I was recently interested to read about a group of parents in Auburn, Maine, in the US, who were objecting to a large scale iPad project being rolled out for many children in Kindergarten (Nursery / F2).
According to this blog post:
The committee that governs schools in the district voted to spend about $200,000 on the iPads, which also covers insurance, educational software aimed at the appropriate age level, training and other program costs. The program will eventually serve all six elementary schools in the small community.
And so nearly 300 iPad devices are set to be purchased and every Kindergarten pupil will have one. Apparently the parents opposing the use of the device were concerned about the amount of screen time the children would have as well as the detrimental effect it would have on concentration and social skills.
I have worked in a school where teachers were using iPads in the early years and from the ongoing discussion with them and from my experience of how these Foundation stage classrooms are structured I have a few reflections.
Firstly just because you have 25+ iPads in your classroom any teacher worth their salt is not going to be slinging everything out with the boxes the iPads came in. The curriculum that is being delivered in these formative years still needs such breadth that the iPad can only support a small part of that.
I think that the district are to be commended for attempting such an ambitious project, young children love using the iPads and I have seen it many times myself how they take to the device so naturally, testament to the intuitive interface. The bitesize apps are also aimed at narrow parts of the curriculum and so I think they have much to offer schools.
However in my experience I don’t think that it would be a good investment for every child to have a device. In terms of the amount of use you would likely plan in and the way the days are structured, a group of 6-8 devices would be ideal for the group phonic sessions. Perhaps colleagues in the US could explain a little more about how small group work is used in the Kindergarten classes as I have no experience of it.
From conversations with colleagues having up to 8 devices that could support teaching in those small groups would be just about the right balance – the management of 25+ devices even in the older age groups is an ongoing challenge.
When a prospective technology emerges as purporting to have some positive effects it seems that pushing all the way to 1:1 is the answer. But I dont’ agree. I have worked with netbooks and laptops in my classroom for the last 4-5 years and the ratios have always been about 1 device to 2 pupils. It has not hindered what we can do.
I was lucky enough to meet Sugata Mitra in Doha in 2009 and his research highlights that self organised learning can occur when children have the tools and the space to themselves, but I was always interested in the number of devices he used in these experiments and what can be achieved with nowhere near 1:1 devices.
I can see both sides to this one. I would have spent less money or certainly explored ways to use those funds in other ways such as app creation or training staff to create their own content (this may well be part of it, which would be good to find out). However it still offers the district a great opportunity and for the children involved to enjoy access to an engaging technology. It is now, as always, up to the teachers to make the most of that opportunity in the most appropriate ways.
Six or seven years ago my answer to this question would probably have been different. I am now both a teacher and a father, in fact I have been for nearly five years. I am both education consumer and provider. My son has just begun full time education and my perspective on what it should be is mixed.
