When Tablet Turns Teacher Reading Answers

Jan 22, 2025

When Tablet Turns Teacher is an academic topic for IELTS Reading answers. When Tablet Turns Teacher Reading answers comprise a total of 14 IELTS questions. For the given set of questions (Questions No. 27-33), you have to read the statements properly and provide the answers in TRUE, FALSE, OR NOT GIVEN options. After that, for the other set of questions (Questions No. 34-37), you have to fill in the blanks with the given list of words. And finally, for the remaining set of questions (Questions No. 38-40), you have to choose the correct option from the given options.

The IELTS Reading Section plays a vital role in the IELTS exam, assessing the candidate's ability to understand and analyze different passages. These tasks help candidates to identify main ideas, draw out specific details, and draw conclusions. Suitable for both academic and general training modules, IELTS reading practice Questions prepare candidates by providing insight into the test format and improving their confidence for the actual test.

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Section 1 When Tablet Turns Teacher

I remember the day, years ago, when I took an iPad home for the first time. It was a humbling experience. Within minutes, my two young daughters had seized on the device and were handling it with far more dexterity than me. So much so, in fact, that after that, whenever I felt flummoxed by a phone or computer, I'd give it straight to my kids to sort out. And if we were ever trapped in a car, train, or anything else, I was apt to hand over whatever device I was using at the time and let them explore its functions—something people of my generation never seem to have the skill or patience to do. But does their dexterity arise because my children are ‘digital natives’—kids who have grown up in a world surrounded by mobile phones and keypads? Or is the ability to decode an electronic gadget innate to all young human brains, irrespective of where they live? These are the fascinating questions that a group of researchers from Boston in the USA have been exploring in the unlikely setting of Ethiopia. A few years ago, Nicholas Negroponte, formerly of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, co-founded a group known as One Laptop per Child, which has been successfully distributing ultra-cheap computers to the world's poor as part of an educational campaign. But now Negroponte and Matt Keller, a fellow researcher who previously worked with the World Food Program, have launched an experiment so bold it might be science fiction.

Six months ago, they dropped dozens of boxed iPads into two extremely remote villages in Ethiopia, where the population was completely unable to read and write and had no prior exposure to electronics. No instructions were left with the packages, aside from telling the village elders that the iPads were designed for kids aged four to eleven. They also showed one adult how to charge the iPads with a solar-powered device. Then the researchers vanished and monitored what happened next by making occasional visits and tracking the behavior of the children via SIM cards, USB sticks, and cameras installed in the iPads. The results were thought-provoking, particularly for anyone involved in the education business. Within minutes of the iPads landing, they’d unpacked the boxes and worked out how to turn them on. Then, in both villages, activity coalesced around a couple of child leaders, who made the mental leap to explore those tablets—and taught the others what to do. In one village, this leader turned out to be a partly disabled child: although he had never been a dominant personality before, he was a natural explorer, so became the teacher.

The discovery process then became intense. When the children used the iPads, however, they didn’t sit with a machine each on their laps in isolation as Western kids might be expected to do. Instead, they huddled together, touching and watching each other’s machines, constantly swapping knowledge. Within days, they were using the pre-installed apps, with games, movies, and educational lessons. After a couple of months, some were singing the ‘alphabet song’ in English and recognizing letters—at the request of the Ethiopian government, the machines were all in English. More startling still, one group of kids even worked out how to disable a block that the Boston-based researchers had installed into the machines, which was supposed to stop them from taking pictures of themselves. All of this happened without any adult supervision and without anyone in that community having handled text on screen before.

This experiment still has much further to run and has not been independently audited. However, the researchers have already drawn three tentative conclusions. The first is that ‘no matter how remote children are, or how illiterate their community, they can figure out sophisticated technology,’ as Keller says. Secondly, and leading from that first point, technology can potentially be a potent self-learning tool. And thirdly—and more controversially—Keller concludes that ‘getting kids access to technology may be much more important than giving them schools.’ In other words, instead of pouring money into shiny buildings and teacher training, aid groups might do better just to distribute mobile phones and laptops with those self-teaching games.

