iPads Improve Classroom Learning, Study Finds. Just how big is the universe, how small is an atom, and how long have we humans lived on Earth, compared with dinosaurs? Such answers are better learned with an iPad, according to a new study that shows just how tablets tap neurocognitive abilities that help students understand enormous scale and other difficult concepts.
Students saw learning gains after as little as 20 minutes of study on the iPad, the research found, and if supported with guidance from an instructor their improvement may have been even more pronounced, the scientists suggest. "The bottom line is that these iPads and similar tools actually do make a difference," said physicist Matthew Schneps, a founding member of the Science Education Department at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts. Schneps explained that his virtual solar system study examined iPad use that is a bit different from most classroom applications. "These uses are good. Let Your Fingers Do the (Star) Walking. What Students Think About Using iPads in School. iPads in school: a toy or a tool? Bryan Acevedo, 15, and Elizabeth Varela, 14, along with other students,… (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles…) At Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences in Granada Hills, every student has an iPad.
That's 1,200 iPads, and if L.A. Unified Supt. John Deasy can figure out how to pay for 660,000 more of them, every student in the district will have a tablet in the next few years. A good idea? "It's magical," declared a student at Valley Academy who loves his iPad. Maybe. Like many parents, my wife and I have tried to make sure our daughter reads real books and doesn't get addicted to everything digital. And LAUSD is not the only district racing into the future while struggling to fix leaky roofs and broken toilets. But Stanford University education professor Larry Cuban has lots of reservations.
"There is still no evidence that iPads will increase student achievement at all. The impact "was immediate and dramatic," she said. "This is not a teacher and it's not a student, either. Not a single hand went up. A School's iPad Initiative Brings Optimism And Skepticism : All Tech Considered. Students at Coachella Valley Unified School District use iPads during a lesson. The district's superintendent is promoting the tablet initiative as a way to individualize learning. Coachella Valley Unified School District A growing number of school districts across America are trying to weave tablet computers, like the iPad, into the classroom fabric, especially as a tool to help implement the new Common Core state standards for math and reading. One of California's poorest school districts, the Coachella Valley Unified southeast of Los Angeles, is currently rolling out iPads to every student, pre-kindergarten through high school.
But, as with tablet efforts across the country, this one faces skeptics and obstacles. Personalizing Education Before becoming Coachella Valley's superintendent of schools, Darryl Adams was a keyboardist and singer with the '80s pop rock band Xavion. Today, Adams still has a touch of the showman as he talks about his school district's latest project. iPads in the Classroom: Innovation at its Finest or Another Distraction? | Achieving Made Simple. If you walk into your children’s school, don’t be surprised if you see them holding an iPad in their hands. No, the school has not entered the Star Trek era. They are just embracing the latest trend in education technology – the iPad. Yes, iPads are being integrated into the modern school system, with thousands added every school year.
This has led to some controversy, as critics point to the fact that computers, back in the day, were over-hyped and under-utilized in the nation’s schools. Rather than revolutionizing education, they took up space and time, without providing significant value. Will the iPad suffer the same fate, or will it be the piece of technology to bring education into the new millennium? More Than Just a Gaming Device The logical conclusion when seeing children on iPads in school is to assume that they are practicing math facts or spelling words in a game-like app. In ZIS, as the school is known, each of the students in grades 1 through 8 is given an iPad.