4th Grade iPod Touch Inquiry

Dear Fourth Graders,

Thank you for investigating the iPod Touch for me. As you know we already have a great deal of technology in the school, so we need to think carefully before buying something new. Your ideas and suggestions have been very useful to me.

It is clear from reading your reports that there is quite a lot of disagreement. Many of you were impressed by how many features and learning applications were available on the iPod Touch (like cameras, clocks, calculators etc), but just as many of you explained that we already have this technology in the school and you were worried that we would be spending a huge amount of money unnecessarily.

You compared the iPod Touch with some of the equipment in the school like video cameras and microphones. Again, your opinions and perspectives were very different. Many of you thought that the video quality on the iPod touch was not very good, particularly in poor light as there is no flash. You also felt that it had a short battery life and there was a problem in keeping it charged. However, just as many of you thought that the video quality was very good, especially in daylight and you thought that the sound quality was excellent.

A significant number of fourth graders seemed to agree that the iPod Touch was easy to use (i.e. recording, downloading etc). You agreed that it was small and convenient to carry around, and most of you agreed that the touch feature was extremely cool. In fact, it was so exciting, that many of you were worried that this might become a problem. You were concerned that it might become too distracting.

You’ve certainly given me a lot to think about. At the moment, I am considering buying a set of iPod Touches for the library. This way, if a class needs to use this technology, they can borrow it, and there will be enough for all the students. The library may need to become responsible for keeping them charged. I was impressed that so many of you didn’t want to just throw away the equipment that is already in the school. Over the next few years, we may find that the cameras and microphones that we are using at the moment need to be replaced. Then we will need to make a decision about what to buy. We might replace them with the iPod Touch, or maybe something even more exciting is on the way?

Thank you again for all the work you put into this unit of inquiry. I appreciate your effort, and your results have been really useful to me.

Warm regards,

Mr. Lorenzini