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.

It’s great to see studies like this being done. I don’t find the results surprising, but what it does show is that the new technologies we have available today, need to be used in different and innovative ways. As stated in this article, educators cannot just simply take paper based textbooks and place them on a tablet and hope that improves student results.

So Macworld talked to several experienced hands about the best way for schools to transition to tablets, guidance that Los Angeles officials might consider as they plot a new path forward.

In many schools, iPads arrived in classrooms only after a planning process that spanned three or more years.

Some educators, experts say, have been willing to start buying tablets simply for the “shiny new toy factor,” without first figuring out how they’ll fit into the curriculum.

As much as Apple use the word “Magical” whenever they can, to describe their products, one cannot expect an iPad deployed in a classroom to magically just change the environment for the better.

It’s all about evaluating what the school is going to use the device for and therefor what applications and content need to be available on the device. What you will discover is that the partner you find to develop your iPad content is where you will see the device really shine.

As stated in this article it’s not just taking paper text books and making them electronic, it’s about embracing a new chapter in the digital age. Let us not forget that children are the adults of tomorrow, we should teach them now how to exist in that digital age.

Read the full Macworld article here

An ambitious attempt to integrate digitised based material into the the Los Angeles Unified School District ended in the confiscation of  2100 iPads from their students who misused the devices outside the academic context. The South African Basic Education department faces the same challenges if they do not re-evaluate their overzealous attempt to jump on the same bandwagon.

The introduction of iPads in the classrooms of South Africa, yields great concern, when acquiring expensive material is prioritised over recruiting and retaining a solid teaching support network.

An overview of how iPads are being used to enhance learning, encourage engagement and motivate South African learners.

Sandburg Elementary School principal Brett Wilfrid has heard the rap on iPads in schools and he says success in using the technology in classrooms lies in careful consideration for how they are used.

The school on Madison’s far east-side has been working over the past three years to put an iPad in the hands of virtually every student between second and fifth grades, as well as each staff member, becoming a leader in adoption of technology in the Madison Metropolitan School District.