Can The iPad Replace School Textbooks in America?
By hush4444
Reinventing the Textbook
The average textbook in American elementary schools costs $75. Multiply that by five, for social studies, math, science, spelling and English, and you get $375 per child. But, science textbooks are out of date by the time they are published (coelacanth, anyone?), and social studies changes every day, so our children start out the year with text books that are no longer viable. Enter Apple, with their iBooks 2 for iPad, a revolutionary new way for students to access textbook information through interactive digital techonology.
A Tap, A Swipe, A Pinch
My Friend Sam
I have a friend named Sam who is five. He is autistic and has trouble "tracking", or following text from the left to the right. When he tries to write his name, he gets mixed up and comes up with a funny little sideways "S" that he writes right in the middle of the page. His occupational therapist downloaded an iPad app that teaches him how to track by having him help a penguin on the left side of the screen get to an iceberg on the right side before it is caught by a polar bear. Sam loves this app, as do all the children who witness him using it. Sam doesn't know about "tracking", but he does know how to help a penguin. His "S" gets better all the time, and he now knows to start his work on the left side of the page.
A Common and Consistent Framework
90% of the textbooks used in elementary, middle, and high schools in America come from just three publishers - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson. These publishers have recently developed editions of their textbooks that are in keeping with the Common Core Standards, standards that have been adopted by 45 states to ensure that students throughout America are learning the same material at the same time regardless of where they live. Through their partnership with Apple, these publishers have made available Multi-Touch textbooks that can be downloaded from the iBookstore. For as little as $14.99, an interactive version of Algebra I can be downloaded with the tap of a finger. No longer static, cumbersome, and dog-eared, this new textbook includes personal tutors to help students along the way as they learn that algebra is not just numbers, it's the world.
So How Would It Work?
Currently, over 1.5 million iPads are already in use in schools throughout America. Commonly, they are stored in groups of 25 to 30 (enough for one class) on rolling shelves that can be transported from room to room. The batteries in iPads last much longer than laptops, as long as ten to eleven hours, so one charge is long enough to cover an entire school day. Schools would use an Apple id to download the textbooks directly to a student's iTune account for them to use on the classroom iPads. The major drawback for many schools would be providing an internet connection strong enough to accommodate the wireless usage of the iPads. As for the $499 cost, surprisingly there are a multitude of technology grants available to schools who simply apply for them. Schools who benefited from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Stimulus) have access to funds that are solely for new technology that is not already an item on the school's budget. Couple those funds with the savings from not purchasing textbooks, and a 21st century classroom enters the realm of possibility.
We Have To Do Something
If we want our children to be college and career ready by the time they graduate from high school, we have to find ways to better educate them in math and science. According to the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment, fifteen-year old American students ranked 25th among peers from 34 countries in math and science. Not only are other countries outperforming us, they're also improving faster. Part of the solution to this problem is to improve teacher training in math and science, which is already being done through national STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs which provide over $500 million in educational support. But it will be another four years before we begin to see the results of the STEM initiative. In the meantime, we owe it to our children to give them, and their teachers, the very best, cutting-edge technology. Students won't learn unless they're engaged, and making Algebra 3-D is a step in the right direction.
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Comments
I agree, Max, this technology is just in its infancy, and Apple has the market cornered. But, for subjects like math and science we need any help we can get. I've seen huge transformations in kids who have access to educational apps - they're so engaged that they don't know that they're learning! Thank you so much for visiting and commenting.
Great idea. This would be a fantastic thing to implement entirely. I remember textbooks ripping holes in the bottom of my book bags when I was in school! Though the above comments are correct by me-- this will take a while to do, but the future is here!
Isn't it exciting, stephaniedas? Just the science textbooks alone would revolutionize classroom instruction, not to mention saving a lot of trees. Thanks so much for your comment.
I personally will be thrilled when a wireless electronic device replaces textbooks! As you said, the information in most textbooks is already out-of-date by the time they reach classrooms. But my main complaint is the size and weight of those books. By the time a child reaches middle and high school, he/she is lugging around more weight than adults have to be able to lift - not carry - in a factory. What this is doing to our chidren's backs and spines is a crime!
Considering kids in grade school these days have internet-capable cell phones, it makes NO sense whatsoever that the majority of their formal education should come from 19th century devices called "textbooks".
I hope print books never go the way of 8-tracks, but have no problem with the day textbooks do!
Loved the sidebar about Sam, btw. Glad to know some apps DO have educational value, rather than just being time-killers and another income stream for those who design and offer them. ;D
Textbooks are ridiculously heavy, jamagenee, especially when you consider that children carry around backpacks full of them only to use only a few pages at a time. I love having my novels in actual book form, but I can't wait to see electronic textbooks in the classroom. Thanks for reading and for your comment.
You brought up a valid point, hush. Why DO children have to haul around an entire book when they only use a few pages at a time? Why has no one come up with textbooks with removable sections, say a chapter each, so children could leave the bulk of the book in their locker or at home? Or simply chapter-length sections handed out in the classroom when a particular chapter is assigned? Just a thought...
Does any one know when this website was made/created? If you do please post it. I need the info for a persuasive essay that is trying to get my school to get Margaretta Local School I-pads.
I'm the author and I published it on January 21st, 2012. Good luck with your persuasive essay!
I am currently exploring applying for a grant to obtain iPads for our students in a K-8 school. Our technology person is adamantly opposed because she feels that iPads when dropped are done as they cannot be repaired. Any thoughts or experiences with this issue?
Hi idflynn - our iPads have heavy duty shells that protect them if they're dropped (you can see an example in the Amazon ad above). Our students (K to 5) get a serious lecture about how expensive this technology is and that it's a privilege to be able to use them. So far, the students haven't dropped them. We started small with just 25 and they've proven to be a huge hit with both the kids and the teachers. I think the dropping concern is a non-issue as long as the students are supervised. Good luck with your grant!
Max Dalton 4 months ago
Hi Hush,
Nice article. Good food for thought. However, I don't think the iPad is close to replacing the textbook on a large scale. Apps, and the whole device for that matter, can crash, and then what does the student do? It's a nice supplemental thing for people and schools that can afford it, but as far as completely replacing the textbook, I think we're still at least 15 years away from that.
Best,
Max.