Differences in the Wishes of Students, Teachers, and Parents on Integration of Smartphones and Tablets in Biology Lessons

Smartphones and tablets have permeated various aspects of life. This study explores the differences in wishes between students, parents, and teachers regarding the use of smartphones and tablets in biology classes in the upcoming school year. An online questionnaire was used for the study, which provided eight different scenarios for the use of smartphones for teaching purposes. The data were collected from 934 participants, including 465 students, 282 parents, and 188 biology teachers from various Slovenian lower secondary schools. The principal component analysis revealed the unidimensional structure of the instrument, explaining 59.7% of the variance (alpha = 0.91). The results showed that the use of smartphones and tablets for distance learning, teaching purposes, schoolwork and homework is generally desirable. There was less consensus on their use for laboratory and field work, evaluation of knowledge, and biology lessons. The main finding was that the differences between the groups were small or even negligible in terms of effect sizes. Statistically significant differences were found between the focus groups, with students and teachers expressing greater agreement than parents. These findings emphasize the importance of addressing parents' concerns and understanding the perspectives of stakeholders in order to effectively integrate smartphones and tablets into the classroom.