Digital game-based learning apps and how they can be used to support a child’s development. The apps are designed to be entertaining while also serving an educational purpose.
Children’s literacy and math skills are important not only for doing well in school, but also for being successful later in life. Formal teaching of reading, spelling, and math usually starts when children enter elementary school, but children start acquiring skills that are important for later learning long before they enter school. It’s better to assess these skills early, because they are good predictors of how a child will do in school. For example, a child’s early vocabulary can predict later literacy skills, and counting skills can predict later math skills.
Given how important these skills are for a child’s development, we need to identify child and family variables that are associated with and influence these skills. Research indicates that a child’s individual characteristics, such as intelligence, and family background variables, such as socioeconomic status (SES) and migration background, can have an impact on a child’s development of literacy and math skills. For instance, migration background and SES seem to influence students’ academic achievements indirectly rather than directly. Various explanatory factors, such as differences in nutrition, living conditions, stress factors, parenting, and the home learning environment (HLE), may play an important role.
Children’s learning in a digital context
Digital game-based learning apps uses the entertaining power of digital games to serve an educational purpose. An explosion in available educational apps has been noted over the last years, especially for young children. However, many games and apps do not utilize developmentally-appropriate learning practices and/or have never been evaluated for their impact on child learning outcomes. Open Sesame! Kids Education covers all the learning needs by using advanced educational practices.
Given that children nowadays grow up in media-rich homes and are in contact with a wide range of digital tools daily, these tools can be used to support children’s competencies development. It cites the example of an “app” (or application), which is a type of software, that can be used to teach a child math or language skills. The passage notes that many apps available for purchase do not follow developmentally-appropriate learning practices or have not been evaluated for their effectiveness in supporting child learning outcomes. However, there are some apps that have been designed with child learning in mind, and these apps can be helpful in supporting a child’s development.
Home-Learning
There are many things that can affect how well a child does in school. Some of these, like how much money the family has or whether the family has recently moved to a new place, are things that can’t be changed easily. However, there is something called the “home learning environment” (HLE) which is closely related to these other things and can be changed more easily. An improved quality in the HLE is likely to have a positive impact on both short-term and long-term child development. This means that improving the HLE is a good target for interventions to help improve child learning outcomes, especially when the educational material includes active learning.
Open Sesame! Kids Education focus on both children’s early education literacy and mathematical competencies and is designed to be easy to use and to encourage parents to improve the quality of their homeschooling. The hope is that by doing this, it will help the children be more successful in school.
How Effective are Educational Apps
From a study which conducted by Department of Psychology, University of Munich, educators were asked to rate the media activities in kindergarten, such as which digital tools are available and how often they are used. They were also asked to provide a general evaluation about children’s concentration, linguistic, mathematical and socio-emotional competencies. The focus was on children’s emotional and social abilities, on children’s behavioral strengths and difficulties, and on symptoms of attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder. The survey asked parents about the family background, children’s characteristics and the HLE. The focus was on various aspects of the HLE, including the home literacy environment and the home numeracy environment. In addition, two checklists were used to get further insight into the home literacy and numeracy environment.
This study used several mathematical and literacy tests to assess competencies in kindergarten children. The tests addressed topics such as counting, calculating, and comparing numbers. In addition, the children’s self-concept was assessed with a scale that asked them to rate their abilities in different areas. The study also looked at children’s prosocial and punishing behavior in a fictitious situation.
The purpose of this study was to develop educational and engaging apps to promote efficient learning and support children’s academic competency development. The intervention group was given apps that targeted early mathematical and early literacy skills, while the control group was given apps that targeted general cognitive functions with no literacy or mathematical content. The apps were designed to be as similar as possible, with games for all three groups but different stimuli used depending on the group.
Goals of Educational Apps
Not all of educational applications for children are as effective as advertised. Many of the available apps have not been evaluated for their effectiveness in supporting child learning outcomes, but there are some that have been designed with child learning in mind and can be helpful in supporting a child’s development.
Open Sesame! Kids Education is exploring new ways to support the development of children who are disadvantaged due to their family circumstances and the lower quality home learning environment they experience. Also, is using new technology to create inexpensive and accessible educational material. The goal is to positively impact the education of all children, the integration of disadvantaged children, and the support of parents.