Attack of the 1st graders

• Step 1 – iPad demonstration:I asked the students if they’ve seen or heard of an iPad and all of them said no. I briefly introduced it and went around the classroom showing some of the apps I had on the device.We discussed how it can be used to read books, and used Winnie the Pooh, which I had on the device, as an illustration. I went around having each student interact with the iPad by turning a page.In addition to the drawing program, I also used a game called Dizzypad to demonstrate how the iPad can be used for more than reading. The game consists of a frog and spinning pads. The objective is to get the frog from pad to pad to earn points. As you keep playing the pads spin faster and if you skip a pad by jumping over it, you earn an extra life in a form of a flower. NimbleBit the company that created Dizzypad, describes the game as: “Koi Pond meets Doodle Jump in this beautiful high score game from NimbleBit! Escape into your own tranquil pond to see how far you can jump your dizzy frog from pad to spinning pad. Skip pads to earn extra flowers and extend your journey. Unlock new frog skins by earning various awards and compete with others through a local high score and multiple online leaderboards” (It’s really more fun and addictive than the explanation).

• Step 2 – “If you could take the iPad home, what would you use it for?”After asking the above question, all the hands in the classroom went up; it seemed everyone had something to share. I wish I had a camera for this moment because I felt like I was in a comedy sketch.The response went as follow:
  – student 1 – I would use it to draw something;
  – student 2 – I would use it to play games;
  – student 3 – I would use it to draw picture;
  – student 4 – I would play a game;
  – student 5 – I would draw something;
  – student 6 – I would use it to play games…I interrupted the chorus of unified response and asked if anyone had something different from playing games or drawing, and again, many hands went up and the new responses were :
  – student 1 – I would use it to draw something;
  – student 2 – I would use it to play games;
  – student 3 – I would use it to draw picture;
  – student 4 – I would play a game;
  – student 5 – I would draw something;
  – student 6 – I would use it to play games…..

  After sometime of going in circle and switching between playing games and drawing; one student broke with the group and indicated that he would like to use the device to “send email and write television” (due to time constraints, I was not able to ask what he meant by “write television”).

Discussion and lessons learned:
When we arrived, the students were finishing up their spelling quiz; so I guess the interaction with the iPad served as reward. I  also came away with a renewed respect and appreciation for 1st grade
teachers. The amount of energy and dedication that it takes to manage a
classroom of 30 little bundles of energy is just something that all my
experience in managing college students could not prepare me for.

The reaction to the iPad from 1st graders was not that different from others as far as the excitement was concerned. However, they seemed more concerned and seemingly satisfied with simply touching the devices So it was not surprising that there was more of an interest in using the device for games because games tend to have more interactive properties. They were also very impressed by and interested in the transitions of flipping the pages of a book; transitions seemed more interesting than other apps on the device.

In her article, The Role of Children in the Design of New Technology, Allison Druin outlines four roles that children can play in the design process. Druin argues that children can be viewed as users; testers; informants;  and design partners (Druin, A. The Role of Children in the Design of New Technology. Behaviour and Information Technology (BIT), 2002, 21 (1), 1-25.). Although it was only one class period, this experience gave me a better understanding and appreciation of the value of children in all those roles.

From a design and educational perspective, I came away convinced that a tablet like an iPad holds much promise for students of all ages, even in 1st grade. The size of the screen provides for much more design real estate and the type of interactivity that a tablet like the iPad provide makes learning more fun and opens up a lot of possibilities. I would think that a spelling quiz on an iPad would provide for a much richer experience because the student can be provided with immediate feedback. “C is for Cat” would no longer be just an abstract concept or associated with a static picture but can have audio and various animations.