i Learn with Poko: Seasons and Weather!

i Learn with Poko: Seasons and Weather is a science game created by Tribal Nova for preschool and kindergarten. In general, I think we focus a lot on reading and math, so it's nice to see something for some basic science knowledge. Price: $1.99 for iPhone, $2.99 for iPad
Device Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad; Requires iOS 4.2 or later

Developmental Appropriateness: Seasons and weather are very popular themes in preschool and kindergarten curricula. So that is one major check. There are 3 levels or games - which I think are pretty clever ways of teaching this material. 


In the first game, kids are given clues (i.e. find the two pictures where it is snowing) and they need to pick out the pictures that fit, eventually narrowing it down to one target picture. This game is definitely better on the iPad with the bigger screen then the iPhone to see all the details in the pictures. A few things I noticed that can be improved: 1) You can start tapping on the pictures before the clue is given, which then stops the clue from being heard. 2) On the same note, it would be helpful to have written clues instead of just oral clues. This can help kids start to learn and recognize key words such as snow and winter. 3) Although it registers the picture selections quite fast, I thought the pacing of this particular game was slow. 

In the second game, you are shown pictures and need to find the items that don't fit (i.e. wearing mittens in a summer scene). I like this game - I'm a total sucker for picture games. However, some of the items here are really subtle and hard to find! The snow boots are not that different from the rain boots or regular shoes, or not everyone likes to wear flip flops in the summer - it's ok to wear regular shoes. And who really wears matching jackets and snow pants in the winter (maybe if you're skiing)? 


For the third game, you have to match pictures of activities to the day of the week by weather. So if it tells you it's raining on Tuesday, you would find the indoor activity. This is a good way to get kids thinking about the weather and what's appropriate. I like that if you tap on the activity, it tells you what is happening, but I think there needs to be a better way to distinguish wanting it labelled and actually choosing it as your answer. (You can tap on all the pictures and the correct one will just fly into the target spot because you tapped on it.)


For all three games, there is a monkey character that is suppose to provide support. Honestly, the monkey is kinda useless. He just repeats the items, and does not really provide any new information. Finally, the games are suppose to be adaptive - adjusting the level according to when you get right and wrong answers. I'd like to see more about how it adjusts. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 4 years of age)





Balance: There isn't really much outside of what I've described for the games, so I think kids will stay on task. As I already mentioned, it could use a few tweaks with some of the features (being able to interrupt the directions; making the monkey more useful). The pictures are pretty colorful and cute, but I think they could benefit from some animation. These are scenes - they are suppose to be active. So if you're flying a kite to show that it's a windy day, let's see it (honestly, some of the sunny scenes are pretty similar to the windy scenes minus a kite). Rating: 4/5

Sustainability: The adaptive nature of the game seems like a good feature, as it will move a child along when he/she has mastered a task - look like there may be three stages to each task (again, I'd like to see more information on how it is adaptive and what is needed with each stage). I was surprised not to find some sort of album feature where you can see all the pictures you've successfully completed or chosen.  These seem like games that could easily have a plot line or goals to achieve to keep kids coming back. Rating: 3.5/5

Parental Involvement: I think this app has much potential for parental involvement. Weather is such a common topic. It would be easy for parents to talk about activities they've done during various weather and seasons. Perhaps one way to make the monkey more useful to for it to ask questions like, "What do you like to do when it's raining?" and act as a prompt to both child and parent. As is though, there's no evident role for the parent. Rating 3.5/5


Total: 15 out of 20 = 4 stars


Disclosure: I received this app for review for free from the developers.

Parental Misconceptions

I want to take a moment and discuss in more detail why I've chosen to include "Parental Involvement" as its own category in my ratings. A few months ago, I wrote a short article for Early Childhood Matters where I talk about the "potential" and "hype" surrounding mobile technology in education. Below is an excerpt where I discuss what I believe are three parental misconceptions about using mobile technology with their child. Some parents may already have a hunch about these "misconceptions" (and I think that probably all of the parents reading my blog do since you have taken the time to read reviews about apps), but I wanted to use research to show that these aren't just hunches; to make it evident that parents need to take an active role. So maybe this post is more for the developers reading my blog... how do parents fit into your app?

