Michael B. Robb

Putting Education in “Educational” Apps: Lessons From the Science of Learning

Children are in the midst of a vast, unplanned experiment, surrounded by digital technologies that were not available but 5 years ago. At the apex of this boom is the introduction of applications (“apps”) for tablets and smartphones. However, there is simply not the time, money, or resources available to evaluate each app as it enters the market. Thus, “educational” apps—the number of which, as of January 2015, stood at 80,000 in Apple’s App Store (Apple, 2015)—are largely unregulated and untested. This article offers a way to define the potential educational impact of current and future apps. We build upon decades of work on the Science of Learning, which has examined how children learn best. From this work, we abstract a set of principles for two ultimate goals. First, we aim to guide researchers, educators, and designers in evidence-based app development. Second, by creating an evidence-based guide, we hope to set a new standard for evaluating and selecting the most effective existing children’s apps. In short, we will show how the design and use of educational apps aligns with known processes of children’s learning and development and offer a framework that can be used by parents and designers alike. Apps designed to promote active, engaged, meaningful, and socially interactive learning—four “pillars” of learning—within the context of a supported learning goal are considered educational.

Media as social partners: the social nature of young children's learning from screen media.

Television has become a nearly ubiquitous feature in childrens cultural landscape. A review of the research into young childrens learning from television indicates that the likelihood that children will learn from screen media is influenced by their developing social relationships with on-screen characters, as much as by their developing perception of the screen and their symbolic understanding and comprehension of information presented on screen. Considering the circumstances in which children under 6 years learn from screen media can inform teachers, parents, and researchers about the important nature of social interaction in early learning and development. The findings reviewed in this article suggest the social nature of learning, even learning from screen media.

Just a talking book? Word learning from watching baby videos.

This study examined the relationship between viewing an infant DVD and expressive and receptive language outcomes. Children between 12 and 15 months were randomly assigned to view Baby Wordsworth, a DVD highlighting words around the house marketed for children beginning at 12 months of age. Viewings took place in home settings over 6 weeks. After every 2 weeks and five exposures to the DVD, children were assessed on expressive and receptive communication measures. Results indicated there was no increased growth on either outcome for children who had viewed the DVD as compared to children in the control group, even after multiple exposures. After controlling for age, gender, cognitive developmental level, income, and parent education, the most significant predictor of vocabulary comprehension and production scores was the amount of time children were read to.

Word learning from baby videos.

OBJECTIVE To examine whether children between 12 and 25 months of age learn words from an infant-directed DVD designed for that purpose. DESIGN Half of the children received a DVD to watch in their home over the course of 6 weeks. SETTING All participants returned to a laboratory for testing on vocabulary acquisition every 2 weeks. PARTICIPANTS Ninety-six 12- to 24-month-old children. MAIN EXPOSURE Baby videos. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Parent report and observational measures of vocabulary acquisition related to words highlighted in the DVD; parent report of general language development; and parent report of childrens media use. RESULTS The age at first viewing of baby DVDs was related to childrens general language development. There was no evidence of learning words highlighted in the infant-directed DVD independent of parental intervention. CONCLUSIONS Researchers should continue to examine whether infant-directed media are effective in teaching infants and toddlers content and consider the cognitive factors related to whether very young viewers should be expected to learn from a DVD.

YOUNG CHILDREN, NEW MEDIA

In May 2006 a new cable channel entered American television; BabyFirstTV became the first 24 hour cable and satellite network to offer programming aimed at viewers between 6 months and 3 years old. Earlier in the spring, Sesame Workshop released a DVD series, ‘‘Sesame Beginnings,’’ designed for children 6 months to 2 years old to compete with the well known ‘‘Baby Einstein’’ series of infant videos. These media directed at the very young are only the latest of a trend to both program for and attract very young children to audio-visual media. In addition to cable networks and DVDs, interactive toys, cell phones, websites, and other content are now directed at the very young child as well (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2006). Data from two Kaiser Family Foundation surveys of the parents of children 6 months to 6 years over the past 4 years (2003, 2006) provide evidence that electronic media are an increasingly important part of the lives of the very young. This paper will examine the use of electronic media by children under three and will examine what impact such early viewing might have on children’s development. The past decade in American media life has demonstrated the presence of screen media—television, videos, DVDs, computers, videogames—in the lives of very young children. Both the 2003 and 2006 national surveys of media use by children under six conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation have provided evidence that American children are more likely today to spend time with screen media than print media or free play. All of this is occurring at a time when media directed at young children is facing criticism: for instance, since 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends discouraging children under two from watching any screen media and limiting older children to 2 hours or less per day (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1999). There are questions regarding the impact of such early media use on children’s cognitive and social development, including questions regarding just how and when children do learn from screen media (Wartella, Vandewater, & Rideout, 2005). Moreover, more than 35 years of experience with preschoolers using Sesame Street has demonstrated that 4to 6-year-olds can learn important skills such as their numbers and letters, as well as pre-reading skills that can have a positive effect on them as they enter elementary school (Wright et al., 2001); however, the impact of these educational shows on younger children is less clear (Linebarger & Walker, 2005). There is no clear cut evidence regarding young children’s learning from screen media. In fact, what is most surprising is the dearth of studies on the very young (those under three) including examination of the likely consequences of their early screen media on development.