How do ipads improve student achievement

The moderators of these positive outcomes are presented and discussed. Keywords: developmental disability; education; emerging trends.

They became models for the classroom teachers and were able to go into a room and help a teacher not only implement their lessons but also help with planning ideas. Just like we made mistakes with assuming that millennial teachers would automatically know how to use technology we also made the mistake of assuming the kids would immediately know how to use the technology in an appropriate way.

Our elementary students needed to learn how to care for and respect the iPads and the apps but they also needed to learn how to navigate Google, Safari, and Chrome. These search engines and web browsers may be well within our adult comfort zone but children need to understand the mechanics of how and when to use them. We found that iPads did improve classroom learning but not because they are iPads, if that makes sense. Success was more attributable to the fact that teachers who integrated iPads into their lessons tended to do more Project Based Learning PBL , which has been found to improve student learning across grade levels Cheu-Jay, Our teachers used iPads as a tool to become more innovative educators and this in turn led to improved classroom learning.

We should note that as this finding became more obvious we gave our interns further training in PBL. Edward came to my class mid-year from another poor school across the state. He had many home and learning challenges that were well documented in his academic file.

My problems with him started immediately: reluctant reader, disruptive behavior, a general refusal to work. My approach is to find their talent or interests. Fortunately for me, Edward was a fabulous artist—he loved to draw, and I saw his whole body relaxing as he doodled while waiting for the bus. I told him that this was his responsibility and that he could also serve as a trainer for the other students.

It was also his reward and in a way his therapy—when he was particularly upset or disruptive, focusing him on the iPad calmed him and allowed me to work with him in a much more productive way. Child 1 was a 5-year-old boy with difficulties in: speech and language; social interaction; inappropriate behavior when asked to do something and during transitions; play skills; and attention.

This child exhibited many improvements in learning during all cycles of the research. Child 1 enjoyed the play house app and was observed to make up story lines, plan different activities, and started to verbalize conversations.

This type of play was not seen during classroom play time. Child 1 created pictures on the iPad with careful selection of colors and content while he continued to just scribble with crayons and paper. He demonstrated substantial improvement in his ability to trace letters and print his name, learned all of the colors and shapes, and learned to count and recognize numbers. Despite the fact that Child 1 has difficulties with attention, he was able to sustain attention on learning activities on the iPad much longer than in the classroom situation.

An increase in verbalizations and self-talk were observed as he used the iPad. Unfortunately, Child 1 experienced several health issues and could not complete the research. He used all of the apps independently at home, was very willing to share use of the iPad and show what he was working on, problem solved, and focused for longer periods of time.

The mother felt that her child had made huge progress with speech and language with the iPad, and he was now printing letters and his name on the chalkboard at home. In addition, the mother felt that the use of the iPad for toilet training at home was very helpful, as he was very motivated to use the toilet and have the iPad activities as a reward.

However, mother reported that Child 1 was very attached to his iPad and it was difficult for her to limit the use of the iPad, particularly since the substantial learning the child was experience was having such a positive impact on behaviors at home. This child also experienced many successes with the activities on the iPad. Child 2, similar to Child 1 demonstrated an improved ability to trace shapes and letters and learned to print his name in the app and on paper.

Child 2 also learned to identify all of the shapes including all of the complex shapes like pentagon, semi-circle, and crescent. Child 2 really enjoyed apps where he could move letters to make works, and put words into sentences. He particularly enjoyed reading books on the iPad, following along with his finger as each word was said out loud, and saying words to himself. Similar to Child 1, Child 2 engaged on a great deal of self-talk during use of the apps on the iPad and an increase in his verbalizations was evident.

Similar to Child 1, Child 2 demonstrated increased engagement with the iPad over time. She noted that Child 2 was verbally repeating the letters, sounds, words, and even sentences when he played with the iPad, and these words and sentences had even emerged in conversations at the supper table.

Although Child 3 also demonstrated many learning gains throughout the research, he struggled with the iPad initially. He was reluctant to use the iPad and required direction on how to use the apps and how to use one finger to navigate and select items. Child 3 did not enjoy the fine motor apps and would only engage in an activity if the focus of the app was car or vehicle related.

