May 2012
Volume 20, No. 5, Issue 146
The full issue is available to subscribers only ($30/12 issues). Subscribe now.
Low Ratings & Sad Faces… But It Has To Be Done
We’re always sorry to give any product a less-than-glowing-review, but like a doctor that tells you need to loose a few pounds, our job can’t involve hurt feelings. Will our rating of a product change? Not unless the product does, and that leads our readers to a question we think about a lot. “How can a product earn five stars?” We feel that a valid reviewer should be able to provide a clear answer, especially when serving up a less-than-favorable review. In an effort to bring transparancy and fairness to our review process, we’ve turned on our camera and recorded two of the testing sessions for two important products in this issue. The first is Elmo’s Birthday Bash on page 5 It isn’t such a bad app (it earned a 4.1 star rating), but it could be much better. See if you agree at http://youtu.be/l135P7TQHZU. The second, the Hatch iStartSmart (page 7) system was hard to review because it involved both hardware and software. You can see what we saw as strengths and weaknesses here http://youtu.be/m8nDZmZQlWA. We’re quick to remind our readers and disguntled publishers that we’re not the only source of reviews, and our ratings have a constructivist slant. We understand that not everyone views the world in this way which is why we have to fully disclose our evuation process.
Tablet-Based eBook Libraries with Funny Names
We’re all famililar with the process of buying eBooks on iTunes or Amazon.com. In the past month, however, we’ve notice a dramatic increase in the number of tablet based book collections that specifically target children. Each uses the same script: download a free app, try some samples, and then pay up with an in-app sale. Which is best? If you study the ratings, you’ll see that while each has specific strengths and weaknesses, Scholastic’s Storia comes out on top. See the comparison.
Robots
Since the days of “Lost in Space” and R2D2 Robots have captured our imaginations, which is why we’ve done this month’s LittleClickers on the topic.
Here’s another solid Duck Duck Moose app. The idea is to present younger children with a narrated question, such as “who is upside down?” They then try to find the correct answer, from eight possible choices. There’s a nice variety of questions and the names of different animals are used (e.g., alligator, cat, chicken, cow, dog, elephant, giraffe, hippo, lion, monkey, mouse, panda, penguin, pig, seal, skunk, walrus, and zebra, as well as an imaginary “squirgle”). Children are also introduced to emotions such as smiling, surprised, crying, angry, and sad; actions such winking, waving, yawning, eating, wagging his tail, and sleeping; positions of backwards and upside down; activities of listening or having a party; sounds such as meow and woof; and attire including wearing a hat, sunglasses, or bowtie. As children play, they can listen to jazz versions of nursery tales. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Let’s Work Together to Make Young Makers
Last month at CES, I met Dale Dougherty; a very smart publisher who co-founded O’Reilly Media. He’s one of the driving forces behind both MAKE magazine and the Makerfaire shows. Here’s his talk at Kid’s at Play http://youtu.be/FQ8my2HNgzc. Dale reminded us all that children are born to take things apart and put them together again; a notion that lies at the heart of constructivism — and our evaluation instrument. That’s why we picked “Children as Makers” as our topic for this month’s LittleClickers column on page 3. You can find a wonderful set of videos (don’t miss the singing fish car) and links to help us all “Make Makers.” You can also learn more about one of the first relatively low cost 3D printers, the Replicator, on page 19.
iPads in Kindergarten
We just finished a short series of videos with “The iPad Teacher” at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDE5C25B50EF55422. His real name is Chris Crowell, CTR’s Contributing Editor, and he earned his moniker from the children of Desmares Elementary School, where he has been a kindergarten teacher, sans iPad, for 14 years. This last year — his 15th — he’s been experimenting with an iPad 2, thanks to a training project we’ve been working on with the Acelaro Head Start, and an upcoming trip to North Dakota. Perhaps his biggest message is this: young children today are growing up with touch screens. They don’t need to be subjected to a series of lessons about how to use one. Instead, let them experiment with a collection of carefully selected apps and use guided exploration to introduce features, such as the camera and/or the microphone. Model the behaviors you want. “The great thing about the iPad is that it promotes exploration.”
Here are the video topics:
1. Introducing the iPad for the first time. How to charge it, how to store it, and most importantly, what not do.
2. Using the camera.
3. Care and feeding of the iPad.
4. Do things ever go wrong?
5. How to introduce a new app.
Take a closer look at our prototype iPad, on page 4.
