Education, 42(3), 289-314.

62