iPad2’s Used in School Pilot Program

[Gorankar]

I agree with the sentiment in the thread. However, in principle, I believe that a kindergarten aged child can benefit from an iPad. Most parents think it is crazy, but I personally know a few 2 year old kids with their "own" iPads, and guess what? They are far and above smarter than any other kids their age in their class, due to the time spent playing the educational games. It is only a question of time, and this kind of learning from an extremely early age will be so common, it will be considered child abuse or similar to deprive a child of that age of such learning experiences. The difference in my example though, is that the parents bought the device, and it will be cared for. These ones the school buys will not be respected.

It is not that there are not some few that will benefit. It is just the cost benefit ratio is lower than say adding more PC's to their middle or high schools library/computer labs/classrooms.

You lost me with the child abuse stuff. I don't see it that way.

 

[phide]

Also as in "I don't see a reason for kindergarteners to have iPads funded by a school district".

That's a fair opinion.

 

[Derangel]

There's hardly anything being discussed, it's just a bunch of whining and generalizations. If the school district is truly in a dire financial position, then I am wrong and everyone else is right. But I have yet to see any evidence of that from any poster, just post after post bashing the school district for its use of ipad. I hate the ipad, but if the school thinks it will work for them, and they have the budget to do so, then more power to them.

If it works for them great, we'll all be proven wrong. But I don't believe (as in its my opinion) that its worth any school district spending two hundred THOUSAND dollars on iPads. If they have no other financial issues, great but that doesn't change my opinion. The iPads are going to be destroyed, quickly.

 

[bigpimpatl]

If it works for them great, we'll all be proven wrong. But I don't believe (as in its my opinion) that its worth any school district spending two hundred THOUSAND dollars on iPads. If they have no other financial issues, great but that doesn't change my opinion. The iPads are going to be destroyed, quickly.

Well of course there will be some that get destroyed, that's why they bought a service contract with support and insurance. And you can replace the iPad with any other device, and you will get the same end result. There is no inherent design flaw that I am aware of which causes the ipad to be more destructible than other electronic equipment.

 

[Derangel]

Well of course there will be some that get destroyed, that's why they bought a service contract with support and insurance. And you can replace the iPad with any other device, and you will get the same end result. There is no inherent design flaw that I am aware of which causes the ipad to be more destructible than other electronic equipment.

The design flaw is called young children. I know you can replace it with any device, which is my I mentioned cheap netbooks or cheap Android tablets. We didn't even have computers in my elementary school until I was in 4th grade and they got the money to build a new school and update everything. You know what they did for kids who had trouble reading? After school activities to promote education in fun ways. Scholastic sponsored a trailer filled with books for kids to buy.

 

[heatlesssun]

What would really be interesting is to see what would happen if you gave some of these kids iPads, some Android slates, and some Windows slates. Current Windows slates are probably too complex of a device for most kids this age but I can't help but wonder how it would work out.

 

[Ocellaris]

If it works for them great, we'll all be proven wrong. But I don't believe (as in its my opinion) that its worth any school district spending two hundred THOUSAND dollars on iPads. If they have no other financial issues, great but that doesn't change my opinion. The iPads are going to be destroyed, quickly.

Why the heck do so many people just decide that kids destroy everything quickly? Did you all grow up as a bunch of hooligan children that just smashed things because your parents were in jail?

 

[Derangel]

Why the heck do so many people just decide that kids destroy everything quickly? Did you all grow up as a bunch of hooligan children that just smashed things because your parents were in jail?

Because kids aren't well known for being careful?

 

[krotch]

And in other news, test scores in Auburn, Maine school district have gone drastically down. Interviewed children were quotes as saying,"I never had to actually do math, not when there's a calculator on the iPad 2" or "The college rule note paper didn't automatically fix my grammar mistakes."

 

[Ocellaris]

Because kids aren't well known for being careful?

I think you would find that a lot of children are more careful with their things than many teenagers and adults.

 

[Derangel]

I think you would find that a lot of children are more careful with their things than many teenagers and adults.

Well I will admit that its been twenty years since I've been that young, so maybe you're right.

 

[heatlesssun]

I think you would find that a lot of children are more careful with their things than many teenagers and adults.

It's just the nature of the device, not the iPad itself. I've owned and used more slates and slate capable devices than most for a long time and EVENTUALLY the device will get dropped. It's just going to happen if you use the device long enough. I've been fortunate to never have a catastrophic drop but it just happens.