This 7 inch Android powered tablet isn’t kidding around when it comes to such things as the ability to play Netflix movies, or apps like Cut the Rope. Nabi comes with a Kid Mode that gives parents what they’ve been asking for on an iPad — a parent-controlled, password-protected interface that locks a child inside a gated digital community. This means you can pick the apps, videos and sites you want your child to see, and because the app runs Flash, this can include sites like PBS kids. If you want to use the tablet to watch a movie or check your own email, you start “Mommy Mode” by entering your password. An essential part of the business model is the Nabi App Store, home to 500 pre-selected apps, games and other content, and there’s a direct pipeline to the Toysrus.com app. Fifteen apps come pre-installed, plus some ebooks and movie trailers which helps to make the out-of-the-box experience nicer. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
CTR January 2012
Note: We’ve raised our price. A one year subscription to CTR is now $30/year for 12 issues. Subscribe online for instant access.
On Tap for 2012: Another Exiting Year
Here are some specific predictions, some already starting to come true, for 2012:
• More iOS apps. Apple’s continued dominance of the children’s interactive space will carry into 2012, although Android will gain ground. But comparing an iPad with an Android tablet is like comparing Ben and Jerry’s with ice milk. See the reviews of both the Nabi (p. 11) and the Playbase (p. 13) in this issue.
• More innovation— and increased quality. Good hardware makes good software; and the tablet platform will begin to bear fruit in amazing ways. Consider X-Rays on page 14.
• More tablets with strange names. An increase in quality $200 to $250 Android options, and the Amazon Fire begins to increase.
• Increasingly sneaky ways to get your money. In-app sales, ads, and click to buy links will never go away. Every child will need to develop IASLS (in-app sales literacy skills).
• Two new platforms. Both the Wii U and the Sony Vita will debut, further expanding digital play opportunities. The Vita has two capacitive touch screens, letting you “push up” the screen from the bottom, but it is unlikely we’ll see too many children’s titles on it. Wii U brings a completely new two screen experience.
• Other goodies will include cheaper solid state hard drives and large HD screens; more Kinect titles, and fewer spinning hard drives, as solid state components improve.We’ll see a bump in innovation, as toy companies start to reinvest in R&D, smarter virtual worlds and more augmented reality. in short, this is going to be another exciting year.
As I put this issue to bed, I’m off to a very non-DAP (developmentally appropriate place) for a child—Las Vegas, Nevada, for the annual Kids @ Play conference and KAPi awards. If you’re in the vicinity of the Las Vegas Fashion Mall at 6:30 Thursday evening, please come join us for the awards ceremony, where we’ll celebrate the best interactive design from 2011.
EIGHT PRODUCTS AND TWO INDIVIDUALS TO BE AWARDED THE KIDS AT PLAY INTERACTIVE “KAPi” AWARD AT CES 2012
See the complete narrative on the awards, here.
New York City, December 12, 2011 – The third annual Kids at Play Interactive – “KAPi” award winners were announced today recognizing the most innovative games, software, devices and apps for engaging, entertaining and educating today’s children. The KAPi Award ceremony will take place at the 2012 International CES in Las Vegas on January 12, at 6:00 p.m. at the Fashion Show Mall.
A jury that consisted of 13 industry and editorial experts started with 635 children’s technology products released in 2011 in order to select the winners. Judges were looking for products that raise the bar for understanding of children and how they play and learn, combined with innovative use of technology and design excellence. Read the rest of this entry »
Children’s Technology Review • November 2011
Vol. 19, No 11, Issue 140
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We’ll Miss You, Steve Jobs
Since this is our first post-Jobsian issue of CTR, let me pause for a moment to pay tribute to *the* original magic seeker. Sure, Steve Jobs didn’t invent stuff like chips and multi-touch gorilla glass, any more than Julia Child invented butter. But he was adept at mixing them up to create magical results, and his products have empowered many, many children over the years. This is also a good time to remember that Steve wasn’t finished with his grand scheme of digital domination, and that he left a lot of key ideas in the hands of a smart team with a lot of money. According to Walter Isaacson’s biography, Steve was eyeing the multi-billion dollar textbook industry as a next target for digital transformation. One can only hope. Without Steve’s hardware, we would never had software, and without software, we’d have nothing to review. To quote one clever tweeter, “thank you Steve, for the jobs.”
Microsoft Presents “Kinect for Kids”
Last month in New York, I attended an extravagant press event targeting children. It was sure fun watching the kids try to figure out the tiny cheeseburger hor’dourves. In the past, Microsoft’s attempts at the children’s space have lacked credible titles (remember Viva Piñata?), but not this time. Besides unveiling partnerships with Sesame Workshop and National Geographic, they gave the audience a chance to try Once Upon a Monster (on the cover of this issue). Don’t miss the review of this important product, with analysis on why it is pushing innovation in children’s interactive media right now. See the review on page 15.
Learn About Pianos
What do Elton John, Lady GaGa, and Mozart have in common? They all started playing the piano when they were four years old. Learn more about this magical musical machine on page 3.
