iPad vs. paper: Teachers report big difference
STAR-ADVERTISER / FEB. 2012
Mid-Pacific Institute eighth-graders used iPads in their 1st-year Japanese class to practice drawing Japanese language characters.
BEND, Ore. » Bringing iPads into second-grade math class made little difference for students but a big difference for teachers, according to research at a Bend elementary school.
Rachael Schuetz is an instructor in OSU-Cascades’ teacher education program and a former teacher at Miller Elementary School. With so many districts rushing to give even the youngest students tablets or laptops to use at school and at home, she wanted to know what the devices meant for learning.
In Bend-La Pine Schools, students are given iPads beginning in third grade, and younger students may use them regularly in class.
Schuetz ran an experiment at Miller Elementary last year to see whether using an iPad or paper and pencil to practice math affected student achievement or interest in math. For the study, 85 students were randomly assigned to two groups. One group used iPads and an app called IXL to practice math, while the other used paper worksheets.
They did this daily for 25 minutes. After four weeks, they switched.
Students were tested at the beginning, middle and end of the eight-week experiment and asked to rate their interest in math. Results showed on average achievement and interest were about the same with the iPads and paper worksheets, though she notes a longer study involving more students may have different results.
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Teachers, however, reported a big difference between the two.
Schuetz presented her findings Wednesday at OSU-Cascades.
The iPad app read problem instructions to students and told them immediately if they got a problem right or wrong. If they got it wrong, the app could give them a hint for next time. Students could also work at their own pace and typically did twice as many problems in the 25 minutes.
For students with the paper worksheets, however, teachers sometimes had to read them instructions (remember, these students are also still learning to read) and help them find the answer.
If students got a problem wrong and the teacher didn’t notice, the students would just keep going; sometimes they’d do all the problems wrong and the teacher wouldn’t find out until she went to grade the worksheet, Schuetz said.
“Providing differentiation was quite challenging. This was an experience shared by all the teachers in my focus group,” she said.
Since the iPad and paper groups showed about the same achievement level, it is possible without extra help from teachers the paper group would have done worse. And if a whole class is using paper worksheets, that is twice as many students for one teacher to help compared to the study conditions.
Schuetz said based on results in the classroom, teachers should consider giving math homework on an iPad, since not all students can get similar support at home.
Still, she said, iPads aren’t always the answer and teachers should be “critical consumers” when it comes to steering students toward the devices.
“Technology is in our schools,” she said. “It’s here to stay, we just need to make the right decisions about how to use it.”
25 responses to “iPad vs. paper: Teachers report big difference”
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How old is this experiment? Must be at least 2+ years ago.
The new normal for academia is chromebooks. ipads are overpriced, outdated blackberry-type devices.
http://goo.gl/J5WoF5
Platform choice depends on use case, available apps and devices, and a variety of other factors. Chromebooks have their place, so do tablets, phones, and other mobile and not-so-mobile devices. (btw: I have graduate degrees in Learning Design and Technology.)
Chrome OS being phased out.
Uh, no. You might want to tell Google because they just pushed out a new build of Chrome OS a couple of days ago. 🙂
Chromebooks are over priced too compared to free Chronium.
Schools can install free Chronium on their existing obsolete laptops and have functional brand new machines.
The price of free is much better than $199 or $499.
There are some advantages to taking old computers and installing Linux also. (Ubuntu for example, does pretty well on old machines and has a fairly familiar and robust environment.) One of the problems with any platform is to provide appropriate teacher training that allows the effective use of these tools for learning and teaching.
I think that’s why many of them are going with Chronium rather than various Linux versions as Chronium is basically a glorified browser. There is very little retraining to do compared to even the most Windows like Linux versions. Plus with automatical updates from Google, the maintenance is minimum.
Golly! This old Buck feels centuries behind from all these devices of your discussion! Auwe!! I’ve been left behind! Cellodad, you one smart dude! As does the rest of you so akamai…
Technology is good. That being said, if the batteries run out and the electricity shuts off, does work and problem-solving come to a screeching halt? The basics need to be taught manually too.
Good points. Technology doesn’t automatically trump good old common sense!