 

[Derangel]

It's just the nature of the device, not the iPad itself. I've owned and used more slates and slate capable devices than most for a long time and EVENTUALLY the device will get dropped. It's just going to happen if you use the device long enough. I've been fortunate to never have a catastrophic drop but it just happens.

First thing I bought for my iPad was an Otterbox for that exact reason. I've never dropped it far or on a hard surface, just a few feet onto my bed a couple times, but at least the case will keep it safe if it does take a dive from a bigger height.

 

[bigpimpatl]

The design flaw is called young children. I know you can replace it with any device, which is my I mentioned cheap netbooks or cheap Android tablets. We didn't even have computers in my elementary school until I was in 4th grade and they got the money to build a new school and update everything. You know what they did for kids who had trouble reading? After school activities to promote education in fun ways. Scholastic sponsored a trailer filled with books for kids to buy.

lol don't even bring up that scholastic school book fair crap, they aren't any better than those stupid chocolate school fundraisers.

Like I pointed out earlier the ipads are insured. And I don't think children are exclusive to the "design flaw" category of breaking stuff. If they are taught to use it and take care of it (especially at this early age) I don't see an issue.

 

[Derangel]

lol don't even bring up that scholastic school book fair crap, they aren't any better than those stupid chocolate school fundraisers.

Like I pointed out earlier the ipads are insured. And I don't think children are exclusive to the "design flaw" category of breaking stuff. If they are taught to use it and take care of it (especially at this early age) I don't see an issue.

They did a good job with my school. Though it was a small community with some damn good teachers so that helped. From what I've seen where I went to middle and high school I'd completely agree.

Well I hope it turns out well for them. I'd love to be proven wrong.

 

[madcoder]

You lost me with the child abuse stuff. I don't see it that way.

It was just to get my point across that further in the future, such devices will be normal for kids, and those without them will be at a learning disadvantage. In those circumstances, there are then always radical parents saying that other parents decision to not provide something is some form of abuse. So my comment about abuse was just sarcasm.

 

[Ocellaris]

They did a good job with my school. Though it was a small community with some damn good teachers so that helped. From what I've seen where I went to middle and high school I'd completely agree.

Well I hope it turns out well for them. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Maine is not new to this type of thing, and Apple isn't new to supporting it:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/07/maine-negotiates-to-gives-macbooks-to-all-712-graders.ars

Currently there are ~100K Macbooks being used by students in the state (or soon will be). I live in Maine btw

Compared to the Macbooks, these iPads look like a bargain!

 

[Derangel]

Maine is not new to this type of thing, and Apple isn't new to supporting it:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/07/maine-negotiates-to-gives-macbooks-to-all-712-graders.ars

Currently there are ~100K Macbooks being used by students in the state (or soon will be). I live in Maine btw

Compared to the Macbooks, these iPads look like a bargain!

Wow, nice. That is rather interesting. Never thought of Maine as a big technologically forward state. Figured it was like Minnesota and stuck in the past.

So how many supernatural events happen in Maine cause according to Stephen King its like a nexus of them.

 

[Ocellaris]

Wow, nice. That is rather interesting. Never thought of Maine as a big technologically forward state. Figured it was like Minnesota and stuck in the past.

So how many supernatural events happen in Maine cause according to Stephen King its like a nexus of them.

Maine has been fairly proactive about getting technology advanced. I was using a cable way back in the day when few people even knew what broadband was

 

[kjeldoran]

This is a LARGE part of the problem. Out here in California they are cutting the number of classes offered, and raising the tuition. What used to be around 6K a few years ago is now 11K, and they are threatening to raise it to over 20K, which will make California the most expensive state university system in the country.
Many students now have to go 5 or 6 years just to get the classes they need, while spending 2x as ouch per year. Meanwhile, take a walk around a campus and you will see construction work everywhere, especially on administrative buildings, landscaping, etc.

Instead, they should be trying to educate as many students as possible, as cheaply as possible.

FYI: At 20K per student, and 30 student in a class, it comes out to $600K. I know some of these "professors" are highly paid, but I doubt they are making anywhere near that much, so where is the money really going? (the $600K does not even include the huge subsidies from the state)

Well at 20k per student, being enrolled in 15 credit hours per semester and taking five 3 credit hours classes, a class with 30 students would cost $40000. The professor only a percentage of this amount as they either do other work (research or administrative position) or they teach more classes.

