It seems with each passing week, another tablet (computer?) is announced, reviewed, and sits on the store shelf. At last count, there are 54 options of the device occupying the “space” called a tablet. But how many of us have ever seen more than one or two or perhaps three different species of tables out in the wild, so to speak?

As the Christmas shopping season moves into high gear, the competition among the tablets will also gain momentum with ads for higher speed or lower price. What does all this matter to the science teacher? Well, believe it or not, it comes down to standards.
It’s not the standards we are used to teaching, but rather the standards of industry that will guide the producers of content into the hands of the consumers. Without a popular or universal standard, it’s an expensive risk for publishers to make a version of their science content available for a specific tablet or app with little more than the whims of the consumers and educational tech advisors as the guarantee that the work of the publisher will remain viable. The tablets and apps are similar to new languages. If enough people adopt the new language, then it is worthwhile to publish content in that language. But where is that tipping point?
Another aspect of a tablet’s chance of survival is its ecosystem. In tech terms the ecosystem is all of the content, apps, connectivity, and peripherals of the particular tablet. A diverse ecosystem is good sign that the tablet will have enough of a presence in the food chain to survive long enough to attract the attention of publishers and app writers.
You could think of the various tablet operating systems as biomes that support the life in the ecosystem. When HP cut its TouchPad tablet along with its WebOS, not only was the TouchPad’s ecosystem devastated, but arguably the entire biome disappeared from this planet.
The biomes of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android OS support the richest ecosystems right now, and although some tablet islands have evolved to significantly complex levels, the ability to interbreed with mainland tablets is limited. Sony has developed its own tablet to serve its own content, and work with its own products as well as include or install some legacy games which is something reminiscent to the disproven theory of ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. But it also can play well with Android apps.
Other tablets including the Nook Color and the Kindle Fire are enticing mates with the peacock plumage of low price and large storage and their personal cloud filled sky, but some early adopters wonder now if e-reading has taken the backseat to rich media viewing (and shopping) which could likely open again the wounds of video games and movies out competing printed text for user attention to the point the high quality e-ink screens are evolving out of the tablets. Ask Maggie at CNET discusses the Nook/Kindle/textbook issuer here.
So here lies the big question. Traditional textbooks have significant limitations, significant weight, signification costs, as well as limited shelf life, limited potential for alternate media, and limited space for diversions from standards-based content. If a single tablet emerged as the dominant content predator in a biome containing most of the schools, then science textbook writers could justify the costs and time to build effective e-texts around that dominant platform. But until one emerges that meets the appetite of the schools and the publishers, then a majority of the publishers and authors involved will sit on the sidelines waiting for the genetic dust to settle and a clear organism emerges victorious.
Some of the features that I believe the must-have tablet for science teaching requires is robust I/O meaning it is easy to put stuff on it and transfer stuff off it, in addition to outputting its screen to large displays. It needs cameras, microphones, device connectivity, wireless connectivity, GPS reception, easy app access, and realistic and effective classroom controls. Of course it would also need a tether-free life, and the strength, durability and long battery life of a black ops military-grade tablet, if such a thing exists…which I’m not at liberty to disclose. My dream device would also have a built in Geiger counter, IR thermometer, oscilloscope, multimeter, barometer, strain gauge screen (to use as a digital balance), mass spectrometer, pH meter, gas chromatograph, and light meter. Floating would be nice, and waterproof is a given. Solar power backup is a reasonable request, but I can understand if it would cost more for lifetime unconditional fault-free warranty.
So in the end, an almost unfathomable paradigm shift in science teaching is-at the moment-just out of reach. Just imagine a sub-454 gram tablet filled with every possible/needed science book, video, table, chart, lab notebook, emergency/first aid procedure, MSDS, photograph, dichotomous tree, graph, handbook, test prep, etc. that provides connectivity to school, college prep, scholarships, career information, government facilities, science organizations, journals, websites, breaking science news, NASA missions, equipment catalogs, education standards, etc.
On top of all that, the cost of the tablet could be less than that of two print textbooks. It could works across all grade levels, many subjects, is perpetually up to date, and is multi-lingual. What’s there not to like?
A pipe dream? No. But before companies invest in a completely new medium, expectations for a financial return are reasonable. Or are they?
The environment of the educational tablet is changing more rapidly then the dominant species have adapted. Somewhat of a vacuum has been allowed to form, and now more then ever before has the science content landscape been up for grabs. Whatever media-organism can capitalize on these new niches may prove to the next Tyrannosaur, saber-toothed cat, or Homo sapiens. And many are looking at us to fill the void.
Us?
Hmmm.
Why not?