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**Interactive White Boards in the Elementary Classroom Grades K-3**

Definition & Introduction

As the world becomes more technologically advanced, so must our classrooms. One of the advanced tea ching tools widely used today are interactive white boards.

According to Manny-Ikan, Dagan, Berger-Tikochinski, and Zorman (2011), an interactive white board is a system that consists of a computer which is connected to a projector and touch-sensitive screen. Images that appear on the computer screen are projected onto the touch-sensitive screen where they can be controlled, without using the keyboard or mouse connected to the computer, but rather by using a stylus, cordless pen, or simply by touching the screen. Another important component is the software that enables interaction between the computer and the screen. Interactive white boards can be thought of as an "extension" of a teacher's computer.

This video gives you a short introduction to interactive white boards. media type="youtube" key="sysWlQIiJVw" height="315" width="560"

Interactive white boards combine the function of a normal chalkboard or dry-erase board with  technology that allows for "interactive and constructivist learning and teaching" (Manny-Ikan et al., 2011).

Some of the functions interactive white boards are able to perform include:
 * projecting presentations, videos and images
 * writing, drawing, and erasing as one would on a normal chalkboard or dry-erase board
 * dragging and dropping items
 * adding and deleting items
 * highlighting items
 * using animation; items can change size, shape, be flipped. etc.
 * viewing and exploring the Internet
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">viewing, altering and saving/storing written documents and notes, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. that can be brought up at a later time
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> receiving visual or auditory feedback from particular items (Manny-Ikan et al., 2011)

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With interactive white board technology a teacher can easily move from subject to subject. In many ways the uses for this technology are limitless. Everything a teacher may need is at their finger tips, literally. Just a touch on the board and students are taken on an interactive learning journey. This technology has many uses in K-3 education which we will discuss in more detail later in the chapter.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Cost

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The cost of interactive white boards depends on the size of the board and the technology used. The major companies that produce interactive white boards like Mimio, PolyVision, Promethean, and SMART Technologies (Mounce, 2008) have prices that range from about $600 for smaller boards to $3,000 for larger boards with more advanced technology (Information based on Google Shopping Search). Boards that are very large will have a price tag that is equally as large.There are additional expenses for up keep and replacement pieces as well.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">A Brief History: From the Chalkboard to the Interactive White Board

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Prior to using interactive white boards, educators used chalkboards. These teaching tools go back as far as the early 1800's (Allen, 2012). Chalkboards began to be phased out when dry-erase technology, first invented in the 1960's, started being used in classrooms in the early 2000's (Allen, 2011). We still see chalkboards, and more commonly dry-erase boards, being used today in classrooms in addition to and alongside interactive white boards. The interactive white board has a relatively short history. Interactive white boards were first produced in 1991. This technology became an affordable classroom resource around 2004. It was at this time that we started seeing interactive white boards introduced in classrooms and schools (Shenton & Pagett, 2007).

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px;">How Can Interactive White Boards Be Used in the Classroom?

This technology is very versatile which makes it a wonderful instruction tool for educators. There are an endless number of ways this technology could be used for instruction. Here are some ideas of how a teacher might use the board in core subject areas.

Math
 * Teachers could work on shapes with the younger aged students. They could do an activity as simple as putting pictures of shapes up on one side of the board and the names of the shapes on the opposite side. Students could come up and drag the shape to the name that matches.
 * Simple addition and subtraction could be worked on using the white boards. Teachers could write a addition/subtraction problem on the board and have one student come up and write down the answer. Then, to get all the students involved, have the students raise their hands if they agree with the answer given by their classmate.

Science
 * The teacher could have a picture of a plant or flower up on the board. There could be a blank line pointing to each of the parts of the plant (root, stem, leaf, etc.). The students could come up and write the name of the part on each blank line.
 * Working on food chain examples could be demonstrated on the white boards. The teacher could put up pictures of animals involved in a string of the food chain. The students would have to go up to the board and put the animals in correct order. For example, the hawk eats the snake, which eats the mouse, which eats the grasshopper.