Toward the end of the research Child 3 started to engage with the iPad more as he found apps that appealed to him. Similar to Child 1 and Child 2, Child 3 learned to identify letters of the alphabet and huge improvement with tracing letters was observed as he went from not being able to trace at all, to tracing with relative accuracy for many letters. Child 3, like Child 1 and 2, was also observed to engage in more and more self-talk as he used the apps.

He started to use a greater variety of words and sentence length also increased. When Child 3 started singing at home for the first time at home, his mother indicated that he was singing songs he was playing with on the iPad.

Like Child 1 and Child 2, Child 3 demonstrated increased attention with some activities on the iPad particularly when reading books on the iPad versus print. Child 4 was a 4-year-old boy with difficulties in: speech and language; fine motor skills; confidence; social behavior; attention; and frustration. Similar to Child, Child 4 was initially reluctant to engage with the iPad.

He did not like to engage with apps that he perceived to be a little difficult for him. Once the app was introduced to him and he had a chance to try it a couple of times with help he was more likely to independently choose to use the app. Initially, Child 4 was only independently using one or two apps. About half way through the research it was noted that Child 4 opened and used all of the apps. Like the previous three participants, Child 4 improved his tracing skills substantially and went from not being concerned about staying on the line to being able to trace all of the letters.

Similar to Child 1, 2, and 3, Child 4 was observed to participate in increased self-talk and verbalizations as he played in the apps. In her opinion, her child preferred apps that were related to things that he likes such as trains, trucks, and superheroes. She was quite happy that he was now using the iPad independently. Child 5 was a 5-year-old boy with difficulties in: speech and language; social behavior; behaviors such as following directions and transitions; and attention.

Similar to Child 1 and 2, Child 5 engaged in independent and appropriate digital play on the iPad although he typically did not engage in social or constructive play in class. Child 5 also made many learning gains throughout the research. Improvements in tracing and puzzle completion were observed, as well as in shape recognition, counting and number concept. Similar to the previous participants, Child 5 made significant gains in tracing letters and in letter recognition.

He learned all of the letters, the sounds of the letters, and had memorized many of the sentences in the apps. And similar to the previous participants, an increase in verbalizations was observed. They had struggled at home to get their child to participate in any learning activities including reading stories to him.

Now their son loves the book apps that tell a story and will tell the story back to them. They noted that he had learned to trace all of the letters, could count to , learned to write his name, and learned all the shapes.

They also indicated that they felt his vocabulary had really increased. Child 6 was a 5-year-old girl with difficulties in: speech and language; attention; fine motor; and impulsivity. Child 6 was very familiar with the iPad at the start of the study and she used the iPad in very different ways than the other children in the study. Child 6 changed the picture on her screen and every week a new creation was on display.

This child created many stories, pictures, and videos independently. In addition to her creations, Child 6 was observed to make many learning gains. She demonstrated improvements in puzzle completion, shape and color recognition, and counting. Her ability to stay on the line while tracing letters did not change, but she learned to trace the letters in correct and organized way. The parents felt that she had explored all of the apps and indicated that they had observed improvements in printing, recognizing letters, counting, and puzzle completion.

Unfortunately, they reported that they had difficulties getting the iPad away from her and struggled to set parameters around the iPad use. Child 7 was a 4-year-old girl with difficulties in: speech and language; attention; and fine motor skills. Similar to Child 3, 4, and 5, Child 7 needed help to get started with the iPad. Although she was interested in the iPad, all she was able to do was tap the screen over and over without even looking at what she was doing. Over time her ability to attend to learning tasks on the iPad improved substantially.

Similar to the previous participants, Child 7 demonstrated a number of learning gains in many areas. Child 7 went from not being able to complete any puzzles to independently completing 32 piece interlocking puzzles.

Similar to the previous participants, Child 7 made considerable gains in tracing letters and learned to print her name. She also made learning gains in recognizing colors and shapes, counting, and number recognition, letter recognition and sounds. Similar to Child 1, and 2, Child 7 demonstrated an improved ability to focus and maintain attention when working on activities.

