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Interesting - it looks like this company is trying to make a tablet that is tailored for education. I like this idea because the iPads seem to be designed to profit the Apple company, which makes some things (such as the lack of Flash compatibility) a hindrance in the classroom.

We actually met with the rep from this company last spring. He was at MassCUE as well. At the time we could not purchase any of the tablets. They were in the beta stage. When I saw the rep at MassCUE, he mentioned that they applied many of the suggestions we made when he showed us the tablet last spring. The interesting piece was that we still are not able to purchase them yet!

Having access to a tablet specifically designed for education would be beneficial. ipads are great, but like you said, something like the lack of Flash Player can be frustrating. With increasing use of technology in schools, the devices will hopefully get more educator friendly.

Looking for STEM activities for iPads and other tablets? The Concord Consortium has been converting their activities to HTML5 for physics, chemistry, biology, math and Earth and space science.

Great evidence for the potential for taking visual notes.

I have a few students who are doing this! Mixing visual media with their notes in Evernote, Penultimate, Skitch, Google Drive, etc. They included images of European Romantic art with their analysis of scholarly article excerpts today. Seriously, their notebooks are amazing and Ovenell-Carter takes it to even another level. Can't wait to see what they're doing in a year or two once more students are coming to school with their own tablets instead of having to rely on ours. Next question: How do we convince parents of the value of this kind of note-taking and that putting a tablet in their child's hand will change the way they think about education?

I love these notes and took pictures in sessions at MassCue to jog my own brain. How do we encourage young ones to keep doing this as they grow in their learning in school. I watch the early childhood group already doing this naturally. I wonder when my own children will do this.

This is a thought-provoking article about the effects that our kids may be experiencing from use of handheld devices when very young. It's a question that I've had for a while about relative benefits of technology for very young kids. What do people think?

This could be an interesting debate topic. While I don't necessarily agree with some of the points made in the article, I do sometimes wonder how much overuse of technology is contribute to higher rates of ADHD or ADD. I don't have any hard and fast evidence, but based on what I see in the classroom, it seems difficult for students to "slow down" and focus on any activity for long periods of time. They so used to jumping from one thing to another, or texting on their phone while talking to a friend, that they're never really present in the moment, or focused solely on what's in front of them. I also notice it with myself. Having an ipad or cell phone or laptop at a meeting, it's hard to always stay focused on what's going on, especially when work emails are coming in that seem to need your immediate attention. It's definitely hard to shut off or disconnect. However, I also remember someone sharing in class thoughts from Tony Wagner's book that screen time in school where kids are working collaboratively on a project, or experiencing things that they can only experience with technology, is vastly different from playing video games, or watching TV/movies in a more isolated setting. Technology can be instrumental in learning, and I don't see how it wouldn't remain part of instruction in elementary schools. Maybe the debate is more in the quality of how it's used? Good food for thought; thanks for sharing!

I agree that this is a great topic to debate. As with with most things there are positives and negatives that both make sense. I agree with Julie that maybe the question should focus on the quality and quantity of how these devices are used with children under 12.