While the graphing calculator is a staple in many high school math classrooms today, recently students in Pre Calculus Honors class with Mrs. Donna Zippin at New Hartford High have been exploring the use of a different kind of device to learn math, the iPod touch! Equipped with the school's set of iPod touches as well as some structured activities Zippin crafted, her students have seen how the iPod touches can be an alternative to the graphing calculator, and in some cases, even let them solve math problems in ways that aren't possible with a graphing calculator or other traditional methods! What makes the iPod touch such a capable device for math is some of the well-built applications for doing just about everything that the TI 84 or TInspire can and more, such graphing in three dimensions with pinch & zoom scaling! Since students are already familiar with the graphing calculator and using an iPod touch is so simple, it lets students dive right into learning quickly and easily. "Using the iPod touch not only adds another dimension to a student's expertise in using technology but to the class learning environment as well. It shows them how something they already own for fun and entertainment can even be used for doing their schoolwork!," Zippin stated. Activities that the students have done with the iPod touches have ranged in both scope and skill. Some activities have made of use various graphing & formula applications which replicate functionality found in graphing calculators but for a fraction of the cost! Among the most interesting activities are those involving some of the computational work and matrix operations using the powerful Wolfram Alpha application. These are simply not possible on a graphing calculator and open new doors to learning mathematics. While using the iPods has been enlightening, Zippin states she is still not quite ready to give up the graphing calculators they use each day. However, she does see how using the different applications on the iPod touch introduce an exciting, new method to deliver curriculum. She has also recognized that the students have also been very receptive to using the iPods in place of the graphing calculators. With these thoughts in mind, Zippin aptly stated, "Any tool which gets students excited about a lesson is worth the time it takes to explore its' use." In addition to seeing that the iPod touch motivates student learning, she notes how it can make her and her students more productive by allowing some student work done with the iPod touch to just be emailed to the teacher to be checked or graded. When asked what they thought of using the iPods in their math class, one student stated that the iPod touch is "more fun and interactive [than my graphing calculator]." Another student stated how the iPod touch "makes learning more interesting." As far as the role that iPod touches will play in her classes in the future, Zippin says that she is planning to add a few more lessons this semester on using the devices and eventually to have at least one lesson available for each Pre Calculus Honors learning unit. In the immediate future, she also has plans to see how lessons which have been posted on the TI website for use with the graphing calculator can be adapted for the iPod touch. To inquire about the iPod touch classroom and how it can used in your classroom, just contact the District Tech Team. They would see what can be done using iPod touches to enhance your curriculum too!