A Closer Look at Apps for Learning to Read
According to neuropsychologist Jeannine Herron, “Most of the apps currently being developed for teaching children reading skills have this serious gap of phoneme awareness that will hinder, not benefit the development of skilled reading because they produce inefficient wiring in the brain.” Do you agree? Have a look at page 4.
One iPad, Forty Kindergarteners and Some Respect
“Wow, I could really use this” said Kindergarten Teacher Chris Crowell, as he started exploring ways to tap the power of the iPad. Using the camera feature, he figured out how to help his children understand ideas related to respect. See page 6.
Research Watch: Who Said TV is Dead?
Besides the death of Steve Jobs, October 2011 will go down as a big one for new research unveiled about kids and media use, a least in terms of Google new alerts. Fortunately for us, Scott Traylor covered both events, and he had his camera. See page 7.
Last week (Oct 3, 2011) I spoke on a panel on the evaluation of interactive media at the Fred Rogers Center and I referred to this page, from the September 2011 issue of Children’s Technology Review. I issued a strong disclaimer that every theory can find a champion in technology — in other words, one person’s view of quality can (and should) differ from another person’s view. As Jesse Schell (of CMU) reminded the group, measuring quality in an interactive product is like trying to assess beauty.
So, because interactive media is so diverse, and no single checklist, rubric (or as David Kleeman says a “rubrics-cube”) can capture all the possible attributes of quality, here are some common general attributes of products that our particular instrument attempts to capture. Most of these are similar to teacher/child interactions that might be characterized as “quality” or “educational.”
A five star product may be one that —
- increases feelings of child control. A child feels empowered, in control, or able to make things happen from the experience, rather than depowered, slowed down, or hindered by the experience.
- provides success in the first few seconds. We use a filter we call the MUC (Miniumum User Competency) to help us gauge the prerequisite skills that are required in order to succeed with an experience.
- doesn’t trap children. Children can always get out of what they get into.
- looks good; sounds good. Today’s hardware makes it possible to deliver “retina display” graphics, and surround sound audio.
- innovative. We see dozens of games of concentration. We like to reward products that are the first to tap the potential of a new technology.
- well leveled. As the child moves through the experience, they don’t run into “hey mom” bottlenecks.
- state-of-the-art. Makes use of the latest tools and techniques to reach the widest number of children.
- is affordable. Compared to competitive products, the product delivers.
What attributes might earn lower 1, 2, or 3 star ratings?
- talks too much.
- sluggish, laggy, or less than crisp.
- talks down to children, feels “sugary.”
- not well developmentally matched.
- “homemade” feeling art, narration and/or music.
- buggy, crashes, buffer problems.
- typos, bad grammar and/or sloppy craftsmanship.
- doesn’t use the potential of the hardware and software.
- competitive products cost less and do more. The free market can be a cruel place, but a 4 year old doesn’t care
Buckleitner, 2011. You Say Software, I Say App: Welcome to the Twisted Language of Educational Technology. Children’s Technology Review Volume 19, No. 8, Issue 137
Last year, North America’s biggest educational technology show changed its name. NECC
(National Educational Computing Conference) became the ISTE (International Society for
Technology in Education). Keep reading in PDF format.
Hunter, S. 2011, A Real Virtual Playroom: Designing Media to Foster Creative Engagement, Children’s Technology Review, Volume 19, No. 8, Issue 137
By Seth Hunter
What principles should inform the design of software for children as access and exposure to different forms of media increases?
What do children expect from digital media and what is the role of the designer in shaping these expectations?
How should new media be integrated with the traditional play patterns and experiences of the child?
Hunter provides six questions you can ask to distinguish between digital and traditional media, as follows:
1) Create and Program: Can I make my own and bring it to life?
2) Pretending and Fantasy: Can I do impossible things?
3) Transformation: Can I become something new?
4) Interactivity: Can I make it respond to me?
5) Time-Based Storytelling and Playback: Can I tell a story?
6) Social Play at a Distance: Can I play with my friends?
Seth Hunter is a Ph.D. student at the MIT Media Lab. His research explores how to design media interfaces that are more socially and physically engaging. He is currently
working on mixed reality applications for children with a focus on creativity, expressiveness, and learning. Hunter has a BA in cognitive science and digital art from the University of
Virginia, and an MFA in art and technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has been employed as a toy designer, multimedia developer, instructional technologist, media artist, and teacher.
With the announcement today that Best Buy is giving away the iPhone 3GS (with an $80/month AT&T subscription, of course), it is time to say “so long” to a historic device, before it slides down the Moore’s Law graph, toward obscurity. It joins the ranks of the Kapro, Apple IIe, Sony 8mm Camcorder, Nintendo NES, PS2 as having served us well. But Moore’s law waits for no device. The time is at hand. Good bye, old pal. This announcement is evidence that the iPhone 5 (which will have faster web abilities, more iPad attributes, and undoubtedly better batteries) is at hand.
