Schools today are quick to roll-out the tablet PCs in the hope of finding a key to unlock new levels of interest and engagement, but a new study has asked whether the push for hand-held tech in the classroom is a help or hindrance.

Specifically, the study was focussed on the use of tablet PCs to help students understand the mind-boggling distances and figures used to measure our universe. The investigation was undertaken at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics.

Researchers reportedly showed that students are able to grasp the unending vastness of space more effectively when they use tablets to explore 3-D simulations of the universe, compared to traditional classroom instruction.

“These devices offer students opportunities to do things that are otherwise impossible in traditional classroom environments,” says study leader Matthew H. Schneps.

“These devices let students manipulate virtual objects using natural hand gestures, and this appears to stimulate experiences that lead to stronger learning.”

The comparison of 152 students using tablets to learn about space versus 1,184 who were taught with traditional techniques found strong evidence of increased understanding with tablets.

Researchers focused on questions dominated by strong misconceptions, such as students’ understanding of the scale of space.

The resulting report says that while the traditional approaches produced no evident gain in understanding, the tablet-based classrooms showed strong gains.

With difficult concepts of scale in biology, chemistry, physics, and geology, it is possible that the benefits can reach outside the limited, astrological confines of the test.

“While it may seem obvious that hands-on use of computer simulations that accurately portray scale would lead to better understanding,” says Philip Sadler, a co-author of the study, “we don't generally teach that way.”

All too often, he says, instruction makes use of models and drawings that distort the scale of the universe “and this leads to misconceptions.”

The study has been used to suggest that tablet-based learning may be a powerful technique to enliven students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

The study has been published in the journal Computers and Education.