Education is one important field where interactive tables can be used as supportive tools. While many studies introduce multi-touch displays for collaborative use, the requirements and benefits of using such a technology in science education are still unclear to teaching professionals.
This thesis focuses on the role of multi-touch tables in high school science education. Three different aspects are examined: i) the aspects of multi-touch tables that are important in science education, ii) the facets of general research in interactive tables that also benefit research in multi-touch tables, and, iii) experimental multi-touch framework features that are useful in a high school science classroom.
The study includes a comprehensive examination of background research in the field, followed by a case study that examines the perceptions regarding interactive tables among high school teachers and the development life-cycle of a multi-touch framework. The case study covers interviews and questionnaires with high school teachers.
At the end of the thesis, the research questions are answered. Based on the study, collaborative group works, social interactions, inquiry-based learning and visual learning are the most important aspects of multi-touch tables in science education. Some facets of general research into interactive tabletops also relate to the study of multi-touch tables in education. The most important of these are space, interactivity, participation and orchestration. Experimental framework features, observation of laboratory experiments, visualization, and extendibility are useful for a high-school science classroom.
To maximize the benefit of interactive tables, it is necessary to first investigate the purpose of the learning environment in order to understand the critical variables and constraints. Then, attentively constructing a learning environment's dynamics to support multi-touch tables can enhance high school science education.
