Exploring the World Through Tablets

 Exploring the World Through Tablets

by Rose Pleuler, Intern Fall 2012

Tablets are used in many classrooms today, as they can put a number of highly effective learning resources literally at students’ fingertips. The versatility and mobility of the device allows it to supplement most educational environments. Tablets can provide access to global content, allowing teachers to show students on a more interactive level the content of their lessons—perhaps a history teacher can pull up an audiovisual clip of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream“ speech, rather than have students read the text from a book. A student can also share and create content of his or her own, such as a web-based book report or a video tutorial.

However, the tablet can be used as more than just lesson supplement. Consider the tablet’s built-in camera. With each reimagining of the tablet, the camera is finessed into a more sophisticated medium than before. Because the quality of the camera is so good, some classroom innovators are attaching magnifiers and microscopes to tablets. You can magnify an image up to 20 times larger on a tablet and still yield great photo quality. Mini-microscopes can accurately enhance pictures up to 40 times larger! This is an exciting and effective tool for the classroom.

Using the tablet as a microscope, magnifier—or as any tool, for that matter—allows students to interact directly with the environment and also encourages students to explore. Instead of showing students a picture of what a hair follicle looks like, students can investigate on their own. This hands-on experience in the classroom, where interactivity was previously confined to the lab environment, is invaluable.

The inspiration of the tablet resource when used with magnifiers and microscopes demonstrates how we may choose to investigate the world around us. Embracing the tablet in the classroom is a fantastic opportunity for students to connect hands-on exploration, academic enthusiasm and the important technologies of the now and future.