While I do not know the salary of these California professors, an adjunct professor at my university gets paid almost $2500 for teaching a 4 credit hour class. There are 25 students in the class and the course costs $1227. The other $28k goes to the university. This is not including fees we have tacked on.

The design flaw is called young children. I know you can replace it with any device, which is my I mentioned cheap netbooks or cheap Android tablets. We didn't even have computers in my elementary school until I was in 4th grade and they got the money to build a new school and update everything. You know what they did for kids who had trouble reading? After school activities to promote education in fun ways. Scholastic sponsored a trailer filled with books for kids to buy.

The first encounter I had with a computer was in 1995 when I was in 5th grade. Our family moved to florida and my previous school did not have computers. We moved back to Illinois about 2 years later. My first real experience with using a computer was in 1999 when we purchased a family computer. I say 'real' as I could play around with the computer to learn how it worked. From that point on, I was deemed tech support in my family. Honestly, I do not feel like I was deprived because I didn't have a computer when I was very young.

Your point about providing education in fun ways is crucial. Kids want to enjoy the activity and using a computer doesn't mean it will be 'fun.' It can enhance some learning strategies, but it is not the end all solution. What is truly needed are teachers who enjoy their job as well as teach effectively. If this school has that, then I guess the iPad purchase is good (only if the budget is not tight in other areas).

Why the heck do so many people just decide that kids destroy everything quickly? Did you all grow up as a bunch of hooligan children that just smashed things because your parents were in jail?

I think it is because it has a huge piece of glass on it that could break when dropped.

 

[wizdum]

There's hardly anything being discussed, it's just a bunch of whining and generalizations. If the school district is truly in a dire financial position, then I am wrong and everyone else is right. But I have yet to see any evidence of that from any poster, just post after post bashing the school district for its use of ipad. I hate the ipad, but if the school thinks it will work for them, and they have the budget to do so, then more power to them.

Well, considering the entire public school system in this state is so bankrupt that a law was passed to cut down on administration (1 superintendent's office per ~5 schools, some schools closed completely), I'd say its fair to assume that they are in a "dire financial position"

I just wish they would stop it with the Apple products. Why teach children to use a platform that they will never see in a business environment?

 

[krotch]

There's hardly anything being discussed, it's just a bunch of whining and generalizations. If the school district is truly in a dire financial position, then I am wrong and everyone else is right. But I have yet to see any evidence of that from any poster, just post after post bashing the school district for its use of ipad. I hate the ipad, but if the school thinks it will work for them, and they have the budget to do so, then more power to them.

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011...t-speak-out-about-maine’s-financial-problems/

You are wrong, we are right.

 

[thepirat]

Well, considering the entire public school system in this state is so bankrupt that a law was passed to cut down on administration (1 superintendent's office per ~5 schools, some schools closed completely), I'd say its fair to assume that they are in a "dire financial position"

I just wish they would stop it with the Apple products. Why teach children to use a platform that they will never see in a business environment?

I agree.... I'm having two babies in the next month (twins) and I'd rather have them learn to use a laptop as they get older than an iPad... I could even buy them both a cheap laptop for the same price as a single iPad2.

 

[avatardelta]

Should have given them cheaper netbooks/tablets.

Or Ipad 1s. Either way, I hope they got the extended warranty, because they'll be using it...a lot.

 

[toy4x4]

My almost 2 year old granddaughter knows how to get into her favorite iPhone app... Kindergartners better have the iOS SDK and developing their own apps

 

[Vermillion]

Cheap netbooks would work perfectly for what this school wants. Educational software shouldn't need anything powerful to run on and kindergarteners aren't going to get any more learning out of an expensive toy.

That's the catch though. Kindergartener's don't want a laptop that they can't interact with directly. My wife is a teacher, and while she works with autistic children, the same applies for them. They do use an iPad in order to try to get the autistic kids more involved and it works. If you ask a child to pick which animal is the spider, whether they are autistic or not, the child wants to touch the spider and watch it dance and know that THEY caused it to dance.

yes but kids like touching shit rather than typing it out or using a mouse.

Exactly! Give this man a kewpie doll!

What would really be interesting is to see what would happen if you gave some of these kids iPads, some Android slates, and some Windows slates. Current Windows slates are probably too complex of a device for most kids this age but I can't help but wonder how it would work out.