Social Studies
 * The teacher could put up a map of the United States. On one side of the board there could be pictures of famous U.S. landmarks. These could include Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Mississippi River, etc.). One at a time the students could go up to the board and drag the landmark to the correct location on the map.
 * Another geography lesson that could be used with the white boards could be learning the continents and oceans. The teacher could have a atlas picture of the world up on the board. Students could come up and locate each ocean and each continent.

Language Arts
 * The teacher types sentences that appear on the board. They should be simple 3-5 word sentences. The students go up to the board and underline or highlight the nouns or verbs in the sentence.
 * Going off of the previous activity, the students could correct the sentence. For example, the sentence might have the wrong punctuation or a misspelled word, etc. and the students could correct the sentence on the board.

Daily Uses
 * There are a number of uses that can be done daily or even weekly. One use is for attendance. When the students come into the classroom in the morning they can drag their name across the board to check in for the day.
 * Another thing it could be used for is to have daily readings up on the board so students can follow along to the teacher's directions.
 * Another way it could be used is for checking in and out of the classroom. If a student needs to go to nurse they can mark their name by the nurse. This will also remind the teacher where all his/her students are at all times.
 * The class could also change the date and weather on the board each day.
 * Lastly, the teacher could have homework assignments and messages to parents on the board so students can write them down in their agendas at the end of the day.

Keep in mind that interactive white boards are not limited to these subjects. The technology would also be useful in physical education, music, and art education as well as special education. Teachers who wish to use this technology will need to determine how to best incorporate it into their classroom and curriculum. Teachers can discover creative and innovative ways for students to use this interactive teaching tool.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;"><range type="comment" id="506710"><span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">‍‍‍Advantages & Disadvantages

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">In the article, //An Attitude Scale for Smart Board Use in Education: Validity and Reliability Studies//, there are many advantages to using a specific type of Interactive White Board called a Smart Board. The advantages are shown through a study in Malatya, Turkey. The study included 203 students from two local schools. The purpose of the study is to figure out student attitudes toward Smart Boards (SBs). One of the advantages this study found was that SBs appeal to three major student senses: seeing, hearing, and touching. SBs also enable teachers to be more effective in their lesson planning, facilitating, and implementing. Teachers can use a vast arrangement of tools on the Smart Board such as photos, flash animations, videos, documentaries, Power Point presentations, graphics, and animations. The Smart Board helps produce more legible handwriting, more precise and clear drawing, and add color and movement to their presentations. Students in this generation have grown up with fast moving animations. All of the multimedia available on the Smart Board helps to keep students interested in the lesson. Smart Boards help to improve student interaction within daily lessons (Sad, 2012).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Lessons using the interactive white board increase student motivation, engagement, and participation <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">(Shenton & Pagett, 2007).

One of the disadvantages that I have noticed personally is that the Interactive Whiteboards easily become out of alignment. They constantly need to be realigned. According to //Interactive Whiteboards in Education//, Interactive Whiteboards tend to either be too high for the user to reach or too low for students to view the whole screen. Another disadvantage is that only one person can work on the screen at a time when using older models. The newest models allow more than one student to work at a time. The screens seem to be fairly resilient but if damage does occur, the screen would be extremely expensive to replace (Brown, 2010).

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Future Direction

Like all forms of technology, there are constantly new inventions being created and more possibilities being offered for interactive whiteboards. This could make it seem like there is a great future for them, but considering other forms of technology being invented (i.e. iPads) and the cost of the product and its upkeep, how does the future really look for this classroom tool?

