Smart schooling

While I acknowledge that there is an issue to address in terms of sensible use, this can be addressed through education, as can the very real issue of addiction to these devices.

As a physics teacher, I feel these devices, particularly smartphones, have enormous potential to tap into in the classroom.

In times of austerity, where there is very little money to purchase new resources for our new curricula, we would be crazy not to use the enormous potential of smartphones.

As well as being an excellent method of engaging students, here are just a few examples of how they can be used in a scientific context: stopwatches, calculators, cameras, taking slow-motion video to enable detailed analysis of, say, a bouncing ball, using built-in accelerometers to take measurements, sending data wirelessly to sensors.

More apps are constantly being created to use in the classroom and these can only enhance the learning experience.

As teachers, our job will be to ensure these devices are used within clearly defined boundaries and in a way which does not discriminate against those students who don’t have such a device.

Findlay Rush

Lathrop Park

Kinross