From the article:

Addressing common parental misconceptions

With young children’s learning so easily affected by formats and features, there is a need for parental and adult guidance. However, there are a few parental misconceptions about young children’s usage of mobile technology that have led to less rather than more parental involvement.

Misconception 1: ‘Technology is not my thing, but my child is great at it, so I just let them use it on their own.’

In an exploratory study looking at intergenerational video game play, by the EA Game Innovation Lab at the University of South Carolina and the Cooney Center, many parents were not comfortable with the gaming system and thus lacked confidence during the game play. They tended to let their child take the lead, and did not offer the same mentoring about the rules and strategy as they did when playing a board game (Chiong, 2009). It is likely that these parents assumed that since their children were adept at navigating the game, they would just figure out any rules or strategies on their own.

But being able to use something does not mean that learning has occurred, especially for struggling students. In a study exploring the effectiveness of a digital literacy program, the findings revealed that there are differences based on learning levels (Chiong et al., under review). The study took place in an underperforming, predominantly minority and low-SES (socio-economic status) school district. When looking at the results by initial literacy levels, the students who started above the mean score on the pre-test benefited from independent use of the digital program. The students who started below the mean score did not benefit from independent use. These results suggest that although the seriously struggling students had no trouble navigating the program, they were not absorbing the content of the materials as much as their counterparts. This supports findings from Neuman and Celano (2006), that although low-SES children were adept at searching for information on the internet, they preferred sites with pictures and barely any print, whereas middle-SES children preferred print-heavy sites. Thus, parents cannot assume that any time their child spends with an educational application is quality time. Children often need an adult to make the materials more meaningful by reinforcing concepts or by linking the materials to relevant issues they are learning in school.

Misconception 2: ‘This program can teach my child better than I can.’

Some parents, especially immigrants and those with lower levels of education, may feel less confident about teaching their own child. They may then rely on programs that have been deemed ‘educational’ rather than try to teach their child on their own. But given the many factors that can affect a child’s learning, software programs should not be viewed as a replacement for a parent or teacher.

Instead, programs that provide scaffolding should be viewed as an opportunity for less confident parents to learn how to give appropriate feedback and support to their child. There have been studies confirming that low-SES parents may not provide the same rich interactions with their child as high-SES parents (Hammer, 2001). However, research in reading interactions has shown that parents can be easily trained to provide quality interactions (Arnold et al., 1994). With today’s technology parents can, without extra training, learn to use prompts provided by the program to serve as cues to provide that extra support and ensure that their child is paying attention to the relevant information.

Misconception 3: ‘It is important for my child to learn to use technology, especially computers, or they will fall behind.’

In a 2011 Cooney Center survey of 800 parents of children aged 3–10, nearly three-quarters of parents felt that technology and computers were important to their child’s success in school (Takeuchi, 2011). The same parents also felt that, of the different platforms, computers had the most educational potential and mobile devices or phones the least. While it is true that it is important for children to be proficient in using technology, parents may be placing too much emphasis on the platform itself rather than the content. The technology is only a delivery system for information. Software applications are becoming more and more platform-agnostic, downloadable onto virtually any device. Young children have proven to have natural instincts when it comes to using technology. Thus, the focus should be on exposing children to the right material, not the right technology.

These three misconceptions overlap in that they have led some parents to believe that they may not need to play an active role while their child interacts with technology. While independently playing with a quality app may be beneficial for young children at times, it should not be accepted as the norm or the optimal type of interaction. Specifically, low-income families and families with struggling students should view educational apps as an opportunity for family interactions. Granted, parents are busy, especially those who are working long hours to make ends meet. But the average session children spend with an app is 20 minutes or less (Chiong and Shuler, 2010), less time than watching a TV show. Given the anywhere/anytime nature of mobile technology, parents should seize the opportunity to make the 10 minutes waiting for the school bus meaningful. Mobile technology can not only change the way we educate our young children, but also change when and how families interact.

Access the journal and full article

Photo by Tim Wilson

Follow me on Twitter

So up until this blog, I've been resisting this whole social media movement. But since I guess I can be called a "blogger" now, I may as well embrace this whole thing - I signed up for a twitter account. I just got started, so it's a bit bare for now...

