First-grade teacher Nannapath Sirpratath helps one of her students. CHANAT KATANYU

By Terry Fredrickson

Rachawinit School was one of five chosen to try out tablets under the government’s One Tablet per Child scheme. During a visit by the Bangkok Post, both teachers and students seemed quite positive about the experience

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Tablet tryout at Rachawinit School.

Voranai Vanijaka & Lamphai Intathe

By his own admission, 10-year-old Petch wasn't the most dedicated student in his fourth-grade class at Bangkok's Rachawinit School.

According to his teacher Wassana Somwan, Petch had trouble concentrating in his lessons, he couldn't sit still and his writing was not as good as other students.

But all that changed when Rachawinit was chosen as one of five pilot schools to trial Lenovo computer tablets for Grade 1 and Grade 4 students under the government's One Tablet per Child scheme.

''I like the tablet,'' says Petch. ''One time, the teacher asked what our favourite region was, so I searched the southern region and read about its traditions. This was where my grandfather came from.''

Ms Wassana only allows Petch to use the tablet if he first practises writing.

''His writing is so much better now because of it,'' she said. ''He's happy to receive compliments, to get good grades and to help other kids with their tablets.''

The computer tablets have also had a dramatic impact on Nannapath Sirpratath's first-graders.

Ms Nannapath trained for three days on how to use the tablets and has been teaching her first-graders with 40 of them for two hours a day from Jan 20.

''It's fun for me and it's fun for the students,'' she says, explaining the importance of ''fun'' as an effective way to educate seven year olds.

Students at Rachawinit School try out their new Lenovo tablets. CHANAT KATANYU

''The tablets help the students to learn better and also improve their behaviour.''

When Ms Nannapath talks to the class about Asean, she asks the students to search the word and read up online about the regional bloc. On Makha Bucha day she told her students to search for information about the religious holiday on their tablets.

''When there are pictures and colours, it's more fun and the students become more interested,'' she said, adding that textbooks are good, but they are outdated when compared to online content. Also, the textbooks don't have the colourful images to attract the attention of students.

Ms Wassana said that the fun, the excitement and the ''ability to travel the world'' have changed the classroom and her students.

''I asked them to search for Thai proverbs, and they found more results on the internet than in the textbooks, and with beautiful images,'' she said.

''It's a new toy for them full of wonder and excitement, so they become very excited about learning. Their parents too are excited,'' she added.

Yesterday, the Bangkok Post had a story about an experiment with tablet computers at Rachawinit School. The school was one of five chosen to try out tablets under the government’s One Tablet per Child scheme. In general, the experiment was quite successful with most, but not all, of the students feeling very positive about the use of their new electronic "toy". The story is rather long and here is an excerpt from the opening to start you going. You can read the full story here: http://bit.ly/zxL8d8

You can read previous article at www.bangkokpost.com/learning/all-article.