Empowering active citizenship via BYOD-mediated learning activities: An experience in acoustics

摘要

The considerable diffusion of mobile devices discloses several opportunities also in the educational context. The adoption of mobiles as sensing devices (Mobile Crowd Sensing, MCS) and their systematic introduction into curricular activities for improving the learning effectiveness (Bring Your Own Device, BYOD) are two promising approaches that have demonstrated their suitability in the recent years, especially in the didactic of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines. In this paper, we present a MCS- and BYOD-based didactic experience on acoustic sensing for urban environments aiming at improving both the didactic quality on such topics and empowering the active citizenship behavior in youngsters. Such an approach promises to disclose to students novel and effective ways of actively participating in the life of their communities as well as contributing to the improvement of the overall quality of life of their cities. The results achieved so far, have shown a significant learning effectiveness and a series of promising further opportunities for broadening the scope of the proposed approach.