Information About Ourselves from Ourselves: Young Users of Wearable Technologies in Secondary School

Abstract

Several researchers have recognized the value of self-tracking technologies used to personally obtain data about ourselves. The aim of the present study was to assess the barriers associated with the “technologies of existence”, so-called wearables, including lack of knowledge of these devices, lack of information on their correct use, as well as difficulties regarding data integration and interpretation. To help to overcome these barriers we investigated a project involving two self-tracking activities in an Italian secondary school, performing a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the students using these technologies for educational purposes. Thanks to the project and its contextualized practical and theoretical activities, students were able to become “enhanced users” in terms of their knowledge, autonomy and awareness as regards wearable technologies. Our findings regarding the application of wearable technologies in a scholastic setting may also be step forward in addressing a well-known common pitfall of self-tracking: insufficient scientific rigor. Our quantitative and qualitative analysis showed how the use of wearable devices in educational settings had a range of beneficial effects, above all, eliciting satisfaction among students, but also yielding positive outcomes regarding the acquisition of scientific knowledge perceived both in terms of device applications and data interpretation. In conclusion, our findings may have broad implications in the future design and development of wearable technologies.