VOA慢速英语2011--A School System in Maine Gives iPads to Kindergartners（在线收听）

Education Report - A School System in Maine Gives iPads to Kindergartners

教育报道 - 缅因州一学区向幼儿园学生发放iPads

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。

Nine years ago, Maine became the first American state to provide laptop computers to all seventh and eighth graders in public schools. The northeastern state has since expanded that program to about half of its high schools. Now, one school system in Maine has launched a project to provide tablet computers -- the Apple iPad -- to all kindergarteners.

9年前，缅因州成为美国首个向公立学校所有七、八年级学生提供笔记本电脑的州。自那以后，这个东北部的州将这一方案扩大到了约一半的高中。现在，缅因州一个学校系统（即学区）已经启动了一个项目，向所有幼儿园的孩子提供苹果iPad平板电脑。

Some people have criticized the project as a waste of money. But school officials expect it to increase learning.

一些人批评这个项目是浪费钱。但学校官员预计它能提高学习。

LAURIE GERARD: "Now, we're going to explore ... "

劳里·杰拉德（LAURIE GERARD）：“现在我们将开始探索...”

Laurie Gerard teaches five- and six-year-olds at Sherwood Heights Elementary School in Auburn, Maine. Before the students collect their iPad, they say a rhyme to remind them how to be careful with it.

杰拉德在缅因州奥本地区Sherwood Heights小学教5、6岁的孩子。在学生领取他们的iPad前，他们念了段韵文提醒孩子们如何保护好iPad。

LAURIE GERARD AND STUDENTS: "Fingers on the bottom, thumbs on top, that way my iPad won't drop."

杰拉德和学生们：“手指在下面，拇指在上面，这样我的iPad就不会掉下来。”

Ms. Gerard plans to use different applications to help her create a learning plan for each student. The iPads have been in her classroom since the school year began in September.

杰拉德女士计划使用不同的应用程序帮助她为每个学生制定一个学习计划。自9月份开学以来，iPads就已经进入课堂。
　

Teacher Laurie Gerard uses iPads with her kindergarten students in Auburn, Maine

The principal of the school, Laura Shaw, says the iPads quickly let children know if they answer questions correctly.

学校校长劳拉·肖（Laura Shaw）表示，iPads可以让学生们迅速知道他们回答问题是否正确。

LAURA SHAW: "Kids, especially in kindergarten, are very hands-on and learn best when they're actually manipulating information and manipulating objects. When you have eighteen kids in the classroom and you see ten kids, hands raised up, the teacher does her best to get around. But sometimes with the iPads and certain apps the kids get immediate feedback. They know what they've done is correct and they can move on, or they know 'Oh, I need to ask for help.'"

肖：“孩子们，特别是幼儿园的孩子在实际操作信息和对象时非常得心应手，也学得最好。当课堂上有18个孩子，你看到10个孩子举手，老师尽全力来帮助他们解决问题。但有时使用iPads和特定应用程序，孩子们可以获得即时反馈。他们知道自己所做的哪些是正确的，他们可以继续做。或者他们知道，‘哦，我需要寻求帮助。’”

Almost three hundred kindergarteners in Auburn are using iPads this year. Project coordinator Mike Muir says he believes the computers can help students improve in reading and math. Less than two-thirds of the third graders in the school system are at what are known as benchmark levels.

奥本地区近300名幼儿园的孩子今年开始使用iPad。项目协调员麦克·谬尔（Mike Muir）表示，他认为电脑在阅读和数学上可以帮助学生们提高。这一学区不到2/3的三年级学生达到了所谓的基准水平。

MIKE MUIR: "One of our literacy interventionists was working with several of her students, and, having a hard time with helping them be successful, she finally pulled out her own personal iPad and had them work on some apps for letter recognition and letter formation, and they met the benchmark very quickly and even as she moved on to other topics with these students, they retained that level of mastery."

谬尔：“我们的读写能力干预措施之一是与她的几个学生共同努力，在经历了一段帮助他们进步的艰难时期后，她最终掏出自己的iPad，让学生们通过一些应用程序学习文字识别和组成，他们很快就达标。即使当她与这些学生转到其它题目上，学生们还是保持了掌握的程度。”

School districts in other states including South Carolina, Tennessee and Illinois are also using iPads. The project in Maine costs two hundred thousand dollars. Most of that money is from the state and the federal government.

包括南卡罗来纳州，田纳西州和伊利诺伊州在内的其它州的学区也在使用iPads。缅因州的该项目花费了20万美元，其中大部分钱来自州政府和联邦政府。

Not everyone supports the project. Computer science professor Elliot Soloway at the University of Michigan studies technology in education.

并非所有人都支持这一项目。密歇根大学计算机科学教授艾略特·索洛韦（Elliot Soloway）研究科技教育。

ELLIOT SOLOWAY: "It's ridiculous! [Laughs] And it's ridiculous not because of the iPads but because of the amount of money. Technology is really a wonderful, wonderful idea, but the problem is that the iPads won't scale. The iPads are not sustainable."

索洛韦：“太荒谬了！[大笑]它的荒谬不是因为iPads，而是因为所花的钱。科技的确是很棒的想法，但问题是iPads不能扩展，iPads是不可持续的。”

Is the iPad an effective learning tool? Educators in Maine plan to give a report at the end of the school year.

iPad是否是一个有效的学习工具？缅因州教育工作者计划在学年结束后提交一份报告。

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. I'm Jim Tedder.
___

Contributing: Tom Porter