Many people would dispute that. After all, the technology world is full of hype, and some economists and development experts, such as C.K. Prahalad, have questioned whether poor communities can truly derive the benefits of modern technology without help. Singing an ‘alphabet song’ is one thing; reading calculus is quite another. But at the very least, Negroponte and Keller’s experiments raise two further questions in my mind. Firstly, what is all this technology doing to our kids’ neural networks and the way future societies will conceive of the world? Secondly, and more practically, could these lessons about self-learning be applied to the West? Should someone who worries about the failures of the US education system to reach the American poor, for example, be looking to iPads for a possible solution? The answers aren’t clear. But the next time my kids grab my own devices, I may not feel quite so much parental guilt. Those devices may now be unleashing an evolutionary leap—with consequences that my tech-challenged generation cannot imagine.

Questions 27-33

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet, write:

YES — if the statement agrees with the views/claims of the writer
NO — if the statement contradicts the views/claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN — if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

27. The writer accepts that young people are more adept at using electronic devices.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: “...... Within minutes, my two young daughters had seized on the device and were handling it with far more dexterity than me. So much so, in fact, that after that, whenever I felt flummoxed by a phone or computer, I'd give it straight to my kids to sort out........”

Keywords: Young, Seized, Dexterity, Adept

Keyword Location: para 1, Line 2-5

Explanation: The passage acknowledges that young people are more proficient or skilled with electronic devices, mentioning how his daughters handled the iPad with more dexterity than he did.

28. The writer is surprised that the Boston researchers chose Ethiopia for their research project.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: The passage does not mention whether the author is surprised by the choice of Ethiopia for the research project. The author simply describes the project and its setting objectively.

29. The writer regards the project in Ethiopia as very ambitious.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: “...... But now Negroponte and Matt Keller, a fellow researcher who previously worked with the World Food Program, have launched an experiment so bold it might be science fiction........”

Keywords: Negroponte, Researcher, Science, Launched

Keyword Location: para 1, Line 17-19

Explanation: The passage describes the experiment in Ethiopia as “so bold it could be science fiction”, indicating that he sees it as an ambitious project.

30. The villagers in Ethiopia were unaware that the gadgets were intended for children.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: “......No instructions were left with the packages, aside from telling the village elders that the iPads were designed for kids aged four to eleven. They also showed one adult how to charge the iPads with a solar-powered device.......”

Keywords: Instructions, Packages, Ethiopia, Gadgets

Keyword Location: Para 2, Line 3-6

Explanation: The villagers were unaware that the iPads were for children, as the instructions given were only about charging the devices and their intended age range.

31. The behavior of the Ethiopian children was similar to that observed in Western children.

Answer: NO

Supporting statement: “......When the children used the iPads, however, they didn’t sit with a machine each on their laps in isolation as Western kids might be expected to do. Instead, they huddled together, touching and watching each other’s machines, constantly swapping knowledge.......”

Keywords: Children, Western, Observed, Similar

Keyword Location: para 3, Line 1-4

Explanation: Ethiopian children used iPads collaboratively, sharing knowledge and making discoveries together, unlike Western children who are typically expected to use the devices in isolation.

32. The researchers would have preferred the textual content on the laptops to have been in the local language.

Answer: NO

Supporting statement: “......After a couple of months, some were singing the ‘alphabet song’ in English and recognizing letters—at the request of the Ethiopian government, the machines were all in English........”

Keywords: Researchers, English, Ethiopian, Textual

Keyword Location: para 3, Line 6-8

Explanation: The passage mentions that the Ethiopian government requested that the materials be in English, which suggests that the researchers complied rather than preferring the local language.

33. The researchers predicted that the children would learn how to enable the laptops’ camera function.

Answer: NO

Supporting statement: “......More startling still, one group of kids even worked out how to disable a block that the Boston-based researchers had installed into the machines, which was supposed to stop them from taking pictures of themselves........”

Keywords: Researchers, Laptops, Pictures, Machines

Keyword Location: para 3, Line 8-11

Explanation: The researchers did not anticipate that children would learn to enable the camera function. They installed a block to prevent this, which the children unexpectedly disabled.

Questions 34-37

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-H.

Although the research project is _____34_____, it is possible to identify some preliminary findings. Firstly, the ability to _____35______ the workings of digital hardware and software seems not to depend on levels of _____36______ experience of using technology. What's more, faced with the challenge presented by the computers, the village children behaved in a highly _____37_____ way, with leaders emerging who took on the role of teacher to the benefit of the whole community.

Inconsequential
Instruction
Literacy
Disrupt
Numeracy
Independent
Invalid
Competitive
Co-operative
Ongoing
Design
Intuition
Decode
Input

34. Although the research project is _____34_____, it is possible to identify some preliminary findings.

Answer: Ongoing

Supporting statement: “......This experiment still has much further to run and has not been independently audited. However, the researchers have already drawn three tentative conclusions........”