Going off what my wife does and what she has told me I firmly believe any tablet/slate device would work provided the child interaction software was there. So in this case, with this school, I can see why they are using iPads. Android tablets are still very new. The OS needs to pick up steam and the applications need to start appearing. Same with Windows 7 slates. Once that happens Apple will again fall by the wayside because of things like lack of Domain access and having to sync the "post PC" device with a PC. What IT admin is going to want to sync those 200 iPads every night to add new software and update software?

 

[DeathPrincess]

I hate this underhanded policy of indoctrinating children to their crap. At university they must have some kind of deal with crApple as that is the only kind of computer there is... All of the courses are instructed on apple only software (logic) even though it is neither used in the industry or professional standard, like multiplatform software. This means that for the projects we work on there are rooms and rooms of expensive useless imacs sitting unused while everyone uses their home PCs to do proper work on proper programs. Then because everything is done on a limited budget there is no money to pay for stuff like books/equipment or proper computers. The problem is that people coming in with less experience are told that "this is the way things are, and this is what you use" and run out and buy an over expensive macbook, then suffer. The whole thing stinks of...antitrust? I wish this underhanded corrupt corperation would be kicked out of all education programs and DIAF.

 

[Void]

My daughter was in pre-k last year and they were teaching them on regular PC's. of course i teach both of my children to properly use and to treat them with respect. My daughter is now in regular K and she loves using the hand me down laptop we have here for her to use. I think it's better learning than a iPad. Nothing like having them learn to actually use a keyboard and mouse. Plus the use of a mouse teaches fine motor skills and control that are essential in their development.

 

[Ocellaris]

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011...t-speak-out-about-maine’s-financial-problems/

You are wrong, we are right.

I am shocked that you could find something bad about a state in a local newspaper

 

[Void]

It doesn't matter what they learn on. The point is not to learn about the keyboard or how an app opens. Like a previous poster said, kids like to touch shit. I'm trying to think back to my experience in 3rd grade when we had a shared computer at school. I remember playing Oregon Trail on it and putting in a 5.25 disk. I don't remember the mouse or the keyboard or how the thing even turned on.

This isn't aimed at you specifically 03grandam, but I have seen a few posts here about "oh I' rather have my kid on a PC/using a keyboard/blah blah blah)". I would love to see why this matters. Give me some evidence as to why it matters. Does it matter to a competitive bike rider (I am not one) whether or not he/she grows up riding a Huffy versus a Schwinn?

As for backing up my claims. Well all I have is what I see in MY house and that's seeing how MY daughter interacts with the computer here at home. I personally don't care if she uses a PC or an Apple product as long as she is actually learning computer basics. Like I said, in Pre-K she was learning computer basics in school, not just pointing to alphabets and shit. They were teaching them how to navigate around and to get to different places in the OS and school approved websites, not just playing and coloring with it.
I just don't see the iPad as a device to actually teach computer basics that our children should be learning at a real early age. but hey, that's just my personal opinion.

 

[dr.kevin]

You can't teach 5 year olds to be cool without an ipad........ amirite?

the education planners at the school must have thought so.
It's too bad they don't have any business sense. I wonder how they even manage their own meager salaries.

 

[infect0]

Because those teachers are just getting paid so much fucking money they're bleeding the system dry... sounds like you've been looking at Wisconsin propaganda. While I'll agree administrators tend to be hugely overpaid, they really make up a small percentage of overall funds unless its a tiny school system.

Agreed. I really dont think teachers are overpaid like people suggest.I think it has more to do with bad budgeting and hiring/firing. Most schools practically never fire a teacher and they do a horrible job at recuriting. Of course some of this comes back to most teachers are making $30k to start with a cap around $50k at most. Too low imo, early education is very important for a healthy start.

 

[E7130]

Here is what I don't understand and was part of a discussion at a education technology conference I attended recently. If its proven that individuals can multitask, however, in doing so they perform those tasks to a lower quality (meaning if you handle more than one project at a time then you will not do as well if you focused on one task at a time) and its proven that today's students are big multi-taskers and have become alright with lower quality or work (if they get a 70% they think that's ok). Are we perpetuating the issue by adding distraction into the classrooms?

At this conference the question discuss is how we can utilize all of these technologies at once since students are multitasking, but that tells me that we as a society are alright with just "good" results instead of "great" results.

