Kindle 7 tablets are an economical choice to enhance science and engineering learning, and bring the technology part of STEM into our classroom. An average of 380 students come to me every week for science. A significant number of my students do not have any access to technology at home. Even when parents have smart phones, many cannot afford data plans or internet connections.
Tablets would benefit students in many ways: to learn computer literacy, enhance documentation and sharing of data, provide supports to ELL and IEP students, and get meaningful rubric-based assessment results much faster than can be done on paper. Tablets give students the opportunity to photograph or video clip their results, so they can be more closely reviewed outside of instructional time. They can refer back to them the next class period. Students can upload photographs to cloud storage, allowing absent students to access the projects. There are numerous online activities and resources that are part of our FOSS curriculum that students would be able to utilize. Having one tablet per student increases effectiveness since each tablet can have a role and multiple functions can be performed by a group simultaneously.
Online assessments require one tablet per student, and we would not have to monopolize the limited school computer lab resources to assess learning. They also reduce grading time so each student can get a detailed meaningful report the very next day. Students who were absent, or are new to class, can view group projects and complete online activities to catch up more quickly.
Finally, students are interested in starting a computer coding and robotics club before school. A full set of tablets means more students could participate.
About my class
Kindle 7 tablets are an economical choice to enhance science and engineering learning, and bring the technology part of STEM into our classroom. An average of 380 students come to me every week for science. A significant number of my students do not have any access to technology at home. Even when parents have smart phones, many cannot afford data plans or internet connections.
Tablets would benefit students in many ways: to learn computer literacy, enhance documentation and sharing of data, provide supports to ELL and IEP students, and get meaningful rubric-based assessment results much faster than can be done on paper. Tablets give students the opportunity to photograph or video clip their results, so they can be more closely reviewed outside of instructional time. They can refer back to them the next class period. Students can upload photographs to cloud storage, allowing absent students to access the projects. There are numerous online activities and resources that are part of our FOSS curriculum that students would be able to utilize. Having one tablet per student increases effectiveness since each tablet can have a role and multiple functions can be performed by a group simultaneously.
Online assessments require one tablet per student, and we would not have to monopolize the limited school computer lab resources to assess learning. They also reduce grading time so each student can get a detailed meaningful report the very next day. Students who were absent, or are new to class, can view group projects and complete online activities to catch up more quickly.
Finally, students are interested in starting a computer coding and robotics club before school. A full set of tablets means more students could participate.
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