Arguments on Why Tablets Must Replace Textbooks in K-12 Schools 

We are living in a modern era that is full of technology right at our fingertips. Technology has become a huge crucial part in our everyday society, especially in primary schools. Tablets and textbooks have been a huge controversial topic in the education system of K-12 schools. Due to the advancement of technology, there are many benefits as to why tablets should replace textbooks in K-12 schools. There is still a question whether should tablets replace textbooks in k-12 schools and in this essay some of arguments are mentioned for the review of the topic.

Tablets are cheaper than textbooks in K-12 schools. Purchasing a huge quantity of paper will waste money as one critic points out, “A school with 100 teachers uses on average 250,000 pieces of paper annually. A school of 100 students on average spends between $3 - 4 thousand a month of paper, ink and toner, not counting printer wear and tear or technical support costs'. Due to all of the striking expenses that includes paper, printing, and publishing that go toward printing textbooks, schools should instead consider using tablets. In addition, the cost of tablets are falling since, “As the cost of bulky textbooks continues to climb at double the rate of inflation, ever-slimmer digital tablets keep coming down in price'. As a result, the price of tablets have dropped significantly and will continue to drop over the years. Moreover, textbooks can be expensive considering it being particular and lengthy while tablets are expansive, “Net Texts is a free web-based system that provides teachers access to a vast library of high quality OER content ... Further, schools can save up to $250 per student per year by reducing or eliminating costs for textbooks and curriculum materials”. This specifically demonstrated that it's less costly to update information such as Net Texts since it's free as opposed to buying a whole new textbook each time you need to update information. Consequently, replacing textbooks with tablets will save money for schools and will be worth it in the long run.

In addition, tablets are substantially lighter than textbooks. Students are aware that multiple textbooks are a hassle to carry while a single tablet is not, in fact “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 apporcimatle the same weight as a molecule of DNA. The same number of physical books would weigh about two tons”. This clearly demonstrates that one tablet can store hundreds of textbooks without any weight changing whereas the multitude of weight given of each textbook. Furthermore, heavy backpacks can cause injury to students: “During the 2011-2012 school year more than 13,700 US kids, aged 5 to 18, were treated in hospitals and doctors’ offices for backpack-related injuries such as contusions, sprains, fractures, and strains to the back and shoulders”. A very simple way to fix this issue is to use tablets instead of textbooks. Ultimately, a typical student using their backpack 8 times a day throughout each year can be very rough and can have a harsh effect on their health.

Moreover, tablets enrich classroom education more so than textbooks. Tablets can boost students interest in learning by being interactive making it fun to learn considering towards, “81 percent of K-12 teachers believe that tablets enrich classroom education”.

“According to the U.S. Department of Education and studies done by the National Training and Simulation Association, technology-based instruction can reduce the time students take to reach a learning objective by 30-80 percent'. This demonstrates that tablets can produce and explain numerous methods of studying making textbooks very distinguishable.

“Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt tested an interactive, digital version of an Algebra 1 textbook on a tablet in California's Riverside Unified School District. Students who used the tablet version scored 20 percent higher on standardized tests versus students who learned with traditional textbooks”. This demonstrates students scored significantly higher in percentage on standardized test scores using tablets rather than textbooks.

However, some may argue that tablets do not enrich classroom education more than textbooks. Tablets can lead students to become very distracted while textbooks present information in a clear concise format to make “People who read text comprehend more, remember more, and learn more than those who read digital text. Tablets enables students to cut corners or cheat on schoolwork and that tablets shift the focus of learning from the teacher to the technology”. This demonstrates that tablets can lead to students short attention span and enabling laziness to cheat.

“For Ceja’s research project, he had 20 students split into two groups, with one group reading an article digitally while the other read the print version. Both groups took a 10 question quiz on the article … From this project, students who read the print article scored an average of 77 percent while students who read the article digitally scored an average of 60 percent”. Ceja’s project clearly illustrates the depths of how textbooks can enrich classroom education instead of tablets.

Clearly, tablets are the better alternative than textbooks for many benficial purposes in the use of classrooms. We are living in a century engulfed by technology to revoluntionize the education techniques and to evolve education systems. Tablets are the future of education while textbooks are going to be outdated.