i am 4 and i drink starbucks - School district to give all it's kindergarteners iPads - Polidicks

Source: [url]http://www.necn.com/09/12/11/Kindergarteners-get-iPads-for-school/landing_scitech.html?blockID=563064&feedID=4213[/url] Summary from Slashdot:[quote]"'An Auburn, ME school district spent more than $200,000 to outfit every one of its 250 kindergartners with [iPads], along with sturdy cases to protect them. School officials say they are the first public school district in the country to give every kindergartner an iPad. Mrs. McCarthy says the tools give her 19 students more immediate feedback and individual attention than she ever could.' Will this improve low test scores, or be another case where spending more money does not produce a better educational outcome?"[/quote]

:suicide:

this is stupid

I'm all for introducing kids to modern tech in a school environment, but this is pushing it. And probably won't end well for the iPads.

[QUOTE=Slashdot]School officials say they are the first public school district in the country to give every kindergartner an iPad.[/QUOTE] Why isn't [I]my[/I] kindergartener getting an iPad? The school system should be doing more to provide children with necessary learning tools!

Oh gawd, just what we needed...[IMG]http://sae.tweek.us/static/images/emoticons/emot-ughh.gif[/IMG]

seems a bit overkill and a waste of funds, but I guess if it really works then they could develop a cheaper version for the pre-school kids?

what a really excellent use of technology (this is not an excellent use of technology)

[quote]Will this improve low test scores, or be another case where spending more money does not produce a better educational outcome?[/quote] I'm thinking more along the lines of the latter.

Um, what the fuck did I just read?

But what about spending 200.000 dollar on the schooling itself.

surely they could get some other decent tablet PC for like half the price? not that i think they should have tablet PCs at all then again the schoolboard is probably ran by people with an average age of 55 so they won't know of any technology that doesn't have a picture of a fruit on it

If you're actually stupid enough to spend $200,000 on ipads, why don't they give them to more mature children, in say middle or high school? A kindergartner would probably break the fucking thing within five minutes of receiving it.

My lil bro had his own Ipad 2 since he was 3. Now he's 4.

What the fuck is this shit? That's like saying "Let's give an ipad to a 5 year old."

Giving kids tablets only make sense when they get textbooks. This is a colossal waste of money.

You know, give them Ipads, don't use that money to invest in mid-tier age range education, or address fixing the cracks in the US education system that allows kids from poorer families to simply fail.

This just in, $10,000 worth of technology somehow ruined by putting it in care of children.

Seems to me like a huge variety of learning tools could be used via an ipad. They can learn shapes, letters, identify animals and things, and a massive variety of other simple tasks that kindegarteners learn all while the results can be reviewed by the teacher to see weaknesses in particular students. I don't know why you are immediately writing it off.

My school gives the BAND STUDENTS iPads, of ALL SUBJECTS.

it's dumb that these kids are getting ipads and shit and down here our school is still using windows 98 machines and rejecting technology like the conservative luddites they are [editline]17th September 2011[/editline] any sighting of a cell phone warrants it being taken away from you; your parents have to pay $25 to get it back this means whether it's sticking out of your pocket, dropped, visible in a purse, any excuse to take it same rules apply to ipods, headphones, and anything else electronic and they have the right to search you if they want to without providing an explanation and there's nothing you can do about it

[QUOTE=kittykaty;32344263]You know, give them Ipads, don't use that money to invest in mid-tier age range education, or address fixing the cracks in the US education system that allows kids from poorer families to simply fail.[/QUOTE] Local schools do not control how much funding they receive or control the curriculum. The US federal government, through controlling additional money, basically controls the curriculum of every school and limits what they can use it on. The city of Auburn appears to have a low poverty rate, which suggests that the school might also receive a decent amount of funding from the people through fund raising. But hey, lets just generalize and completely ignore how reality works! Wheeeeeeeee!

[QUOTE=GunFox;32344287]Seems to me like a huge variety of learning tools could be used via an ipad. They can learn shapes, letters, identify animals and things, and a massive variety of other simple tasks that kindegarteners learn all while the results can be reviewed by the teacher to see weaknesses in particular students. I don't know why you are immediately writing it off.[/QUOTE] waste of money you could do that exact same thing using some cheap ass programs or just the internet on an old XP computer (which most schools have in abundance anyway)

I'm English, I have no idea how it works across the pond :v:

[QUOTE=teh pirate;32344319] any sighting of a cell phone warrants it being taken away from you; your parents have to pay $25 to get it back this means whether it's sticking out of your pocket, dropped, visible in a purse, any excuse to take it same rules apply to ipods, headphones, and anything else electronic and they have the right to search you if they want to without providing an explanation and there's nothing you can do about it[/QUOTE] that has nothing to do with being luddites, that's just teachers not wanting kids sitting in their lessons texting. keep your phone well hidden. stop complaining.

[QUOTE=GunFox;32344287]Seems to me like a huge variety of learning tools could be used via an ipad. They can learn shapes, letters, identify animals and things, and a massive variety of other simple tasks that kindegarteners learn all while the results can be reviewed by the teacher to see weaknesses in particular students. I don't know why you are immediately writing it off.[/QUOTE] You can do everything you just said with textbooks, plus it wouldn't cost $200,000 to do so too. Children this young shouldn't be granted ipads, even if it's for educational purposes.

iPads should just replace school books anyway. Use more updated eBooks instead. That way schools don't have to spend tons of money buying new text books every 20 years. Only issue would be with how the students treat them. You'd have to have some sort of security deposit or something. Would probably only work for private schools.

[QUOTE=GunFox;32344357]But hey, lets just generalize and completely ignore how reality works! Wheeeeeeeee![/QUOTE] Okay, let's create highly specialized curriculum for every single school or educational facility! Nothing could possibly go wrong because generalizations constrict learning!

[QUOTE=ChestyMcGee;32344403]that has nothing to do with being luddites, that's just teachers not wanting kids sitting in their lessons texting. keep your phone well hidden. stop complaining.[/QUOTE] no- whether you're using your phone nor not, they can take it if they see it, which includes if they decide to search you and happen to find it on you

[QUOTE=teh pirate;32344439]no- whether you're using your phone nor not, they can take it if they see it, which includes if they decide to search you and happen to find it on you[/QUOTE] you can be randomly searched in school? for a phone? surely that's just a breach of liberty