ShareThisThis school year Faleycia Moore is spending more time on her math homework than her teacher demands.
Her assignment: Spend a half-hour playing flashy math games on an iPod Touch.
She logs in two hours nightly.
The fourth-grader is not the only one in her home enamored of her homework. "My mom and dad play with it all day. It's really easy," said Faleycia, 10.
Searching for a way to help students who scored below grade level on the math portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test last year, Faleycia's school in Clearwater, Fla., decided to experiment with the iPod Touch.
And took it a step further by sending them home with students.
"We're just trying something new," said technology teacher Robert Wirth. "Whatever we were doing wasn't working or wasn't getting their math up fast enough."
Using the iPod Touch and similar hand-held devices in classrooms has become popular around the country.
"Technology has changed the way we look at the classroom," said George Roy, assistant professor of education at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. "Teachers now have to think of their knowledge of math, their knowledge of how to teach and then their knowledge of technology and incorporate all three things together."
The experiment is part of a recent push by the Clearwater district to boost technology in schools. The district has spent millions on electronic blackboards, laptops for students and teachers, and other devices.
Faleycia's school, High Point Elementary, bought 20 IPods and a docking station connected to a sleek Apple iBook.
Students get a fully loaded iPod -- so far teachers have handpicked 84 applications -- on Monday and return the devices on Friday. Often, the batteries are burnt out by Tuesday morning. Wirth figures the students fall asleep with the iPods.
Parents agree to supervise their children and sign a log acknowledging at least a half-hour of playtime. There is a waiting list of parents wanting to participate, said principal Susan Graham Taylor.
"The children sold it," she said. "They were so excited about it that they helped market the program."
Math teacher Kelly Glasgow, who has several of the students with iPods in her classes, said the program also helps with discipline. Students know that the devices will be taken away if they misbehave or underachieve.
Glasgow said she can already notice an improvement in her students' comprehension of multiplication tables. "I can't see anything but positive results coming from it," she said.
Taylor is a little more cautious and wants to see data first. She says she'll wait for the next round of scores from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, due this spring, before spending more money on iPods.
Still, Faleycia's mother has already decided that the iPod Touch works for her family. She's planning to buy one that the family can call its own.
"I sit there playing with it," said Nakia Moore, 29. "It's a great learning tool."
(Luis Perez can be reached at lperez(at)sptimes.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit St. Petersburg Times.
What apps have they hand picked?
It would be great to get a list of the apps approved by the teachers. I have some young children of my own that I would like to get started on some educational apps. thx!
math and real life
National math test scores continue to be disappointing. This poor trend persists in spite of new texts, standardized tests with attached implied threats, or laptops in the class. At some point, maybe we should admit that math, as it is taught currently and in the recent past, seems irrelevant to a large percentage of grade school kids.
Why blame a sixth grade student or teacher trapped by meaningless lessons? Teachers are frustrated. Students check out.
The missing element is reality. Instead of insisting that students learn another sixteen formulae, we need to involve them in tangible life projects. And the task must be interesting.
A Trip To The Number Yard is a math book focusing on the building of a bungalow. Odd numbered chapters cover the phases of the project: lot layout, foundation, framing, all the way through until the trim out. The even numbered chapters introduce the math needed for the next stage of building and/or reviews the previous lessons.
This type of project-oriented math engages kids. It is fun. They have a reason to learn the math they may have ignored in the standard lecture format of a class room.
If we really want kids to learn math and to have the lessons be valuable, we need to change the mode of teaching. Our kids can master the math that most adults need. We can’t continue to have class rooms full of math drudges. Instead, we need to change our tactics and teach math via real life projects.
Alan Cook
info@thenumberyard.com
www.thenumberyard.com
I agree with schools that
I agree with schools that share ipod touch to kids! This gadget has a lot of software which is very useful as an educational facility. I also utilize some existing medical software in the ipod touch. The software really helped me in studying medicine in college.
Awesome math game
Try this app for helping strengthening your kids math skills. Awesome graphics as well. Access to NASA sites from planets with flags.
http://itunes.apple.com/app/kosmicmath-family/id355508681
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