Eighth-grade students at the Presidio Middle School are trying out using the iPad instead of the textbook as part of a pilot study. Here's what they have to say about it.
Lenny Gonzalez
KATE NAKATO
You can watch videos and it explains stuff to you. The “view in motion” goes step by step with you and I can go back and understand stuff. And it’s easy to carry, it’s not heavy like a book.
Q. When you get stuck on a problem, how’s the iPad different from a book?
With a book, I would just skip it, and wait to figure out what’s happening in class for Ms. Mitchell to explain. But now I can go back and look at examples. It’s actually more fun than a book. A book’s kind of boring.
Sometimes I could be lazy, so I wouldn’t go online, so this is right there on the next page. The videos are my favorite.
Q. But do you think the videos are helping you learn or they're just making it easy to get the answer?
It helps me because it shows me how the steps go.
KYLE LEE
It’s a lot more fun. You can have notes that may be essential for tests, or a graphing calculator which is cool. I have a math game app, which is also fun.
I watch the videos. They help me understand a little more. They give you step by step instructions. Sometimes I don’t understand the step-by-step the teacher gives me, but I watch the videos over and over again, and I can get it when I need the help.
Plus it’s a lot lighter than the math book. It’s fun. My backpack is big everyday.
JEFFREY FUNG
It’s easier, a lot lighter, and you can access videos a lot faster than going on the Web and signing into accounts.
Usually when a person’s explaining it, it’s a lot easier to listen to. But when you’re reading it on paper, you actually have to think more about what’s on the paper.
Q. Which way you think you learn better?
With video, it’s a lot faster. And sometimes the video would say something extra, so I’d learn something more than what's just in the textbook.
Q. How is the teacher different with the iPad than with the book?
She’s telling us to watch more video, but she's also talking more.
Q. Do you like algebra?
Yeah, it’s pretty fun once you get it, but the learning process is a long time.
KIANA MOODY
I learn a lot more and a lot faster with an iPad because we get to watch videos. But I'm gonna be kind of sad when we turn them in.
I like that we can watch videos, and the questions are multiple choice so it's a little bit easier to answer.
Q. Are the questions easier or easier to work the problems?
The problems are the same as in the book, but it makes it more fun because you're using an iPad, it makes you kind of like do it more.
Because it's like having a teacher at home. You can watch it anytime you want to. I use it for homework and to study for tests.
Q. Is there anything you would change about it?
I would like it to be able to zoom in because the questions are smaller than they are in the book.