Integrating iPads in Middle School Science Instruction: A Case Study
With the appropriate support and experience, iPads and other mobile devices can be used for collaborative scientific inquiry moving beyond individual skill practice and assessment appropriations. The mobility and access the iPad provides opens up the classroom for innovative instructional practices, allowing students to physically explore their world, though the devices themselves are not enough to guarantee student engagement and learning. The Gradual Increase of Responsibility (GIR) model for teacher coaching (Collet, 2008) is used as the instructional coaching model of professional development. Through GIR, coaches model, make recommendations, ask probing questions, and affirm teachers’ decisions over the course of several months to increase the teacher’s independence in using technology to transform instruction for students. This study aims to examine how middle grades teachers’ integration of one-to-one technology moves beyond drill and practice and using apps as extension activities.