America seems to do less with more while other countries do more with less as it comes to educational financing. Its the old, lets through more money at the issue and see if it fixes it. It's never really been the curriculum that is the issue, its larger than that and has many moving parts, it's the entire system and the way its structured that as degraded the US.

Poor teachers usually only cover part of the material in a year when excellent teachers utilize what they have and cover more. Many teachers are looking for the magic bullet to fix their issues; looking externally instead of internally to solve their problems.

California is a good example of how much K-12 prepares students, as the state Universities have guidelines on admission to which most students in California don't meet, so they have to take intermediate classes before they can get into any college level coerces.

Another issue with programs like this is that "if successful" other districts will try to copy it, but historically fail. They fail because they want to go from point A to D without doing steps C & D. They deploy these classrooms without fully understanding what needs to be in place and what needs to be done first.

I didn't mean this to go on as a rant, but I wanted to frame my point of view on this and what I believe is a waste of time, resources, and money if the real issues in our system aren't addressed then all these magical technology fixes will fail.

ps

I apologies if any grammar or spelling mistakes, I'm crunched for time...

 

[krotch]

Here is what I don't understand and was part of a discussion at a education technology conference I attended recently. If its proven that individuals can multitask, however, in doing so they perform those tasks to a lower quality (meaning if you handle more than one project at a time then you will not do as well if you focused on one task at a time) and its proven that today's students are big multi-taskers and have become alright with lower quality or work (if they get a 70% they think that's ok). Are we perpetuating the issue by adding distraction into the classrooms?

California is a good example of how much K-12 prepares students, as the state Universities have guidelines on admission to which most students in California don't meet, so they have to take intermediate classes before they can get into any college level coerces.

ps

I apologies if any grammar or spelling mistakes, I'm crunched for time...

I guess you're fine with producing a shoddy post, for the benefit of being able to multitask. Also if you're crunched for time, why bother posting at all? The time spent posting, could have been used on whatever it is that you seem to be lacking time for.

I'm not certain if I'm a multitasker or not. I work on multiple tasks, but I only actually work on one at a time. I just happen to swap between tasks quickly.

 

[nutzo]

My daughter was in pre-k last year and they were teaching them on regular PC's. of course i teach both of my children to properly use and to treat them with respect. My daughter is now in regular K and she loves using the hand me down laptop we have here for her to use. I think it's better learning than a iPad. Nothing like having them learn to actually use a keyboard and mouse. Plus the use of a mouse teaches fine motor skills and control that are essential in their development.

My daughter started on an old MAC performa system when she was 1, only because it was my wifes old system, and it was an all-in-one unit which simplifed turning it on & off (only 1 button). By the time she was 3 I built her a PC so she could learn use a real computer .
Now at 10 she sometimes teaches the wife how to do things on the computer.

 

[DRJ1014]

My gawd... how did we survive with our crayons and HUGE lined paper?

 

[kjeldoran]

Here is what I don't understand and was part of a discussion at a education technology conference I attended recently. If its proven that individuals can multitask, however, in doing so they perform those tasks to a lower quality (meaning if you handle more than one project at a time then you will not do as well if you focused on one task at a time) and its proven that today's students are big multi-taskers and have become alright with lower quality or work (if they get a 70% they think that's ok). Are we perpetuating the issue by adding distraction into the classrooms?

At this conference the question discuss is how we can utilize all of these technologies at once since students are multitasking, but that tells me that we as a society are alright with just "good" results instead of "great" results.

America seems to do less with more while other countries do more with less as it comes to educational financing. Its the old, lets through more money at the issue and see if it fixes it. It's never really been the curriculum that is the issue, its larger than that and has many moving parts, it's the entire system and the way its structured that as degraded the US.

Poor teachers usually only cover part of the material in a year when excellent teachers utilize what they have and cover more. Many teachers are looking for the magic bullet to fix their issues; looking externally instead of internally to solve their problems.

California is a good example of how much K-12 prepares students, as the state Universities have guidelines on admission to which most students in California don't meet, so they have to take intermediate classes before they can get into any college level coerces.

Another issue with programs like this is that "if successful" other districts will try to copy it, but historically fail. They fail because they want to go from point A to D without doing steps C & D. They deploy these classrooms without fully understanding what needs to be in place and what needs to be done first.

