Schools Get a Helping Handheld
Pencils, protractors, compasses, folders ... add handheld devices to the list of school supplies that some believe are essential for today's classroom.
Instead of lugging a laptop to class or trooping to the computer lab, students at Consolidated High School District 230 in Orland Park, Ill., are carrying their computer in the palms of their hand.
And after a semester of successfully incorporating the devices into class lessons, the school district plans to expand the program next year.
"This is going to be the dominant technology that students use at school," said Darrell Walery, director of technology for the district.
The district's three high schools rolled out 2,200 Palm IIIxe handhelds this fall in what is believed to be the largest experiment of its kind in public schools.
"A lot of technology-rich programs center around one grade level, one teacher or one ability," Walery said. "We have teachers from all different subject areas in the program."
Andrew Lech, a freshman at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, uses the Palm in nearly all of his courses.
Lech writes essays in English class on the handheld and skips the trip to the school media center. He keeps track of his homework and instantly averages his grades on the device. "I don't like writing in my assignment notebook," he said. "(The Palm) is more interactive. It's a lot better."
Instead of lugging around a dictionary for Spanish class, he uses a translation application for the Palm. In his honors algebra class, he uses the device as a graphing calculator.
The sophomore biology classes taught by Laurie Ritchey at Carl Sandburg High School use the Palms to instantly graph data during lab experiments.
To measure dissolved oxygen in a pond, students plugged in a probe to the handhelds and dropped the probe in the water. The Palm then recorded and graphed the data.
The portability of the device was essential. "Normally you can't be rolling a computer out to a pond," Ritchey said.
In another project, students use the devices to predict and analyze their "ecological footprint," a measure of the resources each person uses.
To do the experiment, students recorded "a massive amount of data" on the device including information about their homes, cars, food, recycling and the number of cotton clothes they wear.
A lesson on mitosis incorporated the Palm as well. Students used a sketchpad program to draw the different stages of mitosis, which then became animated when the student finished.
Ritchey was one of 65 volunteer teachers who spent a week last summer learning to use the Palms. She admitted that incorporating the device into the classroom has been time-consuming. But the payoffs have been worth it, she said.
"You're teaching the same things but it's a more innovative way of teaching," she said. "The kids are more enthused."
Walery said the district decided to introduce a large number of Palms all at once because otherwise, "it's hard to tell how (a small number of) results transfer to different situations," Walery said.
Participating teachers meet once a week to learn new applications for the devices and to compare notes.
Students in the program can buy a Palm for $225, lease one for $75, or only use the device while at school.
The staff discovered that kids who only used the tool at school did not get as much value from them.
"The kids didn't get used to them as fast," Ritchey said. "They didn't make as much progress as fast as those who own them."
As a result, certain classes next year will require students to buy or lease a Palm. Financial aid will be available to those who cannot afford the devices.
One proponent of handhelds in school was thrilled to hear that the district is embracing the technology.
"A low-powered computer in your hand is more educationally beneficial than a high-powered Pentium III computer down the hall," said Elliot Soloway, a University of Michigan professor who has developed applications for the Palm.
"Every school can afford to provide every child with a $100 computational tool," he said. "It's simply a matter of priorities."
William Rukeyser, coordinator of Learning in the Real World -- a critic of the widespread adoption of technology in education -- admitted that "it looks like one of the better thought-out experiments" he has seen.
But he added a few cautionary notes as well; namely, that schools should not be so gung-ho about technology that they end up "trying to fit an educational challenge into a technological box" to the point where the technology becomes a burden.
Rukeyser also expressed concern that the new tool could be an economic barrier to some.
"People should be really careful about further exacerbating these social inequalities," he said.
And there are practical concerns, too.
"Even as the cost of handhelds has dropped significantly, there's still going to be loss. If a student drove over his notebook, it probably wouldn't be damaged the same way a Palm Pilot would be," he said. "That (loss) doesn't happen to a notebook that costs a buck nineteen.
