Arduino Science Journal
Turn your phone into a lab sensor to collect and analyze data
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Arduino Science Journal
Pros: A free alternative to expensive classroom light, sound, and motion sensors.
Cons: Not all students have a smartphone.
Bottom Line: Science Journal does a good job recording real-time motion, sound, and light data using phones.
Teachers can use Arduino Science Journal to help students design and conduct their own investigations. Use the Getting Started activities on the Making & Science website to familiarize students with the tool. Each one takes only about 15 minutes.
If it works with your content, have students follow the detailed instructions to design, build, and test their own wind spinners. Otherwise, once students have spent some time playing with the app, encourage them to plan and carry out their own experiments.
Measure sound, light, and more using the sensors in your phone. The Arduino Science Journal app is intended to be a pocket science laboratory because it allows students to measure data in real time using a phone. Sensors record ambient light (lux), intensity of sound in decibels (dB), and acceleration of the phone moving in three planes (m/s2). Students can design their own experiments and use Science Journal to collect and annotate data.
The Arduino Science Journal site features Getting Started activities. These activities are printable and will help acclimate students to the different tools available in the Science Journal app. Once the students get started, they can build a project and save multiple trials to compare.
Arduino Science Journal (formerly Google Science Journal) takes advantage of smartphones, which some students already own, to use as lab sensors. This can be a huge cost savings since similar science sensors range in costs up to $5,000. A similar app, Lab4Physics, does the same thing but works on Apple devices. Science Journal may be challenging if not enough students in a class have phones. One way that Science Journal is a step up from Lab4Physics is that you can record audio observations and take pictures while simultaneously collecting data. This helps students capture their thoughts in the moment, but it's not quite at the level of Playground Physics, which takes video and traces the motion right on top.
Science Journal lets students take the lead in their science class. At the time of this review, the website had only one experiment (Wind Spinners), but it exemplifies the Science and Engineering Practices from the Next Generation Science Standards. Students are challenged to design their own structure and measure how well it spins in the wind. Students are also supported by tips that show up while using the tool. For example, after completing the first trial, students are encouraged to perform multiple trials to look for consistency in data.
Learning Rating
Community Rating
Awesome for at home experiments
I think it is a great app for students to do at home experiments and to practice measuring different things and to take notes on and compare. You are able to do different measurements within the same experiment which I like and you can assemble all your information neatly within the app, and it is easy to read.
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