by IMLS DCC
Students’ math scores jumped 20% with iPad textbooks, publisher says
[Via AppleInsider]
A yearlong pilot program with digital textbooks on Apple’s iPad found that students’ algebra scores increased by 20 percent when compared to a curriculum with traditional books.
[More]
In light of Apple’s education event yesterday, this is why the world might change.
They went from 58% “Proficient” or “Advanced” to 78%. So from an F to a C+. In just two quarters! On the State tests too.
And it was successful at a minority-majority school, which is 49% White and 29% Hispanic.
Anything else that could increase the abilities of students so fast?
This study included 400 students in California. In San Francisco, Riverside, Long Beach and Fresno so the study covered a variety of students in the state.
They had two teachers each with two algebra classes. One class was randomly chosen for the iPads and the others were taught traditionally. So they removed the effects of teachers as each teacher taught both classes. And all the teachers taught at least one of each.
Now this might just be the unique aspect of the study – new Ipads for all – and may not be sustainable. Like the placebo effect, simply showing interest may make the scores go up. As the report said, parents became much more interested also, wanting to see just what the iPad did.
So perhaps the effect is temporary and would return to lower levels after a period of time. After all, one of the schools using the iPad – Riverside – already had State test scores higher than the District average – in 2010, they were 56% to 29%.
But, it is also possible that the manner in which algebra is taught on the iPads make it a learning experience that is much richer and useful than a book.
What if it actually remains the same or gets higher?
One of the teachers explained why it is a different learning experience:
I definitely believe it’s changing the way they learn. The iPad is more than just a textbook. It has example videos to watch, so if I’m teaching in class and explaining something, they take notes. They think they understand, they go home, they might forget to do something or they’re not sure. They watch the video at home and it’s a teacher explaining the very same concept. So it’s like taking the teacher home with them.
As the principal put it, “Kids were more in charge of their own learning.” This is a profound difference than normal education where the learning is controlled by the teacher/school district.
Here is one example – school absences. Students who were sick were still engaged enough to do the homework and bring it in when they were well. Or they would use class time to do work – because of the interactive nature of the app, they could get feedback from the iPad – freeing the teacher up to work more one on one.
They called this a “flipped classroom” where the students learned and worked independently at home – because all the needed information and feedback was there – and then use the class to do problems and practice what they learned.
So, there are roughly 4 million students a year who enter first grade. At regular education pricing of about $480 for the cheapest, this would mean that it would cost about $2 billion to give every child an iPad. This is less than 0.4% what we spend on education in this country (about $540 billion).
I’d be nice if it was true but I am pretty sure that poor districts will still have many more problems. But it might be worth the effort.