Instead of lugging a laptop to class or trooping to the computer lab, students at Consolidated High School District 230 in Orland Park, Ill., are carrying their computer in the palms of their hand.
And after a semester of successfully incorporating the devices into class lessons, the school district plans to expand the program next year.
"This is going to be the dominant technology that students use at school," said Darrell Walery, director of technology for the district.
The district's three high schools rolled out 2,200 Palm IIIxe handhelds this fall in what is believed to be the largest experiment of its kind in public schools.
"A lot of technology-rich programs center around one grade level, one teacher or one ability," Walery said. "We have teachers from all different subject areas in the program."
Andrew Lech, a freshman at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, uses the Palm in nearly all of his courses.
Lech writes essays in English class on the handheld and skips the trip to the school media center. He keeps track of his homework and instantly averages his grades on the device. "I don't like writing in my assignment notebook," he said. "(The Palm) is more interactive. It's a lot better."
Instead of lugging around a dictionary for Spanish class, he uses a translation application for the Palm. In his honors algebra class, he uses the device as a graphing calculator.
The sophomore biology classes taught by Laurie Ritchey at Carl Sandburg High School use the Palms to instantly graph data during lab experiments.
To measure dissolved oxygen in a pond, students plugged in a probe to the handhelds and dropped the probe in the water. The Palm then recorded and graphed the data.
The portability of the device was essential. "Normally you can't be rolling a computer out to a pond," Ritchey said.
In another project, students use the devices to predict and analyze their "ecological footprint," a measure of the resources each person uses.
To do the experiment, students recorded "a massive amount of data" on the device including information about their homes, cars, food, recycling and the number of cotton clothes they wear.
A lesson on mitosis incorporated the Palm as well. Students used a sketchpad program to draw the different stages of mitosis, which then became animated when the student finished.
Ritchey was one of 65 volunteer teachers who spent a week last summer learning to use the Palms. She admitted that incorporating the device into the classroom has been time-consuming. But the payoffs have been worth it, she said.
"You're teaching the same things but it's a more innovative way of teaching," she said. "The kids are more enthused."
Walery said the district decided to introduce a large number of Palms all at once because otherwise, "it's hard to tell how (a small number of) results transfer to different situations," Walery said.
Participating teachers meet once a week to learn new applications for the devices and to compare notes.
Students in the program can buy a Palm for $225, lease one for $75, or only use the device while at school.
The staff discovered that kids who only used the tool at school did not get as much value from them.
"The kids didn't get used to them as fast," Ritchey said. "They didn't make as much progress as fast as those who own them."
As a result, certain classes next year will require students to buy or lease a Palm. Financial aid will be available to those who cannot afford the devices.
One proponent of handhelds in school was thrilled to hear that the district is embracing the technology.
"A low-powered computer in your hand is more educationally beneficial than a high-powered Pentium III computer down the hall," said Elliot Soloway, a University of Michigan professor who has developed applications for the Palm.
"Every school can afford to provide every child with a $100 computational tool," he said. "It's simply a matter of priorities."
William Rukeyser, coordinator of Learning in the Real World -- a critic of the widespread adoption of technology in education -- admitted that "it looks like one of the better thought-out experiments" he has seen.
But he added a few cautionary notes as well; namely, that schools should not be so gung-ho about technology that they end up "trying to fit an educational challenge into a technological box" to the point where the technology becomes a burden.
Rukeyser also expressed concern that the new tool could be an economic barrier to some.
"People should be really careful about further exacerbating these social inequalities," he said.
And there are practical concerns, too.
"Even as the cost of handhelds has dropped significantly, there's still going to be loss. If a student drove over his notebook, it probably wouldn't be damaged the same way a Palm Pilot would be," he said. "That (loss) doesn't happen to a notebook that costs a buck nineteen.
No comments:
Post a Comment