The smartphone industry is making a pitch that cell phones belong in the classroom. (You have to register to read the NY Times article, but it is free.)
Students could write experimental questions and hypotheses in 140 characters or less on Twitter and 160 characters or less on their cell phones as txt messages. Steps in their experimental design, photos of their setup would be workable. Data tables might be a challenge though unless there’s software I’m not aware of.
My experiment with phones in Physics and Marine Biology this year will be public soon. I’ll probably have my wrists slapped by admin because having the phones is a blatant violation of school policy. We call them ‘cameras’ and ‘blog posting devices.’ The kids are so involved that I really haven’t seen anyone txting. Nice. They are learning as well. Later today, I will go get my own photos of their work to share.
I too, think smartphones will be an important player in the classroom. I too have been experimenting with a ton of things this past year… Twitter, polling services, etc.
However, it cracks me up to read educational suggestions from mobile computer companies. They can stop that anytime now they’d like. I think we all can figure this out ourselves just fine, don’t you? 😉
I am in a pretty good situation for experimentation. Our school has a very open policy that allows phone use between periods and at lunch. Getting it out in class w/o permission gets it confiscated, but this allows teachers who want to try things out… to do just that.