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Buzzle

Buzzle is a puzzle app created by Walnut Labs. It has been featured on iTunes and has been voted one of the top apps both in the US and internationally. What caught my attention about this app is that it is recommended for infants as young as 10 months of age (!) to preschool. I know that I say my target age range is 3-8, but I really had to see what an app for such young children would entail. Price: $0.99
Device Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad; Requires iOS 3.0 or later; 16 MB

Developmental Appropriateness: Overall, this is a nice and simple puzzle activity for preschool-aged children. It features appropriate images like animals - which young children generally like, matches it with corresponding sounds - even better (who has not heard kids making animal sounds?!), and provides a little prompting by highlighting where the puzzle piece should go for those who are having trouble (click on the video to see the demo). Where I struggle with this app is the recommended age. Children under one year of age do not really understand what a picture is. Research has shown that 9-month-olds will try to grasp at or even hit the picture in an attempt to "pick up" the depicted object (imagine the smudges and possible abuse to your device!). In the next year or two, infants begin to understand the relationship between pictures and their real world referents, but their understanding can be easily affected by factors such as the type of picture (i.e. photograph, cartoon drawing, etc.) - the more realistic the picture, the easier it is for toddlers to understand. The pictures here are nice and colorful and fairly realistic, but are still cartoonish. While the idea of this app is similar to when one- or two-year-olds are playing with those crates where you have to fit the triangle or circle in the right cut-out or when a parent reading is a picture-book about animals with cartoon drawings - these activities just seem different than using a finger to match up objects on a screen (and I doubt that a 10-month-old can drag and drop well). It is well known that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting video screen time for children under 2. This app is not quite the same as video screen time - it requires more interaction and thought. Is there a "too young" for educational apps? 


Overall, I think this is a nice app for preschoolers, but I do not see this app being all that beneficial for children under the age of two - certainly not better than live interactions with a parent or an outing to the zoo. Rating: 3/5 (aim for around 3 years of age).  


Balance: Again, this is a pretty simple activity, and in general, I like simple. When considering this for a 3-year-old or older, I think it's a nice puzzle activity. The pictures are colorful and there are a variety of scenes, but the task is always clear - find where the puzzle pieces go. Rating: 5/5 


Sustainability: One suggestion I already see from reviewers is more puzzles. So far, there are only 10 puzzles. Although I know that kids who like puzzles will want to do them repeatedly, more variety would be nice. Kids can then choose their "favorite" or have new scenes to talk about. Also, at the completion of each puzzle, there is a nice congratulations screen. I can see other rewards or incentives provided as more puzzles are completed - which ay lead to kids requesting more puzzles to be downloaded. Rating: 3/5


Parental Involvement: If this app is really meant for infants and toddlers as young as 10-month-olds, then it really screams for parental involvement. However, the app does not really seem to provide a role for parents other than to help match up the pieces. If parents are really using this with their young ones, I'd suggest thinking of it as a picture-book where you would talk about the scenes, relate it to your personal experiences, and highlight the shapes and objects. Rating: 3/5


Total: 14 out of 20 = 3 stars

Disclosure: I received this app for review for free from the developers.

Dora Hops into Phonics!

Dora Hops into Phonics is a preschool literacy game based off of the show, Dora the Explorer created by Nickelodeon. Who doesn't love taking adventures with the Spanish-speaking Dora? (Ok, so no, Brad Pitt did not dress up like a character from Dora for halloween like he did for Team Umizoomi**, but I almost did, does that count?) Price $1.99
Device Requirements: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Requires iOS 4.0 or later





Developmental Appropriateness: This app focuses solely on one type of phonics task called word ladders. It is when you take a word (cat) and you have to change one letter to create a new word (hat). The app takes you through five levels of this same game, increasing the difficulty by using longer words, or focusing on different parts of the word (i.e. changing the middle or last letters). This is definitely a good task to help preschoolers learn phonics. Dora also helps you by saying the letter-sounds of possible choices and she annunciates the words very clearly so you can hear the different sounds that make up that word. Also, the target words are matched with pictures of those words to help vocabulary as well. 


