Potential of Using iPad as a Supplement to Teach Math to Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

This qualitative study was conducted to identify the potential of using iPad as a supplement to teach math to students with learning disabilities. Ten teacher candidates from a university in the south provided one-on-one math tutoring services to ten students in a self-contained classroom at a local high poverty elementary school. The students were tutored math for five weeks using ten free math apps in addition to the traditional teaching methods. The apps were selected as they deemed fit with the math content standards, and abilities of the students. Each week, teacher candidates reflected on their tutoring experiences and at the end of five weeks, they completed an open-ended survey regarding their use of iPads as a supplement to teach math to the students. Findings confirmed the use of iPad as a supplement to help students’ conceptual understanding of numbers, order of operations, expressions, and multiplication and division skills.