“Apple has been involved in the education market for decades, but the release of the iPad could be the most significant contribution the company has ever made,” Jim Dalrymple reports for The Loop.
“A new research study shows that Kindergartner students using iPads scored better on literacy tests than students that didn’t use the device,” Dalrymple reports. “The study, conducted in Auburn, Maine, randomly assigned half of the districts 16 kindergarten classes to use iPads for nine weeks. In all, 129 students used an iPad, while 137 students were taught without an iPad. Each of the 266 students were tested before and after the iPads were introduced into the classroom.”
Dalrymple reports, “According to the literacy test results classes using the iPads outperformed the non-iPad students in every literacy measure they [on which they] were test[ed].”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Schools that do not provide Apple iPads as soon as possible are doing their children and teachers a tremendous disservice.
Related articles:
Madison, Wisconsin schools buy 1,400 Apple iPads – using Microsoft’s money – January 28, 2012
Colorado school goes all-Apple; iPads in classrooms spur student engagement to new heights – January 24, 2012
Student math scores jump 20% with Apple iPad; transforms classroom education – January 20, 2012
Apple reinvents textbooks with iBooks 2 for iPad – January 19, 2012
Schools expect iPads to outnumber personal computers in next five years – October 31, 2011
OSU study finds Apple’s powerful iPad decreases expenses, increases productivity – May 3, 2011
Growing number of U.S. schools embrace Apple’s revolutionary iPad as learning tool – January 4, 2011
Rising generation of iKids slipping Apple iPads instead of books into school backpacks – December 14, 2010
Steve Jobs met Obama to talk education, energy, job creation – October 22, 2010
Apple’s revolutionary iPad dramatically helps Illinois autistic students – October 15, 2010
University of Leeds gives medical students textbooks on Apple iPhones – September 29, 2010
N.J. schools explore using Apple iPads as teaching devices – September 22, 2010
Students in four California school districts trade textbooks for Apple iPads – September 09, 2010
Scottish school becomes first ‘iSchool’ where Apple’s revolutionary iPad replaces pencil and paper – August 31, 2010
Back to school personal computer sales slow except for Apple’s Mac – August 11, 2010
Incoming UC Irvine medical students to receive Apple iPads – August 06, 2010
New Hampshire school giving Apple iPads to incoming freshmen – June 15, 2010
iPad takes off as flight school teaching tool – May 12, 2010
California’s Monte Vista Christian School first to use Apple iPads in classroom – April 21, 2010
Seton Hill University to give new Apple MacBooks and iPads to every full-time student in fall 2010 – March 30, 2010
Kodiak Alaska school district to bid on upgrading to Apple MacBooks, iPads – March 24, 2010
Apple offering discounted iPad 10-packs for education – March 22, 2010
KeyBookshop has over 18,000 educational e-books ready and waiting for Apple’s iPad – March 16, 2010
Tupelo, Mississippi schools get 5,000 Apple MacBooks – October 29, 2009
Greater Atlanta Christian Schools to equip 1,200 students with new Apple MacBooks – October 29, 2009
Maine expands Apple MacBook program to high schools; 71,000 MacBook order is largest of its kind – June 30, 2009
Everything was going so well until that last sentence. Maybe one of those iPad-equipped kindergarten students could help out with the proofreading.
Not really. “Kindergartner students” “half of the districts 16 kindergarten classes”
Looks like Dalrymple needs to get some grammar apps for his iPad.
Actually, the “Kindergartner students” statement was incorrect, as well. The quality of supposedly professional writing has dropped precipitously in recent years. The value of editors has been clearly revealed.
I detect a double standard with certain MDN folks hittin’ the ceiling screamin’ about grammar nazis on one thread and then actin’ all nicey-nice on an education piece like this one.
It seems just about every school district in the country has either deployed, is in the process of deploying, or is seriously looking at deploying iPads — except one: http://outsourcing.ulitzer.com/node/2167606.
I want that school district to perform a similar test of the students using and not using the “wonderful” Windows 7 tablets to see if they can achieve similar results that iPads have proven many times around the country.
“…integrity of the glass and limited ability to manage security were an issue.”
What? Is there a problem with the glass on the iPad screen that I don’t know about? Using Windows because you want to manage security better? Is this guy saying that with a straight face?
Unfortunately,the part about using it for state required standardized tests is a real problem. We have the same problem here in Indiana. Our state in its infinite wisdom contracted with some company to put the standardized tests online. That company uses Frontpage and Flash to produce the web pages for the tests so they can’t be viewed on an iPad. My understanding is that it is for that reason that our school system is reluctant to consider the iPad for students. Even worse, someone donated iPads to the school recently and rather than use them they put them up for sale. The administrators got to keep theirs though. They use them to do evaluations of the teachers to whom they denied the chance to use iPads in the classroom.
A very important factor to note is that this was just a *nine week* study. It is reasonable to believe that the positive impact of iPads could be much greater over a time period of years in a program that is carefully tailored to leverage the capabilities of iOS devices.
It didn’t take studies to convince me.
Seeing tdodlers readily become engaged in “using” the iPad which might more properly be called initially “interacting” and also seeing Orangutans and the elderly using them easily was the only key I needed.
Seeing those users was all I needed to see to convince me that the iPad & its iOS is a fundamental positive change in the access to & editing of information.
Public schools in Australia may one day issue iPads to secondary students when the ‘tablet’ product becomes cheap enough to displace the ‘el cheapo’ ebooks on offer at the moment and when the ignorant government bureaucrats get out of the way in the decision making process. Even then I’ll wager many of the decision makers will see all tablets as being the same except the ‘price point’. Good luck iPad!
Wow, that’s 25 minutes away from me. I better get my nephew in kindergarten an iPad for his birthday next week so he can keep up!
Some results:
“”In 9 of the 10 areas of testing around pre-reading skills, the group of 129 students with iPads made slightly larger gains than the 137 students without. Testing included listening and comprehension, identifying letters, reading, vocabulary and identifying letter sounds.
Only one area, however, was statistically higher: recognizing sounds and writing letters. In that test, students were dictated words. They had to translate the sounds into letters and write the words. Kindergartners with iPads gained 13.72 points, compared to an 11.58-point gain for students who didn’t have iPads. That difference is significant, said Mike Muir, the Multiple Pathways leader for Auburn schools.
We’re looking at iPads for my district, but there are still big problems with trying to deploy them in a school. How do you manage accounts? Do all students have to have an iTunes account? Does each school use one iTunes account and manage all of the software and settings and upgrades manually? What about textbooks? What if students sync their iPads to their home computers?
They still can’t spell though.
Sorry MDN, but it’s the teachers as much as the iPads. And the right software.