{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.0102880658436214, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.006172839506172, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
PDAS AS WORKPLACE TOOLS FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS

This paper reports on work in progress on a project investigating the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) to help students make use of knowledge gained during the study of a Masters course in science education in their professional practice. We report on a review of the literature on mobile technologies as learning tools in workplace settings. We analyze this literature to suggest possible hypotheses for our study. Our aim is to understand the ways in which mobile devices influence the use of open and distance learning course material in workplace contexts, and to investigate how the link between knowledge about science communication, education and practice can be influenced by the use of mobile devices. We also describe the selection and design of activities for use on the PDAs, the evaluation strategy based on an activity theory augmented approach for the project and the issues arising during the project.