Using iPads to Create

During the 2013-2014 school year, fourth graders at Brayton and Greylock Elementary Schools used iPads to document the process and present the results of engineering experiments.  In learning how to manipulate digital text and images so that they could present their ideas about basic mechanical principles, students honed their technology, science, and literacy skills.

Megan Rogers is a Williams student who taught hands-on science lessons and incorporated iPads in her teaching.

We gave students the iPads so that they could document their progress with pictures and videos.  Some groups were even creating their presentation while finishing their machine.  I saw how much the students enjoyed using iPads and how they helped students see where their machines might not be working and could use improvement.

Students at Brayton and Greylock also took photos and videos of a play they enacted about Ellis Island and used those for iMovie projects during the spring of 2014.  WEO, in partnership with the North Adams school district, continues to build on this work with a focus in the 2016-2017 academic year on computer science, including coding and computational thinking.