To break up the task, there are three different frog "games" that are pretty easy to play. One of them requires gentle turning some lily pads to line them up for a frog to jump onto - this one probably requires the most skill and may take some practice for young ones to get just right. Rating: 5/5 (aim for around 4 years of age)


Balance: While I think that the skills Dora is teaching are just right, I can't help but be a bit disappointed when playing this game. It's well, a bit a boring! And I don't think it's just because I am an adult and I know my letters. First, the pacing is a bit slow. After completing a few items, Dora gets to jump on a few lily pads to help her get across a lake. Dora is a very slow jumper, and kids can be impatient. I found myself tapping on the lily pads repeatedly like you would when pushing the elevator button. There's also a bit of a pause from item to item. Second, there is only ONE task, so you are doing the same thing over and over again. Yes, there are different levels, but it actually takes completing a lot of items within one level to get to the next (which is basically the same thing). This must be a gigantic lake because it seems like Dora is hopping a lot and getting nowhere.

A plus is that there are no distractors while completing the tasks and the games are presented separately. The look of the illustrations is also very Dora and cute. Rating: 3/5


Sustainability: I was surprised to find no other goal or incentive than to get Dora across the lake. There are no stickers to collect, no high scores, or other modes. The games that are interspersed every two rounds, there are only three types of games. I know kids don't mind repetition, but given the amount of items they have to go through, these three games may start getting boring. Having some sort of score for the games may make kids more excited to see the game again to beat their previous score. This app seems to be relying on Dora's star power alone, and that may not be enough. Rating: 2/5


Parental Involvement: For the game itself, I think Dora provides enough guidance that a parent wouldn't really have a role after the initial "learning what to do" phase. However, a nice touch is that there is a "report card" where parents can read about why this task is useful and what makes each level different. They can also see their child's progress on each level. I'm not sure how helpful this completion rate is - as it seems to just be % completed. That only tells me that my child needs to play more to complete each level. What would be more helpful is if the parent knew what letters to work on more, or was given other activities to work on with their child. Rating: 3.5/5


Total: 13.5 out of 20 = 3 stars




** Correction - Brad Pitt dressed up as a Yo Gabba Gabba character, not Team Umizoomi

Teach Me Kindergarten

Teach Me Kindergarten was created by 24x7digital LLC and was awarded 2nd place in education in the 2010 Best App Ever Awards. Mimi Mouse, the "teacher" aims to teach both basic reading and math skills. Price $0.99
Device Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad; Requires iOS 3.0 or later





Developmental Appropriateness: Teach Me Kindergarten presents kids with items that target addition, subtraction, spelling, and sight words. Let's start with the math - overall, these items are probably aimed for older or more advanced kindergarteners. While most kindergarteners can add simple math problems, they usually do not start learning subtraction until the latter half of the school year. A good usage of Mimi Mouse is that she provides help when a child is struggling with a particular problem. You can add or take away the number of objects needed to solve the problem and then Mimi Mouse will help you count the remaining objects when you tap on them. I wish she was as useful when it comes to the reading items. Mimi Mouse does not provide much help when it comes to choosing the right letter to complete a word or choosing the right word other than to say that you are right or wrong. She could provide the letter-sounds instead of repeatedly asking for the name of the letter. She could also break up the word once it's completed to reinforce the letter-sounds and phonemes. For the sight words, the creators use words for the Dolch word list, which is a very popular word list used in many curricula.

In terms of motor skills, it's all pretty easy to use. I just wonder why the creators chose to make you drag the answers on some of the items instead of just tapping on it. Although I think that most kids will pick up how to use it pretty quickly, research has shown that young kids have more trouble with drag and drop than just tapping on something.

