When it comes to technology in the classroom, having kindergartners share iPads may be better for learning than simply giving each child an iPad, a new study suggests.

The study involved 350 students from three schools in a Midwestern school district where iPads were being phased into classrooms. This created a natural experiment in which one school had an iPad for every student, a second school had 23 iPads for students to share, usually in pairs, and a third school that had no iPads.

In all classrooms with iPads, students used similar apps, including apps for math and literacy, and played similar games with the devices.

On an end-of-year achievement test, which mostly measures early literacy skills, students who shared iPads scored about 30 points higher than both students in classrooms with an iPad for every child and students in classrooms without iPads. (Scores on the test can range from 300 to 900 points.) [7 Ways to Short-Circuit Kids' Mobile Addiction]

Besides the iPads, there were no major differences between the classrooms in terms of their demographics, earlier test scores or teacher-student interaction. This suggests that sharing iPads may have been the reason for the improved test scores, the researchers said.