Currently Mrs. Ah Hee’s 5th graders are conducting a pilot on 1:1 iPads in the classroom. Taking full advantage of students having iPads, I asked them to bring them to science class. The students used the iPads to showcase their understanding of of how fuel is generated, transformed and distributed for the masses to use.
Traditionally, the class would have been assessed by having it written and drawn in their notebooks. However, using an app called Educreations, students could do the same task but make it digital and include an audio recording.
Using this opportunity to see how iPads could be integrated into a science curriculum we learned a lot about this process. We came upon some challenges, but the student quickly rose to the challenge and helped to fix it. If it couldn’t be fixed, the students were patient and flexible enough to try another way. Content was still displayed using the iPad and app, however most of the struggle came with the limitations of the app.
So as the students completed the best they could with these limitations, myself and the students agreed that using this particular app for this particular assessment wasn’t the best. And being a pilot, these are the types of conclusions we are hoping to figure out now.
Mahalo nui to 5B for their hard work in preparing their formative assessment on this topics, being patient when challenges arose, helping each other, being respectful to each other and most of all allowing me to learn from you. I truly appreciate the experience of this 1:1 iPad pilot. I look forward to hopefully trying it again.
