As education and technology continue to intertwine, the young women at The Mary Louis Academy are leading the curve.

Every ninth-grade student at the Jamaica Estates high school will be using iPads, a touchscreen computer tablet, in their social studies classes.

This pilot program is being implemented by Danielle McCormack, social studies teacher, and Shannon McNamara, global studies and advanced placement world history teacher. They have been preparing for this program for over a year by researching the best practices along with testing new applications and websites.

“The goal is to see how students can be more deeply engaged with history, and enhance their learning,” McCormack said. “IPads represent a union of the students’ world and the academic world, so they give an opportunity to really get involved with history.”

McNamara said that she is “very excited for the possibilities that the iPads offer educators as a way to make history come alive. The devices will be used to access primary and secondary sources, to practice map and geography skills, and create more opportunities for collaboration.”

Although learning with iPads is still relatively new to the academy, the teachers and students have already delved into the innumerable possibilities of learning with tablets.

The iPads will be used for webquests, jigsaw puzzles and a means for informal assessment such as exit quizzes on the internal school website. Students will use them to blog ideas about history and peer-edit written work.