Numerous professionals have written about the need for investigations at the heart of learning to engage and inspire, and to maximize impact upon learning. This article asks if children can use tablets to record their investigations while they are still "in the thick" of them, and also provide valuable assessment data? "In the thick of it," a project involving nine schools across greater Manchester explored how iPads and their current functionality and apps could support three key aspects of learning and assessment in the classroom by: (1) Providing more accurate assessments of children "working scientifically," where recording accuracy is not compromised by a lack of literacy skills; (2) Capturing high-quality assessment data from all children in the class (not just the one "focus" group); and (3) Providing a user-friendly medium that enhances engagement and maintains the momentum of investigations. Each school involved in the year-long project paired up with another to work in partnership, exploring 13 specifically chosen apps. These apps were brought to the project by the teachers involved or were recommended by a technical adviser to the project. The apps were explored in a range of year groups and across all different enquiry types. The teacher group met up at intervals through the year to feed back their findings on two aspects: "feasibility" (how easy the apps were to use) and "desirability" (to what degree the app supported the project's three aims). Overall, the teachers were positive about the impact of the iPads. The group considered that the iPads were useful in increasing and maintaining engagement in science lessons. Teachers considered the iPads to be effective in increasing the accuracy of the assessments they made of children's learning when working scientifically. Many of the apps supported teachers in capturing accurate assessment data for each child in the class.