Do you know what each of these are made out of? Not just the plastic or the wood or the wax? But each piece of the drawing tool? Have you noticed how there are good pens or bad pens for ‘your’ particular style of handwriting? Those that you feel work well with the way that you form letters and those that don’t? Or does it not matter to you?
There are a range of different types of drawing tools on the market for use on the iPad. Are you still using them or do you have then all thrown into a drawer and you just don’t do that way of interacting anymore? So you stopped writing on the screen because it doesn’t give you enough detail? Did you know that because of the physical parts of some of the stylus’s they work differently? Think drag. The second photo here doesn’t show the drag well enough but the impact on the screen when you are drawing / writing is very visible in how ‘you’ have to change how ‘you’ move to interact with the iPad and the software.
Have you seen these different types of stylus’s before? Have you used them? Or are they just too expensive so you don’t bother with it? The design of the tips, the surface which touches the screen makes a huge difference in how precise you can be, the speed with which you can work at etc. But. One issue is – do you care? Do you actually work that way so that it is important to you to have the best type of tool possible???
Have you used these types of ones? How does that work with kids with special needs? Does it depend on their type of skills? On their diagnosis?
This can be the difference of how much colour can be laid down on a page in the real world. Look at how bright the colours are between crayons, coloured pencils and markers / textas. Which do you use for working with students with visual impairments? Which do you use for ???
Other types of drawing tools also have a fine point? How much ink gets all over the page? Are these tidy to use or do they make a mess everywhere dependent on what you are given to use?
Resources for more generalised information for those wanting to learn more about how industries connect:
Process Industry Forum – Different types of pressure switches
Make this Button Box – 32 function with encoders – Youtube