Smartphone usage pattern for science teachers: The case of Zimbabwe

Smartphones are new generation educational tools usable by science teachers for both socialization and communication, and academic use. Concern is however on how such devices are used by the teachers who are central to curriculum implementation. The study was therefore carried out to establish the characteristics of science teachers’ interactions with their devices (usage patterns) in Zimbabwe. The User Gratification Theory guided the descriptive survey design from a quantitative research approach that was employed in collecting and analyzing data, collected through the Kobo Toolbox online survey application. The findings show that smartphone use is more popular for socialization and communication than for academic purposes and the usage patterns vary with age. Late career science teachers use smartphones mainly for socialization and communication while accessing social media and leisure material are very popular with the early career science teachers. Smartphones are also popular as ‘pocket libraries’ for early career science teachers while reading news is popular with the late career science teachers.