Student motiviation was a big contributing factor in the inspiration for our project. Specifically, we noticed that when students aren't engaged (which seems to be more and more the case), teaching them anything is a challenge.
Although we haven't yet ordered our interactive white boards, we have had the good fortune of aquiring a class set of individual "old fashioned" white boards and markers, and the students LOVE them!
Originally, I had intended to use these in an attempt to save paper. (It is the process of solving the problem, for example, in math, that is important to me, and not necessarily always the product, sometimes consisting of reams and reams of paper! The whiteboards allow students to draw or write their thinking, but without having to consume all kinds of paper in the process. Once solutions or ideas are shared, you simply wipe off the board, and it can be reused for something else.)
As I discovered the first time I pulled them out to use, and in subsequent lessons, there is an additional bonus to using non-paper: student motivation goes way up with the integration of a little novelty like this!
Both during individual tasks and while on the carpet in a large group, the students have been consistently engaged in the task whenver it involves the white board. Even students who typically struggle to complete or even begin assignments were on task for extended periods of time, and the cooperation level amongst students skyrocketed with the use of the white boards -- very exciting!
Now... let's see if it lasts, hehe.
Now... let's see if it lasts, hehe.