mVisible is a research project where small groups of students use Android phones and pads outside the classroom to explore natural phenomena. In mVisible the students are to identify and learn the characteristics of species of plants and trees, and to count the number of trees for each species to learn what kind of forest they are working in. Plants and trees are tagged with QR-codes, and when scanned with a mobile phone the code gives additional information on the characteristics of each species. A pie chart created on the Android pad can then be used to see how the different species are distributed.
mVisible is a project at DSV/Stockholm University in collaboration with a local school. It is aimed at fifth grade students. Prototyping and field trials of mVisible 1 was done in spring 2011, the main study was in May/June and analysis in autumn 2011. A follow-up study called mVisible 2, which focused on identification of tree species and compared student interaction in different setups, was held in spring 2012.