Unfortunately a parent was not available for an interview at the conclusion of the research. Similar to Child 3, 4, and 7, Child 8 was initially a little reluctant to use the iPad at the beginning as he struggled with the fine motor apps due to very poor finger control. Child 8 demonstrated learning gains in a number of areas. He learned to independently complete 12 piece interlocking puzzles, learned to recognize a number of shapes and colors, and made significant gains in counting.

Similar to the previous participants, Child 8 demonstrated an increase in verbalizations and ability to maintain attention to learning tasks. She felt that her son really liked the action and noise in the apps and particularly enjoyed the interactive books. He was using a much wider range of words at home and she had noticed that he was using the same inflection in his voice as on the apps.

In summary, all of the participants in this research learned how to use the iPad independently. The majority of the eight children were able to learn how to use the iPad immediately.

The other children demonstrated some reluctance initially to use the iPad because they had difficulties with fine motor skills and using their finger to touch and navigate, because they were not able to maintain attention on the screen, or because they were not interested in the content of the apps.

Each of the students that demonstrated difficulties were able to overcome their difficulties in a short period of time with verbal directions, modeling, positive feedback, and practice. As the research progressed it was evident that all of the students were enjoying their learning activities on the iPad and three of the eight students were observed to be able to sustain attention in the activities for longer periods of time. All of the students demonstrated learning gains in a number of areas and all of the children demonstrated improvements in their ability to trace letters and print their name.

Several of the children learned the letters of the alphabet, the sounds the letters make, some simple words, and two of the students were very interested in reading sentences on the apps.

All of the children demonstrated increases in self-talk while they played, and increases in vocalizations and vocabulary were observed at school and by the parents at home. Two of the children demonstrated a range of play skills on the iPad such as creative play or construction that they were not able to demonstrate in play time in the class.

All of the parents interviewed in the study spoke positively about the iPad as a learning tool. During this research project, the parents were provided with different kinds of support to help them use the iPad at home with their child. At the beginning of each cycle, the parents were provided with a list of the apps that were loaded onto the iPad for their child. A brief description of each app was given. Most of the parents indicated that the newsletter was more than enough information for them and they were able to look at and understand the apps based on this information.

Several parents indicated that the newsletter was not quite enough information for them to understand how all of the apps worked. In addition to the newsletters, an afternoon workshop was held for the parents to show how many of the apps worked. There was also a demonstration of how to use the apps for developing books and videos.

One parent indicated that the workshop was very helpful for her and without the workshop she would most likely not have tried to create a digital story with her son although she was still working on how to do this. One parent said that the workshop was good exposure to all of the apps; otherwise she would not have looked at and tried all of the early learning apps.

Many of the parents indicated that they were loading the apps used in the research onto their own devices; one mother reported that she would like to be able to buy an iPad fully loaded with all of the apps from the research study. There were only a couple of negative comments expressed by the parents during the final interviews. One set of parents were concerned that the iPad was too expensive for them to purchase for their daughter.

This was making them feel bad because they had witnessed so many learning gains when their daughter used the iPad and she liked it so much. The other comment is not so much negative as constructive.

Another set of parents indicated that they would really like to see the curriculum coordinated with the apps. In the final interview with the classroom teacher, she reported that she was happy with the learning that the children displayed on the iPad.

She felt that learning activities on the iPad were for the most part very good and very engaging for many of the children. The teacher also indicated a number of concerns with the implementation of iPads in the classroom. Her main concern was with time for planning. She felt that it took a lot of time to set up the iPad with apps and to change the apps for each cycle. A considerable amount of time was involved in finding and selecting which apps to use.

Source: CNN. Source: Oklahoma State University News. Another study centered on an iPad game, Motion Math, has shown that the iPad can help with fundamental math skills. Fifth graders who regularly played the game for 20 minutes per day over a five-day period increased their test scores by 15 percent on average. Source: Game Desk. Source: Open Colleges. Using tablets in the classroom can be powerful tools for learning and comprehension. The interactivity it provides can make for a very engaging experience for students of all ages.

I think we will only continue to hear more studies and stories about how the use of iPads in the classroom are improving education.