Slashdot Mirror
For Education, Why TI-83 > iPad
theodp writes "Writing in The Atlantic, Phil Nichols makes a convincing case for why educational technologies should be more like graphing calculators and less like iPads. Just messing around with TI-BASIC on a TI-83 Plus, Nichols recalls, 'helped me cultivate many of the overt and discrete habits of mind necessary for autonomous, self-directed learning.' So, with all those fancy iPads at their schools, today's kids must really be programming up a storm, right? Wrong. Nichols, who's currently pursuing a PhD in education, laments, 'The iPad is among the recent panaceas being peddled to schools, but like those that came before, its ostensibly subversive shell houses a fairly conventional approach to learning. Where Texas Instruments graphing calculators include a programming framework accessible even to amateurs, writing code for an iPad is restricted to those who purchase an Apple developer account, create programs that align with Apple standards, and submit their finished products for Apple's approval prior to distribution.'"
If TI-83's were made by Apple, you could calculate any number except 5318008.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
So, when pointed out that a cheap calculator is a much better educational deal than an expensive tablet, your answer is 'install an emulator on the expensive tablet'?
Just when I thought Apple fans couldn't sink any lower...
"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
"The iPad is among the recent panaceas being peddled to schools..."
Now get the new and improved panacea that I personally endorse. That other panacea is crap.
they also rely on external lighting, tend to be unspeakably large and cumbersome to use, requiring a lot of extra space, and often also require you to purchase additional hardware, called a "bookmark"