# Framework for a Research-Based and Interdisciplinary Use of Sensors in Elementary Teacher Education

## TL;DR

This paper proposes a framework for using sensors in teacher education to support interdisciplinary and research-based learning.

## Contribution

A new framework for integrating electronic sensors into elementary teacher education is developed based on case study analysis.

## Key findings

- Sensors can act as scientific, epistemic, and didactic mediators in teacher education.
- The framework highlights affordances of sensors in data-driven inquiry and professional knowledge development.
- Thematic analysis of case studies revealed patterns in sensor use across different educational phases.

## Abstract

Sensors should be integrated into teacher education, as they are essential tools in the digital practices needed for full participation in society. Electronic sensors can be used as laboratory/scientific tools, as everyday mobile learning tools, and as epistemic mediators in several scientific fields, as well as in interdisciplinary approaches. In this way, electronic sensors can play multiple roles in the main dimensions of teacher education. The aim of the research presented in this paper was to create a framework for the research-based and interdisciplinary use of sensors in elementary teacher education, based on the thematic analysis of seven case studies implemented in Portugal. The thematic categories used in the cross-case analysis were fundamental in revealing the different roles played by sensors in the different phases of the didactic sequences of the cases. Subsequently, the thematic analysis made it possible to identify patterns of affordances of sensors and to relate the multiple roles of electronic sensors to different areas of the Portuguese elementary teacher education model. The research synthesis made it possible to outline the framework perspectives. The resulting framework systematized and highlighted the affordances of sensors in pre-service and in-service elementary teacher education as scientific, epistemic, interdisciplinary, and didactic mediators. These affordances were revealed to be particularly important in data-driven inquiry problem-solving, pedagogical content knowledge, and professional knowledge development. The framework created can be expanded in future related research.