Mobile learning has become increasingly significant in contemporary education by providing flexible, accessible, and learner-centred opportunities across different learning contexts. However, technological, pedagogical, learner-related, and implementation dimensions are often considered separately, limiting understanding of how they can be coherently organised within mobile learning model development for science education. This concept paper proposes an integrated conceptual framework comprising four interconnected constructs: pedagogical design, scientific literacy, digital literacy, and system and implementation support. Pedagogical design serves as the organising foundation for aligning learning objectives, activities, interactions, technological resources, and assessment; scientific literacy provides the disciplinary learning orientation; digital literacy functions as an enabling learner competency for meaningful participation in digitally mediated environments; and system and implementation support provides the enabling context for implementation and sustainability. The novelty of the framework lies in specifying the distinct yet complementary functional roles of these four constructs within a single conceptual structure rather than treating them as separate dimensions of technology-supported learning. From a broader social-science perspective, the framework provides an educational lens for understanding how pedagogical purposes, disciplinary learning, learner competencies, technological opportunities, and institutional conditions interact within technology-mediated science learning. The framework offers a conceptual foundation for subsequent research to operationalise its constructs, empirically examine their relationships, and develop and refine context-responsive mobile learning models in science education.
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