So overall, these are all appropriate skills for kindergarteners. Another plus is that you can set the difficulty, by advancing the levels to suit the player. However, from the title, I thought there would be more. These two skills for math and two skills for reading are only a part of the kindergarten curriculum. Rating: 4/5 (aim for 5 years of age)


Balance: This is the first app that really made me notice that some apps are created with the intention of a game first and then making it educational while other apps are created with the intention of teaching first, and then adding in game elements. This is clearly the latter. While I am an advocate for "less is more", I think I actually would like "more" in this app! Mimi Mouse's voice is pretty robotic and as I pointed out already, I think she could be more useful and provide more support. Also, when a problem is solved, it could use more animation to reinforce the item, like highlighting the syllables as they are read, or repeating that 5+2 is 7 and highlighting each part of the math problem. Rating: 3.5/5


Sustainability: This app has a good amount of incentives. As you get more items correct, you collect coins that then allow you to buy stickers. The app provides a few backgrounds that can then be filled with stickers to create a fun picture that can be printed out. Many reviews mentioned how much their child loved collecting the stickers and creating the pictures. I could see adding features such as records of getting xx correct in a row and entering a mode that's timed to test math fluency and then having high scores just to break up the tasks a bit, especially since not everyone may be a sticker enthusiast. Rating: 4/5


Parental Involvement: Parents have a lot of control with this app. They can set the types of questions they want their child to focus on, the level of difficulty, when their child can get a coin, etc. There is also a general measure of how well their child is doing on each of the four types of questions. While this is a definite plus, as it encourages parents to check in on their child's progress, it could be more informative. A parent could see that their child may not be doing as well on the subtraction problems and then set the game to present more subtraction problems (I assume this is what the app means for parents to do). This may not work with all kids - some might get too frustrated (even with Mimi Mouse's help), or bored. Parents should think of other ways and activities to help their child with what they are struggling with. Rating: 4/5


Total: 15.5 out of 20 = 4 stars

Shape-O ABC's

Shape-O ABC's was created by Bellamon and has been positively featured on many app blogs. The app combines shapes, words, colors and sounds into one puzzle activity. It contains over 100 beautiful puzzles. Price - $1.99
Device Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad; Requires iOS 3.0 or later




Developmental Appropriateness: The goal of these puzzles is for children to match shapes to form an image and to learn the name of those images. There are three settings for the words and letters, and then also for the puzzle. For the words and letters, the easy setting is where the word already appears at the bottom of the screen. For medium, you have to match the letters to form the word, and for hard, you have to arrange the letters to spell the word. This seems appropriate and can target a range of learners from those just learning the names of objects to those just learning their letters and to those who are learning to spell. For the puzzles, the easy setting limits the puzzle to 20 pieces, medium to 30, and hard to over 30. Some of these puzzles, though they are all beautiful, seem complicated for the younger children, even when limited to 20 or 30 pieces. Traditional puzzles for very young children only have several pieces. However, puzzles in this app may be easier in that the pieces come set at the angle/rotation it needs to be to fit the space and you also only need to drag the piece to the general area of the space. Still, younger children may need a little help with the puzzle, especially with the smaller pieces.
            A couple of suggestions that may help the younger children - Research has shown that young children have a hard time seeing one thing in two ways. In other words, they might have a hard time thinking about the puzzle as all the various pieces (triangles, arcs, lines, etc.) and then also as the whole (i.e. a cat). When the puzzle is completed, it does not connect the pieces to make the image obvious. Perhaps connecting the puzzles pieces together and then maybe even animating them (i.e. making the cat come together and walk across the screen) would make the image more obvious and probably more rewarding (i.e "Oh look! I made a cat!). Also, after the completion of the puzzle, there is a voiceover that says and spells the word. It would be helpful to highlight the letters as they are said and or to highlight the syllables as they are said. This would help a child learning to recognize letters and to read to track the letters and letter-sounds. Rating: 3/5 (depending on the setting, aim for 3-6 years of age)

Balance: This features in this app are pretty straightforward. However, at least on the iPhone, the puzzle pieces and letters are presented a few at a time as  you complete the puzzle. Having the letters presented mixed in with all the puzzle pieces (remember there are a lot), may take away from the spelling or letter-recognition task. It may be better to present all the puzzle pieces and then all the letter pieces. Rating: 4/5

Sustainability: There are over 100 puzzles. For one who really likes puzzles, these are some beautiful puzzles. You can also change the colors of the puzzles. Otherwise, there are no other incentive features. Rating: 3.5/5

Parental Involvement: Parents will enjoy the images and could help guide their child with the puzzle and reinforce the letters and letter-sounds of the labels. Rating 3/5


Total: 13.5 out of 20