A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

There is nothing on that marketing page that seems to especially improve learning vs. physical materials for anyone under about 10 years old. And frankly most stuff for 10–15 year olds can still (a) probably be done as well if not better using physical materials, and (b) isn’t significantly different between an iPad and a laptop or desktop machine, and often could be done on a machine shared by several students working together or taking turns.

I can well imagine that someone trying to learn how to program might want to use some kind of computer, but even then why an iPad instead of a little turtle robot that responds to Logo, or whatever?

Someone trying to learn how to make electronic music or edit video might get a lot of mileage out of computers (iPad or otherwise) but I can’t imagine this has become a core part of the school pedagogy.

I can also imagine that for anyone in middle school and up there might be a big benefit to carrying an iPad around instead of a giant backpack stuffed with 5 separate overweight textbooks. Though there are some advantages to the physical books too.

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Instead of telling a bunch of skeptical non-teacher techies that we “haven’t been trained on how to fully leverage the tech”, maybe you can explain what that training would entail?

What in your experience has the iPad been so powerful for that couldn’t be done without computers? What age kids are you working with, and what are they working on?

the kindergarten for my child doesn't even have TV and nobody has problem, the other branch has one TV which they don't really switch on, can't imagine having tablet in kindergarten, that's just pure laziness

i let my child watch TV like max. one hour a week as reward after trimming nails, of course pretty much zero time with mobile/tablet, it would be minutes per week when watching over my shoulder at some of our photos/videos or rarely gifs i watch

i don't see a reason why should child in kindergarten spend any time in front of screen anywhere, i ruined my eyes by staring at screen, that can't be healthy for children eyes and for many other reasons

i would be curious if they use tablets in other European countries or it's just another example of "superior" american education system

Especially nothing that would justify the immense cost of an iPad.

For someone with impaired motor control skills I would assume that default software and a touchscreen is far from usable. There is a reason why many touchscreen system has a stylus pen, which would obviously not work in kindergarten for children with impaired motor control skills. A large screen and software designed for it could be one way, but I have also seen massive trackballs that I recall is being used in those situations.