Year-Long Pilot Study Focuses on iPad-Only Algebra in the Classroom

[Maura]

[ame=http://vimeo.com/19271416]An Algebra Class Uses the iPad on Vimeo[/ame]​

The Huffington Post has a really fascinating feature today written by Tina Barseghian, editor of MindShift, a website about the future of learning, about a day that she spent recently visiting an eighth grade algebra class at Presidio Middle School in San Francisco. The class is part of a study comprising 1,000 Californian students, 400 of whom are learning algebra purely with iPads and no text books, using an app developed by textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which is a faithful, page-by-page reproduction of the traditional textbook. Barseghian says that one of the main advantages of using an app rather than a textbook to learn algebra is that students can watch the videos of the instructors teaching them to solve problems as many times as they want.

The class teacher, Jeannetta Mitchell, told Barseghain that she was finding that using the iPad instead of textbooks seemed to be having an extremely positive effect, especially with those students who were not previously interested in math:

“I have students who are participating in this class who did not participate in their previous math classes, so it does engage them. Is it going to make them all brainiacs and straight-A students? No, it’s not going to do that. But it will keep them engaged.â€

Click the link below to check out the very interesting article.

Source: Tina Barseghian: A Day in the Life of the iPad Class

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Thanks for this. I suspect the iPad is going to find a whole range of applications that were never originally anticipated. I know several students who are using iPads for taking notes and annotating their Professor's slides etc. I'm sure, too, as the article points out that many students who were never interested in algebra (it's not 'cool') would find it very cool indeed to be using an iPad in class and might get 'drawn in' and become fascinated with the topic. I'd be really interested to see the long-term impact of this - not only in Algebra, but in other 'non-cool' subjects.

Tim
Scotland