If using a tablet is the equivalent of using a calculator to learn Math or a spell checker to learn English then I am against it. You need to use your brain, not electric devices.
no worries, it’s not the equivalent.
The utterly improper use of calculators in the all important primary K-3 grades has been the death of Arithmetic basics – – and without basic arithmetic skills, a student will be in a tail chase in pursuit of mathematics at least through grade 12.
Practice, practice, practice in K-3 is essential for basic arithmetic skills mastery.
So…..isn’t that the teachers job? They want raises, so teach. No need iPads. Most schools going back to textbooks after they realized tablets failed. Read a book people….a REAL book.
I find it odd that, despite the advantages of the ipad – immediate feedback, examples of correction, students doing twice as many problems – that the average achievement was the same as paper-pencil.
All I needed to read was…
The iPad app read problem instructions to students and told them immediately if they got a problem right or wrong. If they got it wrong, the app could give them a hint for next time. Students could also work at their own pace and typically did twice as many problems in the 25 minutes.
vs
If students got a problem wrong and the teacher didn’t notice, the students would just keep going; sometimes they’d do all the problems wrong and the teacher wouldn’t find out until she went to grade the worksheet, Schuetz said.
True, but why do they need $499 pieces of hardware when they can install Chronium on their existing old laptops in storage for FREE?
More government waste.
I suspect that Apple engages in a large amount of kickbacks to departments of education across the country to get their procurement officers to buy Apple rather than go with much cheaper and just as capable alternatives. There’s a reason why the DOE administration here got the most expensive top of the line Macbooks rather than much cheaper and equally as usable anything else.
In Hawaii, that is not the case. Period. (I can only speak of HI and have purchased a several million dollars worth of Tech including Apple) Apple and other vendors (but not all vendors) have volume purchase agreements with the State. In fact, vendors of almost everything discount volume purchases. This saves some pretty significant money in large purchases.
(BTW: Chromium is an open source browser source code. Chromium OS, can be compiled from downloaded source code. Chrome OS is based on the Linux kernel and provides an operating system that supports web-based applications as well as some local functionality.)
The standard platform provided to DOE administration for work-related tasks consists of really awful generic computers or, even worse, Dell machines running Windows 7. Many people, not just in the HIDOE but in industry, commerce, and government all over the world, choose to purchase Apple laptops.
That doesn’t explain why the top DOE administration went with the most expensive version of the Macbook when they frankly didn’t need to do that at all.
I understand the whole volume purchase agreements, but that doesn’t explain why purchasing agents go with Apple over any other vendor for reduced prices.
Would like to respond concisely but I’m not sure what you mean by “why the top DOE administration went with the most expensive version of the Macbook…” If you mean the Superintendent level, I have no idea. I do know that most of their offices have Windows 7 computers. If you’re speaking of other levels of administration, there really is no “went with.” At the school level, kids are using a number of platforms ranging from their own devices, to Chromebooks, to Macbook Airs, to a really wide variety of classroom and library computers. Sorry, hard to answer.
Maybe Apple gave the state the best deal on a per unit cost. I mean, you never know, but you may not know EVERYTHING. There is a chance.
(Apple did help underwrite the 1:1 pilot program from a few years back. The schools selected and the State really got a pretty good deal. Like so many other initiatives, funding ran out.)
Which indicate? Easier on, or immediate ability to determine how student fared and directed how to accomplish task. Advantage to teacher with some to student. Multiplications tables etc, the old fashion method did okay for me, probably not suited for current technology.
Actually, much of the very first elementary math software beginning around 1990 was based on the teaching of Math Facts. It’s not so much that the payload has changed, rather the delivery system is different. It still comes down to teacher training and use, dependable networks, and effective IT support.
The Mid-Pac photo that accompanies this article illustrates one of the many problems with electronic props for learning – when a wiggly screen-drag with the forefinger replaces carefully lettering words or characters (whether Japanese, English or another language) FINE MOTOR SKILLS development doesn’t happen! When fine motor skills lag behind, brain development lags behind. We are producing dumber people with fewer abilities to make connections, solve problems, and use their bodies in finely controlled ways. Many of the “old fashioned” ways of performing learning tasks have developmental benefits that are being thrown aside in favor of easier work for teachers. Tragic.