Promoting Higher-Order Thinking with the iPad
By Andrew Vanden Heuvel Michigan Virtual School®
No technology in history has been adopted by teachers as quickly as the iPad. The pace of development is staggering, exciting and exhausting. It is challenging to distinguish between authentically educational uses of the device and mere “gee-whiz” applications. As you explore how to use the iPad in the classroom with your students, consider this simple conceptual model, which illustrates how we can use the iPad’s unique capabilities to increase the sophistication of our student’s thinking.
Apps for Content Delivery
The iPad is a tremendous tool for delivering content. To start with, video lectures, like those found in iTunes U, can supplement or replace traditional classroom lectures. But the iPad can do even better – the built-in camera makes it possible for content delivery to be place-specific. For example, students can use Leafsnap to identify plants though photo-recognition and access detailed information about the species. Going a step further, augmented reality apps, like Star Walk, add labels to real-time views through the camera, telling students exactly what they’re looking at, while they’re looking at it. The place-based learning and augmented reality capabilities of the iPad make it an unprecedented tool for on-demand content delivery, helping students learn outside the classroom walls. Gathering content, however, is just the start – we want our students to be able to use this knowledge, not simply pass it back to us.
Apps for Analysis
Analysis requires a deeper level of understanding. The iPad can support higher-order thinking with these tools for the math and science classroom. Performing calculations, collecting data and designing experiments is no longer confined to the school laboratory. Powerful calculators like Wolfram Alpha not only solve complex problems, but also provide the step-by-step solutions. Video recording and analysis software, such as Video Physics, allows students to use the real world as their lab space, measuring the velocity of golf balls or the acceleration of motorcycles. Moreover, using simple physics-based games like Osmos, students can design and perform experiments in artificial worlds, analyzing laws of nature that would never be possible otherwise.
Higher-Order Thinking vs. Unique iPad Capabilities 12 |
None of these particular apps are unique to the iPad – they can all be downloaded or accessed with a PC, but the iPad has become a
Winter 2011-12 | MACULJOURNAL
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