Summary of Problem 

It’s estimated by the US Department of Labor that 65% of today’s school age children will have future careers that don’t yet exist

Crucial for the United States’ growing economy, environmental sustainability, and national security

Literature Review

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• The National Endowment for the Art’s Reading Study (2009) found significant gains in reading scores since the introduction to the e-book
• Small (2008) found evidence that daily use of digital technology can ignite synapses in untapped areas of the brain
• Shuler (2009) states that one-on-one learning with a mobile device such as an iPad will “enable kids to develop passions and interests via their own personalized, media-enhanced environments that can transport them to different times and places.”

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• DeStafano and LeFevre’s (2007) review of 38 studies, which involve reading with digital technology, found conflicting information
• increased potential of enriched information offered by the Internet was more than the human brain could handle
• The brain’s ability to keep up with the delivery of constant information was troubling for the comprehension of the material

Research Question

• R1: Does one-on-one iPad implementation have an effect on 5th graders Creative Thinking ?
• H1: The implementation of iPad technology in a 5th grade public elementary school classroom will increase their score on the TTCT

Sample

population

• 5th grade is the period in development when students begin to understand different points of views, and gain the ability to think abstractly
• raised in a radically different environment than their predecessors; in addition to the always connected lifestyle, and instantaneous sharing, different eLearning and technology based learning environments are provoking further change (Wagner, 2008)
• unique population to study because of their malleability to technological advances, notably of the first group of society to be exposed to this amount of technology in the classroom

sampling method

• 955 public elementary schools in the Twin Cities
• Through the use of a random number generator, I will select 200 schools to participate
• The chosen schools will then be asked to submit a list of all of the fifth grade classrooms in their school. From this list, the random number generator will be used again to randomly assign two classrooms- TAU & Treatment, ~30 students/class
• cluster sampling method to measure fifth-grade TTCT test results

measures

• Torrence Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT)
• delivered individually or in group
• consists of 3 sections that measure student’s fluency, originality, abstractness of title, resistance to premature closing, and elaboration
• tested through a series of picture construction and completion, and line creation activities in order to assess creativity before and after a significant period of iPad use

Methodology

• Pre-test Post-test Design
• Students in the randomly assigned cluster for the treatment will each receive their own iPad for the year
• The iPad will help them to engage with science apps that allow them to further explore the parts of the human body, different natural phenomena, the structure of live plants, etc.
• Students in the TAU cluster will be delivered the same curriculum, homework, and tests, only the method of delivery will take place however the teacher typically teaches the subject matter.