Keywords: Experiment, Audited, Independently, Tentative

Keyword Location: para 4, Line 1-3

Explanation: The research project is still in progress, indicating that it is “ongoing”. This term corresponds to the context of an experiment that is being monitored and has not yet reached a conclusion.

35. Firstly, the ability to _____35______ the workings of digital hardware and software seems not to depend on levels of _____36______ experience of using technology.

Answer: Decode

Supporting statement: “.......Within minutes of the iPads landing, they’d unpacked the boxes and worked out how to turn them on. Then, in both villages, activity coalesced around a couple of child leaders, who made the mental leap to explore those tablets—and taught the others what to do.........”

Keywords: Digital, Software, iPads, Villages

Keyword Location: para 2, Line 1-14

Explanation: Children in Ethiopia learned to use iPads without any prior knowledge or instruction and demonstrated their ability to decode the technology independently.

36. Firstly, the ability to _____35______ the workings of digital hardware and software seems not to depend on levels of _____36______ experience of using technology.

Answer: Literacy

Supporting statement: “.......Six months ago, they dropped dozens of boxed iPads into two extremely remote villages in Ethiopia, where the population was completely unable to read and write and had no prior exposure to electronics.........”

Keywords: Ethiopia, Dropped, Population, Exposure

Keyword Location: para 2, Line 1-3

Explanation: Children in Ethiopia learned to use iPads without any prior knowledge or instruction and demonstrated their ability to decode the technology independently.

37. What's more, faced with the challenge presented by the computers, the village children behaved in a highly _____37_____ way

Answer: Co-operative

Supporting statement: “.......When the children used the iPads, however, they didn’t sit with a machine each on their laps in isolation as Western kids might be expected to do. Instead, they huddled together, touching and watching each other’s machines, constantly swapping knowledge..........”

Keywords: Children, Isolation, Huddled, Swapping

Keyword Location: para 3, Line 1-4

Explanation: Instead of isolating themselves with their own devices, village children worked together, sharing knowledge and teaching each other. It reflects a collaborative approach to problem-solving.

Questions 38-40

Choose the correct letter from the given options.

38. What do the preliminary findings suggest to Matt Keller?

A. Current educational policies may be misguided.

B. Certain teaching methods are counter-productive.

C. Technology is not as hard to understand as was thought.

D. Formal instruction may make technical subjects harder to grasp.

Answer: A (Current educational policies may be misguided.)

Supporting statement: “.......And thirdly—and more controversially—Keller concludes that ‘getting kids access to technology may be much more important than giving them schools.’..........”

Keywords: Keller, Schools, Technology, Access

Keyword Location: para 4, Line 6-8

Explanation: Matt Keller proposes that giving children access to technology may be more effective than traditional school investments, meaning that current educational policies may be wrong.

39. In the final paragraph, the writer suggests that the project

A. has revealed dangers that young people using technology might face.

B. has overstated the case for how much can be self-taught about technology.

C. has the potential to provide a model for dealing with education elsewhere.

D. has made her re-evaluate her attitude toward the misuse of technology.

Answer: C (has the potential to provide a model for dealing with education elsewhere.)

Supporting statement: “.......Secondly, and more practically, could these lessons about self-learning be applied to the West? Should someone who worries about the failures of the US education system to reach the American poor,.........”

Keywords: Education, Failures, Self-learning, West

Keyword Location: para 5, Line 8-10

Explanation: The author of this passage considers whether self-education observed in Ethiopia can be applied to improve education in the West, indicating its broader educational potential.

40. In the passage as a whole, the writer's main aim is to

A. criticize the way some teachers make use of technology.

B. question the findings of one study into children’s use of technology

C. compare the effects of technology on children in various parts of the world.

D. explore the idea that young people have a natural ability to engage with technology.

Answer: D (explore the idea that young people have a natural ability to engage with technology.)

Supporting statement: “.......The first is that ‘no matter how remote children are, or how illiterate their community, they can figure out sophisticated technology,’ as Keller says. Secondly, and leading from that first point, technology can potentially be a potent self-learning tool..........”

Keywords: Technology, Community, illiterate, engage

Keyword Location: para 4, Line 3-7

Explanation: This passage primarily discusses whether children, regardless of background, have the innate ability to learn and adapt to technology. The author examines experiments in Ethiopia and shares insights about self-learning and neural evolution.

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