The BIG QUESTION with:
“Do iPads help children to read?”
to turn the pages in a book. It is surprising how
many students do not know this when they start
school.
Back to the question of do iPads help children to
read? In my opinion, iPads can be used as an aid but
should not replace books in the teaching of reading.
Reading assessments for a child during their first
year of schooling require interaction with books that
cannot be taught on an iPad. Also if parents decide
to use an iPad to teach a child about identifying
letters and words, it can be confusing for the child.
For example, there are many different fonts on
iPads, and exposing young children to this may
confuse their learning. When teaching writing in a
primary teacher as well as an author, I would have
classroom a standard font is used.
In regard to the teaching of reading in the early
years, most teachers use a ‘big book’ to read in
front of the class. This is used to demonstrate
reading behavior, for example, the front cover of the
to say no, iPads do not help children to read.
Some people may not be aware of this but when
a child starts school a teacher needs to find a
starting point with the child’s learning. Each
individual comes in at a different learning stage and
book, identifying the title of the story, how to turn
the page, the direction of text (where a teacher may
use their finger or a ruler to point at the text and the
way it is moving when reading.) Hence this is a
reason why young children need to be exposed to
needs to be assessed.
The Australian Government Education Board
has certain requirements that teachers must
complete. For example, students need to start
books early on rather than using iPads. There is
plenty of time for students to use iPads as they grow
older.
As adults, we need to spend time reading books
learning about book orientation, directionality,
with the next generation so that they can learn how
identifying letters, words and so much more. One
assessment examines if a student can hold a book
the correct way and whether the student knows how
to read and write rather than just relying on
technology such as iPads to do this for us.
From my experience as an early years