...inside and outside the classroom.
The traditional notion that learning takes place within the confines of the classroom and within class time is no longer valid. Learning takes place all the time and all around us. The iPad's portability supports round-the-clock access to information and communication.
Research is uncovering the greater link between the way that girls learn best--through social connection, language use, and spatial understandings--and the presence of the iPad or other mobile technologies.
Opportunities for women in the world of work or higher learning are becoming more dependent on the ability and capability with the use of technology. The presence of mobile devices, like the iPad, not only place technology directly into the hands of girls and young women but allows for the spatial understanding through the ability to travel and move within the learning experience, collaborate through digital tools anywhere or anytime, and to share all four facets of communication-reading, writing, speaking and listening.
The ability to collaborate and work in teams is critical in today's workplace. The iPad is a tool that furthers La Pietra's commitment to developing those skills, helping to better prepare our students for the challenges that lie ahead.
On our campus on a given day, you will see students accessing music for choir class; taking photos to record results from science experiments, using Google maps to study geography; or editing video for a technology course. The application of the iPad in every subject area makes it an invaluable tool for every student.
The iPad can be used as an intervention to aid understanding, allowing teachers to deliver content in new ways. Teachers can more easily address the unique learning style of each student. A more personalized approach to lessons maximizes opportunities for each student to learn in the way that suits them best.
Teachers are using the iPad's many applications to help students organize their workload and manage assignments. It can serve as a centralized hub for accessing syllabi, homework assignments, and other class projects.
There are a number of apps that can help students take and organize notes, add photos of white boards, record audio and video and cut and past information from other sources. In this way, information on a specific topic can be organized together, regardless of where the information came from.
Middle and high school students are digital natives. In order to best reach them and maximize their interest in learning, we must use tools that they are familiar and comfortable with. The iPads do just that, making learning "cool".
Teaching and learning within a block schedule allows for more in-depth understandings to occur. Students learn through increased collaboration and discussion as well as through independent thought and discovery in project-based and problem-based learning environments. The use of the iPad facilitates and encourages each of these opportunities in ways that 21st century students learn.