In the saturated world of children's educational apps, there are a small number of developers who are really exploring the potential of the device in ways that provide children with a learning experience that delivers in both a subject area -- like numeracy or literacy -- but does this through designing apps that promotes 21st century skills and different learning styles. These types of developers are going to new spaces, not reinventing old games and concepts for touch devices, but creating new ways of engagement through mashing several content types, utilizing a technology in a new way or building on the core functionality differences of touch devices to help
There are two new apps I've played and tested recently that deserve to be highlighted -- and that is what this short review is about. Motion Math Zoom by Motion Math Games and Word Wizard by by L'Escapadou are a numeracy app and a literacy app, respectively, that engage children whose learning styles sit outside the traditional classroom and worksheet. They provide students who are visual, aural or kinesthetic learners with spaces in which to explore and learn about numbers and letters in creative and fun ways.
However, the thing these two developers both have (and others like them also have) are a strong understanding of child development and pedagogy. They are different, in that Motion Math Games has one founder with a Masters in Education and a teaching background, L'Escapadou are driven and understand child development through the Montessori model of education which they apply to the apps they develop. The role for educators and people who understand children's learning and development in supporting the development of children's educational apps is fundamental to the development of really outstanding apps that meet not only children's learning needs, but inspire them to learn more.
Motion Math Zoom
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__This newly minted app builds on the fantastic first release from this development company called Motion Math. In their first app they tackled fractions using an addictive game system that used the gyroscope and accelerometer like Doodle Jump. This time they are using the pinch function to allow children to zoom in and out of different number lines to grasp not just numbers in a linear sense, but to help develop the concept of number size. It is a combination of those solar system infographics and the game functionality of Angry Birds or Cut the Rope with different levels that can be unlocked as children improve in their ability.
The app has the deluxe functions I have promoted in other articles. Their prompts are small and visual, but generally the design allows for children to explore, play and discover the key moves and actions to undertake the tasks. There is a nice simple parent guide built into the app, and emails provided to make contact with the developers if required. The zooming in and out of number lines, from frog graphics for small numbers through to dinosaurs when we reach the 10,000s number line is a great visual cue.
The team of Jacob Klein and Gabriel Adauto are originally from Stanford with the right combination of computer science and education studies. They have followed a similar path to Andy Russell and his team at Launchpad Toys in that they have had good support and engagement with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Startl. This only demonstrates the ongoing importance of those digital media organisations focussed on children, media and education.
Word Wizard
L'Escapadou are a Montessori driven. Their first app Montessori Crosswords was an exploratory and playful app that taught children new words. However, with Word Wizard they have built a really fun text-to-speech app that allows children to explore the sounds of letters and through an open sandbox environment build whatever words they like. Children are able to construct any word or sentence using a movable alphabet and immediately hear the text they wrote, as well as verify spelling using the built-in spell checker.
There are settings and functionality around phonics, tone and accent of the speaking voice. There are also large number of in built spelling tests for children to try, but from a teaching and parent perspective the sandbox approach of the "moveable alphabet" section provides so many possibly learning opportunities and could be used in any number of ways to support children's early literacy. The key is the playfulness of the space, this brings play-based learning to literacy on the iPad that is way beyond mimicking flash cards or having animals say the alphabet. It can be simple, or complex and meet a breadth of learning needs and approaches.
I have witnessed children enjoying making up their own nonsense words and in doing so learning the sounds and playing with letters and language in a self-directed manner. This is a fantastic app for young children, right through to children in later elementary school which makes it an app worth having on your iPad.
- Duck Duck Moose Goes Musical (wired.com)
