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PhotoMAT: A Mobile Tool for Aiding in Student Construction of Research Questions and Data Analysis

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Abstract

This paper presents a new mobile software tool, PhotoMAT (Photo Management and Analysis Tool), and students’ experiences with this tool within a scaffolded curricular unit—Neighborhood Safari. PhotoMAT was designed to support learners’ investigations of backyard animal behavior and works with image sets obtained using fixed-position field cameras (“camera traps”) that capture “bursts” of images in response to motion. PhotoMAT was designed to help learners emulate two ways wildlife researchers use camera traps: documenting wildlife diversity via the relative frequency of appearances of different species, and exploring species’ behavior.

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Correspondence to Tia Renee Shelley.

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Shelley, T.R., Dasgupta, C., Silva, A. et al. PhotoMAT: A Mobile Tool for Aiding in Student Construction of Research Questions and Data Analysis. Tech Know Learn 20, 85–92 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-014-9235-3

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