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Horn Book
The hornbook consisted of a sheet containing the letters of the alphabet, mounted on wood, bone, leather, or stone and protected by a thin sheet of transparent horn or mica. The wooden frame often had a handle, and it was usually hung at the child's girdle. -
Slate
A slate was a small chalkboard which was encased in a wooden frame. Pupils would use the slate to practice writing and arithmetic during classes or at home. At the dawn of the twentieth century, writing slates were the primary tool in the classroom for students. -
Magic Lantern
The magic lantern is an early type of image projector. It used a concave mirror in back of a light source to direct the light through a small rectangular sheet of glass and onward into a lens at the front of the device. This formed an enlarged image of the slide on the screen. It was increasingly used for education during the 19th century. -
Shorthand Postcards
In the 1840s, Sir Isaac Pitman produced the first attempt in distance education. Sir Isaac Pitman sent shorthand postcards to his students and received student feedback as a response.The element of student feedback was a crucial innovation of Pitman's system. This scheme was made possible by the introduction of uniform postage rates across Britain in 1840. -
Blackboard
James Pillans, headmaster and geography teacher at the Old High School in Edinburgh, Scotland, is credited with inventing the first modern blackboard when he hung a large piece of slate on the classroom wall. -
Pencils and Paper
In 1900 pencils and papers replaced school slates and chalks. -
Radio
In the 1910s the radio emerged, allowing students to learn from radio programs. Radios were the first wireless mode of communication. The device sent messages by radio waves instead of wires. By the 1930s, most households in the U.S. and Europe had at least one radio. -
Ballpoint Pen
In the 1940s, the ballpoint pen was introduced in schools. Prior to this, the fountain pen was used to draw ink from an internal reservoir so that a person could write or draw on a piece of paper or another surface -
Headphones and Television
In the 1950s, the first headphones and television arrived to schools. Television has an advantage over the radio since normal classroom teaching usually has a visual element, and schools television could employ more elaborate effects and techniques than a classroom teacher. -
Video and Audio Tapes
In the 1960s, with the emergence of the information age, VHS, VCR and audio tapes could be used to enrich lessons. They created a new and exciting method of instruction for pupils. -
The Scantron System of Testing
The Scantron System of Testing was introduced by Michael Sokolski in 1972. He invented the Scantron OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) scanner, used to scan and grade forms on which students mark answers to multiple choice test questions. This allowed educators to grade tests more quickly and efficiently. -
Handheld Calculator
The first handheld calculator arrived to schools in 1972.
It allowed pupils to type in the operands and perform mathematical operations in a single click. -
IBM PCs
In 1981, IMB Corporation released its first personal computer. The IMB Personal Computer was an instant success and quickly became known by it's nickname - the PC. The IBM PCs arrived quickly into in classrooms, however, their use was limited to word processing. -
World Wide Web
English engineer and computer scientist Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. With this invention, pupils had the opportunity to research the internet and send e-mails to one another. -
Interactive Whiteboard
The interactive whiteboard was originally invented by David Martin and Nancy Knowlton.The interactive whiteboard allowed children to interact with the learning material, therefore becoming a part of the lesson. -
iPads
Steve Jobs launched the Apple iPad tablet computer on April 3, 2010. Since the launch, iPads have become an asset in the classroom. When using this device Children do not view tasks as learning but instead view them as play and therefore are more motivated and engaged in the task. -
VR Headsets
VR technology — due to its immersive, 3D nature with the combination of visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning models can better engage students and help them to retain key concepts.
