The Arduino Science Journal (formerly Science Journal, an initiative by Google) is free, and allows you to gather data about the world around you by harnessing the sensors in your smartphone as well as sensors connected to Arduino. The Science Journal transforms smartphones, tablets, and Chromebooks into science notebooks that encourage students to explore their world.
The Arduino Science Journal app is recommended for students from 10 to 18 years of age.
About Arduino Science Journal
With the Arduino Science Journal, you can learn interactively, conduct experiments and iterate on findings.
💪 Enhance your existing lesson plans: use the Science Journal with activities and assignments you have already prepared
✏️ Classroom & home-school friendly: you don’t have to be in a classroom setting to start exploring. The Arduino Science Journal can be used to run experiments straight away, as long as you have your smartphone or tablet with you!
🌱 Move learning outside: the use of mobile devices along with the types of experiments we offer encourage students to get out of their seats and open their eyes to the world around them through the power of science
🔍 Science and data have no secrets: you can easily record your observations, store your data sensors in real-time and analyse them, just as a proper scientist!
🔄 Connect the digital and the physical world from your pocket: go through a series of simple tutorials and start having fun with science
With built-in device sensors as well as external hardware, you can measure light, sound, movement, and much more. You can also compare results, and even set triggers.
Together with the external hardware, (not included with the app), students are enabled to conduct more complex experiments, and advance in their scientific studies. As long as the external sensors are compatible with a Bluetooth-connecting device such as a microcontroller, there is no end to what experiments the students can make. Some popular sensors that the app can work with are: light, conductivity, temperature, force, gas, heart rate, respiration, radiation, pressure, magnetism, and many more.
The app is classroom-friendly, since students can sign in on any device and access their experiments to continue exploring the world, wherever they are!
If you’re an educator with a Google Classroom account, you can also subscribe to the Teacher Plan, which allows you to integrate the app with Google Classroom and share this integration with your students. You can then create assignments, templates, and experiments in the app and import existing classes from Google Classroom.
Permissions notice:
• 📲 Bluetooth: needed to scan for bluetooth sensor devices.
• 📷 Camera: needed to take pictures to document experiments and for the brightness sensor.
• 🖼 Photo Library: needed to store pictures taken to document experiments and for adding existing photos from your library to experiments.
• 🎙Microphone: needed for sound intensity sensor.
• ✅Push notifications: needed to inform you of recording status when backgrounding the app.
Benefits of using the Arduino Science Journal:
• It’s free and simple to use
• Easy setup: download the app and start exploring with your phone’s built-in sensors
• Cross-platform: supports Android, iOS, and Chromebooks
• Portable: enhance your home learning or bring your device outside to study the world around you
• Safe for children to use: COPPA Compliance underway
• Fully compatible with Arduino hardware: keep experimenting with the • Arduino Science Kit Physics Lab, as well as the Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense board
• Google Drive integration, as well as local download
