Children sharing iPads in class likelier to score higher on achievement tests

A new study has demonstrated that kindergartners who shared iPads in class scored higher on achievement tests as compared to those who were in classes that had no iPads or classes with iPads for each student.

The study conducted by Northwestern University surveyed 352 students at a Midwestern suburban school district that was phasing in 1:1 iPads into their kindergarten classrooms, creating a natural experiment where classrooms in one school had 1:1 iPads; classrooms in a second school had 23 iPads to share, where kids primarily used them in pairs; and classrooms in a third school had no iPads. She looked at the effect that using 1:1 iPads for one academic year (9 months), compared to the other two conditions, had on student literacy (as measured by the STAR Early Literacy Assessment).

Results showed that students in shared iPad classrooms significantly outscored their peers in 1:1 and non-iPad classrooms on the spring achievement test, even after controlling for baseline scores and student demographics. Blackwell found that shared iPad students scored approximately 30 points higher than 1:1 iPad students and non-iPad users.

Courtney Blackwell asserted that 1:1 tablet computers may not be the most effective way to use technology for all grades and from a policy standpoint, they need to rethink what developmentally appropriate technology use is for young children.

Blackwell continued that shared iPad students significantly outperformed both the 1:1 and non-iPad condition, suggesting it's the collaborative learning around the technology that made the difference, not just the collaboration in and of itself and while schools and districts may still want to go 1:1 in all grades, they may reconsider how the tablets are used, especially in earlier grades, in order to make the technology most effective.