Overall, it is difficult to say for sure where the future of interactive whiteboards will go. Some executives at leading whiteboard manufacturers insist that “there is still plenty of room to grow their customer base” considering the United States, the rest of the Americas, the Middle East, and the Far East have lagged behind Western Europe in whiteboard adoption. (Quillen, 2012). It is estimated that 80 percent to 95 percent of classrooms worldwide are still without whiteboards which means that, theoretically, there should still be plenty of potential future buyers as education becomes increasingly digital. (Quillen, 2012). However, in the poor economy it may be tougher to sell a piece of technology that can cost thousands of dollars per unit. Pegeen Wright, an educational technology consultant says, "I'm not sure who can keep buying whiteboards, and how many might buy the tablets and some of the other things coming along. … I just don't see the funding." (Quillen, 2012). Even so, schools are still buying interactive whiteboards, especially if the companies provide educators with a suite of services, accessories, and software beyond the board itself.

Even though some whiteboard makers say that the “interactive whiteboard is still an important central display tool in a truly digital classroom” and believe that schools will spend the money to install them in the future, others wonder about the long-term educational relevance of interactive whiteboards because of the recent emergence of iPads. (Quillen, 2012). Many see the iPad and other tablets threatening whiteboard manufacturers' student-response systems since tablets can easily serve the same functions while also enabling use of the Web and word processing. (Student-response systems allow teachers to prepare questions using their interactive whiteboard and the system's remotes and assessment software to allow the students to respond to the questions using remotes, their own computers, or mobile devices to answer them.) However, the popularity of iPads has actually pushed some whiteboard consumers to buy tablets made by whiteboard manufacturers from which they can manipulate the screen while roaming around the classroom. An example of a product with this capability is the ActivSlate made by Promethean. Below is a video showing the ActivSlate in use.

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<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Conclusion

As you can see, interactive whiteboards have come a long way since their invention in 1991 and products continue to be created for them that extend their capabilities even more. Teachers all around the world are making use of this interactive classroom tool, and despite the emergence of newer forms of technology such as iPads and tablets, we should expect to see them becoming available in more schools in future years. Although there are some disadvantages to consider, interactive whiteboards have proved to be quite useful in K-3 classrooms in many ways. They make lessons far more interesting and exciting for students in a world that is becoming increasingly digital, they increase participation and interaction due to the many tools and programs available to use, and most importantly it helps teachers create a fun and engaging classroom environment that encourages student learning.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;"><range type="comment" id="939136"><span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">‍‍‍Sources ‍‍‍

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Allen, A. (2012). Who invented the chalkboard?. In // Who Invented It? // . Retrieved February 9, 2012, from http://www.whoinventedit.net/who-invented-the-chalkboard.html

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Allen, A. (2011, August 23). Who invented the whiteboard?. In // Who Invented It? // . Retrieved February 9, 2012, from http://www.whoinventedit.net/who-invented-the-white-board.html

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Brown, S. (2010, July 27). Interactive Whiteboards in Education. In // TechLearn //. Retrieved February 12, 2012, from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/interactivewhiteboards.pdf

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Fusion Universial. SMART board intro. (2011, January 24). Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Manny-Ikan, E., Dagan, O., Berger-Tikochinski, T., & Zorman, R. (2011). Using the interactive white board in teaching and learning- an evaluation of the smart classroom pilot project. //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Courier,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objectives //, //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Courier,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">7 // , 249-268.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Mounce, A. B. (2008). Teaching content with interactive whiteboards. //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Courier,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Journal of Special Education Technology //, //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Courier,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">23 // (1), 54-58.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Promethean. (2012). ActiveSlate. Retrieved on February 10, 2012 from []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Quillen, I. (2012, February 8). Battle for Whiteboard-Market Supremacy Heats Up. In //Education Week//. Retrieved February 9, 2012, from []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Sad, S. N. (2012, April). An Attitude Scale for Smart Board Use in Education: Validity and Reliability Studies [Electronic version]. // Computers & Education //, // 58 // (3), 900-907. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.10.017

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Shenton, A., & Pagett, L. (2007, November). From 'bored' to screen: the use of the interactive whiteboard for literacy in six primary classrooms in England. //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Courier,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Literacy //, //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Courier,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">41 // (3), 129-136.