Engineering news
Young people can now develop their practical science skills on their mobile phones following the launch of a new app.
Developed in collaboration with The Open University, Sheffield University Technical College (UTC) and supported by social investor Nominet Trust, the nQuire-it platform includes the Sense-it app, which enables people to carry out science projects on their phones and tablets.
The app unlocks a range of sensors on mobile devices, such as light, sound, acceleration and gyroscope sensors, to allow users to record and measure data such as magnetic field, proximity and light.
Projects on the nQuire-it platform include creating a noise map around a city or school, identifying clouds, measuring the fastest lift in the world, exploring strange mirrors, and finding creative ways to measure the height of a tree or building using a mobile phone.
The software gives users the opportunity to link and interact with a range of citizen science projects, and receive feedback on how sensor recordings from their mobile phones relate to other users' data.
Professor Mike Sharples, at The Open University UK, which collaborated with 16 to 18-year-old students from Sheffield UTC for the project, said: "Alongside our open courses, we are developing a new range of practical science activities to help people design investigations, explore their surroundings and share their findings.
"The nQuire-it platform puts science into the hands of people around the world."
Annika Small, chief executive of Nominet Trust, said: "The nQuire-it platform offers open tools that help young people to become citizen scientists, engaging with and helping to solve big science problems.
"This is a great example of how technology can help to redesign traditional approaches as these nQuire-it tools allow young people to contribute to genuine scientific practice as part of an online open science laboratory."
For more information on the projects visit www.nquire-it.org. The Sense-it app is available in the Google Play Store.