Tag: ipad

iPad Coding – STEM Curriculum Resources by Dr. Wesley Fryer

I have a cart of iPads in my classroom for student use, so I’m very interested in STEM-related iPad apps!

According to Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager in “Invent to Learn,” “Three categories of [school computer] usage were outlined in Robert Taylor’s seminal book on the subject, The Computer in School: Tutor, Tool, Tutee (Taylor, 1980).” The first two computer uses predominate in schools. To use a computer as a “tutee,” however, students must PROGRAM or CODE the computer. While Scratch software (free) is my favorite programming environment to use with students, Scratch still relies on Adobe Flash so it doesn’t function completely on iOS devices like iPads. The following apps are designed specifically for coding on iPads.

via iPad Coding – STEM Curriculum Resources by Dr. Wesley Fryer.

Go Ahead, Mess With Texas Instruments – Phil Nichols – The Atlantic

Why educational technologies should be more like graphing calculators and less like iPads. An Object Lesson.

PHIL NICHOLS AUG 30 2013, 11:03 AM ET

Last year, while cleaning out the basement of my childhood home, I discovered a plastic storage bin marked “Calcusoft.” Inside were piles of notebooks filled with sketches, storyboards, and lines of code, and buried beneath it all, a TI-83 Plus graphing calculator.

I bought the calculator the summer before eighth grade, when it was included on a list of required supplies for students entering algebra. At the time, owning a graphing calculator was a small but significant rite of passage for a junior high student. It was a sign of academic sophistication. It announced to younger peers that the equations you were expected to solve outpaced the primitive features of meager, four-function devices. But most importantly, graphing calculators were programmable, which meant they were equipped to play games. While possession of a traditional handheld gaming system constituted a brazen breach of school rules, playing games on a calculator maintained the appearance of genuine scholarly work. A graphing calculator was like having a school-sanctioned Game Boy.

continue reading Go Ahead, Mess With Texas Instruments – Phil Nichols – The Atlantic.