======== You made a smart decision investing your hard-earned money in your iPad. Wouldn’t it be a waste if you never use it to it’s fullest potential? Apple Forgot Your Manual?! Get The Most From Your iPad Box! See how: http://sn.im/21qekfp ========= The Apple iPad 2: Mobile Learning Devices Make Learning Fun
All across the United States, there are plans to bring school districts up-to-date on their use of technology in the classroom. Closer to home, my husband finally came home with the perfect toy, the Apple iPad 2. While it's a mobile learning device and not really a toy at all, our kids haven't noticed that yet. Praise the gods.
It all started last year, when the local PTA generously purchased some Apple iPod Touch units for our school. That purchase allowed the teaching staff to begin utilizing the devices for educational purposes with some of their students. Then, this past spring, when we met with school staff to discuss ways to make learning more approachable for our oldest son, a very bright child who has some learning retention issues, one of their suggestions was that we consider investing in an Apple iPod Touch or a similar device to enhance visual learning.
This was a great suggestion, and aware that the new school year was rapidly approaching, my husband, the I.T. guy in our house, finally ran out to buy an Apple iPad 2 a few weeks ago. While it certainly isn't inexpensive for the basic, 16 GB wi-fi model at $499.99 (on up to 64 GB wi-fi, plus 3G, at $899.99), it is an investment that we feel is well worth the money.
Considering where technology was at even just a decade ago, the easy-to-use Apple iPad 2 is simply amazing! There are countless applications for the mobile device, but the most dazzling ones to me as a parent are the educational ones. Luckily, our kids feel the same way.
So far, the kids have been using a learning application that allows each child to log-in and work at different levels in any school subject, rewarding correct answers with 'coins' that can be spent in virtual stores. The program is essentially a series of interactive 'flash cards' that require that the child press correct answers and also write them in proper form. The application reads each question aloud and can help a child solve problems when necessary. There's also a learning Bingo game that reinforces the boys' math skills. The kids fight over it. Nirvana.
For our oldest child, who is obsessed with fish, the virtual 'fish store' has compelled him to blow through lesson after lesson in a quest to earn coins that can buy items to outfit an entire make-believe aquarium. The fish store even sells fish food in different sizes, allowing him to feed the fish that he has purchased. Kids tend to overfeed fish, so he needs to keep up with his lessons in the virtual school in order to purchase more fish food.
Our youngest son also loves the Apple iPad 2 learning applications. He tends to spend his earned coins in the 'shapes store', purchasing little bracelet rubber bands that mirror the real ones so popular with kids today. His coins go into one of those bubble-gum type machines (found at real stores) and out comes a trinket capsule holding the bracelet. He can even transfer them from virtual wrist to virtual wrist and pull them into distorted shapes that make squeeky, rubber-band noises.
The token-economy provided by the Apple iPad 2 is more effective than the more tangible ones offered at home or at school, especially for our oldest son. We plan to use the virtual economy to reward him for things like real fishing trips and other things once the school year begins. The more coins he earns on the mobile learning device, the more fishing trips he can enjoy in real-life.
The other kid in our house, my husband, is on a quest now to research other applications that all of us can use. One of the coolest ones that he has discovered is the Star Walk application. Point the Apple i-Pad 2 anywhere in the nighttime sky, and it will show you which constellations you are looking at, similar to a computerized telescope. Point it down toward the ground, and it will even show you what constellations are on the opposite side of the globe in real time. Breathtaking.
There are countless applications available for the Apple iPad 2 in just about any subject imaginable, and while that also includes an endless number of video games, my husband and I agree with each other that in our home, this device is strictly for educational purposes. Besides, the boys already have a Wii and two Nintendo DS's so the Apple i-Pad games would just be superfluous. Using the mobile learning device for gaming would be a disservice to the reason why we bought it in the first place, and a real disservice to our kids.
Like any parent, we'll use any tool or method to help our kids learn. We're just thankful that the Apple iPad 2 has made that task a little easier and a lot more interesting-for all of us.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6515120
======== You made a smart decision investing your hard-earned money in your iPad. Wouldn’t it be a waste if you never use it to it’s fullest potential? Apple Forgot Your Manual?! Get The Most From Your iPad Box! See how: http://sn.im/21qekfp =========