Waverly-Shellock Middle School in Iowa recently announced it was outfitting each of its students with an iPad, according to Eastern Iowa Schools News. Through federal funding and bonds, the school was able to invest about $300,000 in the devices, which teachers believe will add depth to lesson plans and engage students in ways that traditional teaching methods can't.
Many new forms of technology can offer students more than traditional methods can. Today, students are often more comfortable with a tablet computer, an interactive whiteboard or an HDMI projector than they are with a textbook because technology represents a medium through which they gather an enormous amount of information every day.
Beverly Anderson, a fifth-grade teacher at the school, told the source that she's using the iPads to teach her students cartography.
"Most people go to the GPS, or they use an iPad or phone and so instead of getting out the map, what we are doing is we are going on a map program on the iPad," Anderson said. "I think we can do more research based learning, as opposed to reading the text book and reflecting."