I didn't mean this to go on as a rant, but I wanted to frame my point of view on this and what I believe is a waste of time, resources, and money if the real issues in our system aren't addressed then all these magical technology fixes will fail.

ps

I apologies if any grammar or spelling mistakes, I'm crunched for time...

Well, multitasking doesn't mean you will get low quality work. Low quality work is received if the guidelines are set lower. If you accept mediocrity then you will get mediocrity. Now, I can't expect every student in the class to give great work (I can hope though) since everyone learns at different rates. So teachers cater to the middle and teach to everyone. If a student is having trouble, they should put more effort into helping that student. If a student is gifted, they should provide extra for them too. The problem? Not all teachers want to put the extra time into helping their students.

Another problem with teachers, caring. Teachers need to show that they care about their students.

My gawd... how did we survive with our crayons and HUGE lined paper?

I know, right? Seriously, computers are a good 'tools,' but they do not replace the teacher or classmates. Learning a very complex process that involves more than one thing. If anything, kids learn more from their classmates, parents and friends than the teacher. The teacher is a guide. My problem with the purchase is the supposed increase literacy of kindergartners. Had the school run out of options in helping the students? Don't get me wrong, having the iPad 2 to help students who have trouble is a great idea since it is essentially an IEP, but no one had any other ideas or did the other ideas fail? If no one had any other ideas, then I am worried about the decisions they are making...If the other ideas failed, why did they fail?

Signed,

-Future Teacher

 

[Aus10]

Our middle school north uses ipads for there students and out high school as mac labs talk about a waste of money now there mad that they voted agaist raising taxes for the schools cuz they spent 1.2million on the football locker rooms

 

[Ashton]

This is my POV:
I think that this was a huge waste of money.

Now before you start flaming me, let me explain why.
1. even if tehy're "careful" with their ipads, little kids are going to drag them with them out in the mud, and tehy're going to want to use them while eating candy/fruit/other-sticky-stuff, and then they're going to want to wash them by dipping them in the sink/pool/etc. In short, little kids gennerally dont need fragile toys like this. Hell as a kid I played in the yard with ROCKS and at times broke them, and I was not considered violent! There's also the fact they will leave these lieing around because mommy yelled "who wants cookies?" including out in the rain, or int eh driveway where daddy (or whoever) will pull in and run over the device...

Alternately:
If the iPads are kept at the school and taken care of by professionals, only given to the kids during the class (think "computer lab") that solves the problem.

2. The cost of an ipad2 verses other options is quite high. First, they could probably use an ipad 1 without trouble, shaving $100+ off the cost of each unit. Or they could buy cheep android tablets from china and only pay $100 per unit. (if these are kept at the school, then this is a perfectly viable option. If they are taken home, then the china tablets are not viable because they're so fragile due to being china-made)

Note: I dont know the budget, but I would think there were other places that could use the money (new trays for the cafeteria? new playground/gym equipment? new desks? etc) for all I know this could be the welthiest school district in the world. I just hate to see money wasted like this because I dont think the kids are going to know the difference between an iPad 1 vs an iPad 2

3: Keeping the devices the same software-wise will be a massive task. First with deploying all updates, and second with keeping "non-school" software off the devices. Because we know even if little tommy can barely use his iPad2, his big brother, or possibly even his mom or dad might borrow it to watch a movie or play a game.

Alternately, if the school likes to live dangerously, there are apps available in Cydia that will sync over WiFi and solve the problem, but that requires jailbreaking, which I doubt the school wants to hassle with or worry about warrenty issues from. (afaik there are no "official" apps to do this, but I've not seriously looked since my iPod only gets sync'd when I add new music)

4: Theft will be a problem. This is not something that we can ignore. The kids live in all walks of life and their family and friends do too. Even if Tommy is careful with his ipad, he may have a friend who goes to a different school and doesnt have one, so he steals tommy's ipad. Even worse is the really low-income families who might hock the ipad for $$$ for whatever reason.

Lastly:
I will not argue that little kids like to touch things to interact and learn, but I feel if they just waited a few years and gave these to 5th (or hell even 2nd or 3rd) year students, the kids could utilize the device's potential a LOT better.


On another note I do agree that kids would do better being taught on a Windows device since windows runs corporate America, but, I also know Apple is easier to use and tends to crash less and in this situation would probably work better...

 

[krotch]

My gawd... how did we survive with our crayons and HUGE lined paper?

What? You got crayons and paper? I just got chalk and the sidewalk outside.