Staff reports

FLORENCE — University of North Alabama senior Kaitlin Ashley was honored at the conference of the National Collegiate Honors Council for her research on the effectiveness of interactive iPad applications on improving story telling.

Ashley received first place in the education and pedagogy category at the conference.

The senior elementary education major spent two days a week at Kilby School during the spring 2012 semester monitoring kindergartners as they utilized apps to tell stories about what they were learning in class, according to a university release.

Ashley found through in-class assessment and parental feedback that students had better understanding and improved story-telling skills after using the apps.

The second phase of her research, conducted this fall, used the iPads for students to practice mathematical journaling. Ashley worked with the same students, now first-graders, to find how iPad use is effective in improving their understanding of mathematical concepts.