Should Tablets Replace Textbooks in Classrooms? | Teen Ink

Should Tablets Replace Textbooks in Classrooms?

February 16, 2015
By akg20 BRONZE, Hartland, Wisconsin
akg20 BRONZE, Hartland, Wisconsin
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Today all around the world, there is a fiery debated going on about two multi billion dollar industries, should there be tablets or textbooks in classrooms. This problem is fairly new and some say tablets should replace textbooks , while others think we should stick with textbooks and not spend money on new tablets. This issue is not all positive or negative though, there are things good and bad for both sides. But in truth, tablets should replace textbooks in classrooms because they improve students scores on standardized tests, tablets are your whole day in a 1 to 2 pound device, and textbooks are heavy and can cause injury.


One reason tablets should replace textbooks in classrooms is because if students learn from e-books instead of textbooks they score higher on standardized tests. Though many classrooms have used textbooks for the whole time the school has been around and still score high on tests it is proved that students score higher learning from e-books. According to procon.org’s article “Should Tablets Replace Textbooks in K-12 Schools?” “publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt tested an interactive, digital version of an Algebra 1 textbook for Apple's iPad in California's Riverside Unified School District. Students who used the iPad version scored 20 percent higher on standardized tests versus students who learned with traditional textbooks.” This means that if there were students learning from a print textbook that scored 70% on a test, students learning from a e-book version would score 84%. This is credible research because it is done by a site that is not one sided about this topic and has done lots of research to prove its points.


Another reason tablets should replace textbooks is that tablets can store hundreds of books, quizzes, and homework. According to the research done by the site procon.org put into the article “should Tablets Replace Textbooks in K-12 Schools?” “Tablets can hold hundreds of textbooks on one device, plus homework, quizzes, and other files, eliminating the need for physical storage of books and classroom materials. The average tablet contains anywhere from 8 to 64 gigabytes (GB) of storage space. On the Amazon Kindle Fire, for instance, 1,000 books take up one GB of space.” This is undeniable evidence that schools should use tablets, the tablets can hold a whole day of learning in a 1 to 2 pound device. Another fact from procon.org is that “A 4GB tablet filled with 3,500 e-books weighs a billionth of a billionth of a gram more than if it were empty of data - a difference that is approximately the same weight as a molecule of DNA. The same number of physical books would weigh about two tons.” That is great evidence too that tablets should replace textbooks. The website procon.org has done lots of research about this topic and they are a trusted debate website.


One more reason tablets should replace textbooks is that textbooks are heavy and can cause injury. According to the large amount of research done by the trusted news website put into dbbullseye.com’s article “PRO: Tablet vs. Textbook” “While doctors recommend that people should carry a maximum Of 15% of their body weight, books for the four to five academic subjects exceed that limit. This results in over 13,000 backpack-related injuries a year for kids between the ages of 5 to 12. Tablets, on the other hand, weigh only about one to two pounds, yet are able to store thousands of information for numerous courses.” This is a credible news site and has done lots of research put into this article. This evidence proves that textbooks are a big problem in schools. Imagine if you were a little boy walking to school and suddenly, you go to the ground with a thud, you strained your back and cannot play your favorite sport for three weeks. How would you feel? Would you want to carry your backpack to school anymore? The answer is no.

There is a huge amount of evidence supporting tablets in classrooms and even evidence against textbooks. It is undeniable that tablets should replace textbooks in K-12 classrooms based on all the evidence given. Next time you hear about this topic, now you can think of the right choice, you could even go to your school board and explain why you should use tablets in school for education. This issue affects millions of students worldwide, including you. Go out there and advocate for your learning!


The author's comments:

Tablets should Replace Textbooks in classrooms.


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