We’ve all heard how using an iPad in the classroom improves a child’s literacy scores and now a new study is showing the same is true for math students as well.
App developer YourTeacher teamed up with KIPP Academy to test grade 8 students to see if their scores would improve after using an iPad. Students were provided with an iPad and the Algebra 1 iBook, available on iBookstore, to replace the traditional textbook.
The program is referred to as a flipped classroom — 80% of the iPad usage was outside the classroom, allowing teachers to focus on more advanced training and one-on-one help in the classroom.
The students were then tested using the KIPP Spring Common Assessment Test. The scores were compared to the students who didn’t have access to an iPad and the results speak for themselves.
“Overall, the percentage of students who rated either proficient or advanced (the ‘passing’ rate) was 49% percent higher in the ‘flipped classrooms’ using the iPads than in the traditional classrooms with no iPads,” according to the report. “The difference was most pronounced in the percentage of students rated as ‘advanced,’ which was 150% higher in the ‘flipped classrooms.’”