At Cazenovia High School, the Apple iPad is more than a must-have gadget.
The touchscreen tablets are helping students connect with Shakespeare and rediscover reading.
The district purchased 40 of the devices using stimulus funding and began testing them in classrooms earlier this month.
Using the one-time federal funding to invest in technology made sense for both budget and curriculum, said Donna Fountain, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. The iPads cost half as much as the Mac laptops in the district’s technology suite that cost more than $1,000 to replace. And the iPads are more mobile than standard word processors.
The district also is saving on textbooks by downloading titles in the public domain, which are free, and purchasing e-books at a fraction of the cost of a standard classroom set.
In the classroom, teachers have the ability to steer students to applications, allowing them to choose reliable sources for information rather than sending students to the Internet.
During the first week of the pilot program, students in Kristi Chiarello’s English class used the iPads to recite scenes from “Romeo and Juliet.”
The iPad’s interactive display allowed students to look up definitions, take notes and bookmark passages for future reference as they scrolled through pages. Chiarello also downloaded an application that offered other ways to experience the classic tragedy, with short animated videos to help students better understand Shakespeare’s 16th-century prose, character maps for the Capulets and Montagues and options for audio.
“It gives us access to everything all in one place,” Chiarello said.
The iPads are a hit with students.
“I feel like I don’t zone out as much,” said student Joe Zamito. “It is easier to pay attention.”
Librarian Vicki Reutter considers the devices a “one-stop shop” for students to connect with an array of learning tools. The library also offers other digital resources for student use, including the Amazon Kindle, and students said they would be more likely to use the devices to read during their spare time.
“This is where the future is headed,” said Reutter, who has overseen the library for 30 years. “It begs for this kind of tool.”
Fountain said teachers in other subject areas are researching how to incorporate the technology into their classrooms, including science, mathematics and social studies.
“This opens up the possibility of integrating all kinds of content into the curriculum,” she said.
Contact Alaina Potrikus at 470-3252 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
• In 2009:Researchers from Cornell University asked junior high students at Canastota Junior-Senior High School to use iPhones to take photographs of their breakfast and after-school snacks. Students sent the photos to researchers, who scored their meals and gave feedback on how they could improve their choices. The research was funded through a $160,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, part of the foundation’s $2 million national program to encourage development of computer games that promote health.
• Last year: Fourth-grade teachers at Hamilton Central School used a classroom set of iPod Touch devices to give quizzes on the Erie Canal while students used applications to learn new vocabulary words and practice math problems. The handheld media players are part of a package of Apple computers purchased by the district’s Emerald Foundation in 2010.
• This year: A grant from the Oneida City School District Foundation Board funded the purchase of Amazon Kindle e-readers for fifth-grade classrooms.