I recently read an article about iPads in classrooms. Here's the link: http://gizmodo.com/5742925/why-ipads-arent-ready-for-classrooms-yet.
The basic summary is that there's some prep school in Tennessee that's requiring kids to have an iPad. Meaning their parents have to buy one for them. Now, I'm against this (and so is the author) for quite a few reasons.
First of all, iPads are expensive. I think the article says $500 at the cheapest. That's ridiculous! And the parents have to buy these things themselves. Of course, if you've enrolled your kid in a prep school, money probably isn't much of an issue, but still. If you're able to afford one of those, then you're definitely able to afford the books your kids will need for class.
The author does a fine job at outlining all the negative things about introducing this device into the classroom and I have to agree with him. Yes, maybe a good student can read textbooks from an iPad and use it as a calculator when they need one, but what about the not-so-good students? They're just going to be very easily distracted. Heck, I'm a good student, but I know if I had an iPad sitting in front of me in every class my mind would wonder.And kids will be kids (I know that's stereotyping, but I think we all know it's true).
There were also a few things that came up in reader's comments that I thought were interesting. First, in middle school or high school there are often math classes where you aren't allowed to use a calculator. Yep, good ol' long hand calculation. How are kids supposed to do that with an iPad at the ready? The same goes with another comment about handwritten notes and papers and how penmanship increased. When information is so readily available, people resort to it, instead of doing it the hard way and figuring it out themselves.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say here is this; will the iPad improve education or will it just make kids more lazy about learning? I know the education in this country is lacking compared to others, and I think it's important to try to counteract that problem, but I'm not sure if this is the answer.
Some may say that maybe I'm just too old-fashioned, I don't know. I'm 20 years old and still in school myself! I didn't own even a laptop until I got to college and probably the most advanced piece of technology I used in all my years before college was a graphing calculator. I feel like one of my grandparents talking about how much things have changed since they went to school. There are plenty of smart, successful people out there, and guess what? They didn't have iPads when they went to grade school...or any school for that matter.
P.S. The article goes through even more things that are wrong with this idea. Give it a looksy.
I agree that there are definitely negatives about using stuff like that in school. I have a feeling I'd get distracted and try to do other things on it and get away with it. I mean, kids will do that either way (sneak comic books in their textbooks, etc.), but this is like just asking kids to get distracted. haha. It could have some positives, but I think currently the negatives outweigh the positives.
ReplyDeleteCan one really stop it? Look at cellular technology today, light years past where it was even 10 years ago. Some could argue that the best thing to do is to embrace technology in the classroom instead of hiding from it. Long-hand calculations are still required today for myself (finance calculations) when I don't even know the proper formulas or methods. I understand learning the material, but would I, in the "real world", be able to come up with somewhat complex financial formulas without ever having seen them before? No, I would simply look on the Internet or in a book and make the process much simpler. I do, however, think that this entire situation isn't appropriate for the school to do. If the school wants the children to have iPads, they should purchase them for the children themselves. Lastly, socially speaking, I wonder if they iPad will simply be another status symbol within the school and contribute more to ridicule than learning. Will the kids with the not-the-top-model iPad be less cool than the ones with the most expensive models?
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