Peekabook: Find Hidden Fun UFO Characters consists of 10 scenes (Deep Forest, Blue Lake, Country Road and so on). Each scene has aliens tucked behind trees, rocks or other background items. To find the aliens you tap around the screen. After all the characters are found, you get a round of applause, and a new level. Created by PopApp, Bright Colors and Visualizes.com.ua. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Deep Sims: A Case Study
At precisely 8:52 AM, Saturday, August 6, 2011, two 12-year-old boys will open the throttle of the Spirit of St. Louis, try to stay on the runway, and get off the ground. If the takeoff is successful, they’ll bank toward the open ocean and land — the next day — in Paris, France. Seem extreme? Possibly. But given the flexibility of an independent non-profit operating in a small town library, and the power of an aging flight simulation, the real time exercise has proven that it can bring a spark of authenticity to learning that is rarely found in a traditional classroom setting. It also keeps children, and the public, interested. See page 5 or visit www.mediatech.org
You Say Software, I Say App: A Look at the Twisted Language of Educational Technology
Last year, NECC (National Educational Computing Conference) became the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). Why the name change? It seems that nobody knows what to call the stuff we review. Over the years, our own publication has morphed from Children’s Software Revue (1993), to Children’s Software & New Media Review (1998) to Children’s Technology Review. In this issue (page 11), I make a noble attempt to take a closer at the language of this space.
Read the rest of this entry »
The NAEYC/Fred Rogers Center draft position statement on technology and young children is doing its work, dredging up spirited debate on children and technology. As a result, CTR has been busy. Besides participating in a webinar on the topic, I’ve been watching the public reaction to the position statement. I’m pleased to report that due to careful listening by authors Chip Donohue and Roberta Schomburg, the debate seems to be simmering, marking an important transition in the debate. For the first time, we can start evaluating what the screen does, instead of the screen itself. See page 5.
New Cooney Survey Explores Family Digital Use
Family Matters: Designing for a Digital Age by Lori Takeuchi summarizes a survey of 800 parents of children ages 3-10. While there seemed to be few surprises, there were a few items worth noting. For example, 57% of the families recognize that digital media presents ways for children to converse and connect with friends and family, but two-thirds of parents restrict their children from chatting online and visiting social networking sites. Only half of parents play with their kids on newer platforms such as video game consoles. Instead they report spending time with traditional activities, including watching television, reading books and playing board games. In summarizing the study in the Huffington Post, JGC Director Michael Levine writes “The study concludes that when it comes to digital media’s influence on children, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Kids obviously need guidance to understand the critical skills that are required in a ubiquitous media environment. It is critical that industry, researchers and policymakers understand that when it comes to promoting learning and positive social habits, families still matter most.”
Inside the Light Bulb
Before 1880, when the sun went down, you either went to bed or you burned something — either whale oil or kerosene. But then Thomas Edison figured out how to make a filament glow using electricity, and the technology shifted human culture. Edison’s 130 year old design is starting to burn out, however. It is being replaced by CFL and LED light bulbs. Do you know what those letters mean? Have a look, on page 4 or visit LittleClickers.com
Coming in July: A First Look at Games for the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo WiiU
Now that we’ve seen what’s coming from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, what software is coming? In the July issue of CTR, we’ll start listing some of the more noteworthy new games and offer more details on the WiiU and PlayStation Vita.
Just curious — Have you ever written a fake review for iTunes or Amazon.com? Would you like to clear your conscience? I’d like to find publishers who are paying people to write positive reviews.
All responses will be considered confidential. Contact Warren Buckleitner using our “contact us” form.
A report was released (March 14, 2011) today from NPD, called Kids Leisure Time IV that concludes “the nature of how kids socialize is changing, with person-to-person (aka, traditional) socialization decreasing as kids get older, being replaced by other forms of socialization such as social networks, cell phone usage and video chatting.”
The national (USA) survey was of mothers with children aged 2 to 12 years, living in the household. The study (released Feb 11) was based on 1,994 completed surveys and was fielded from December 2-22, 2010.
According to the report,
“kids ages 2-4 spent 17.5 hours per week spending actual face time with friends or siblings, with the average hours per week dropping off as kids get older (10.8 hours for ages 9-12). New technology, activities and entertainment options are having a noticeable impact on how kids are spending their leisure time. While kids have the same number of hours to spend on leisure time (68 leisure hours in a typical week, which has remained constant since 2007), they have more activities in which to engage, requiring them to reprioritize how they spend their time, leading to shifts in the kids’ leisure time landscape.
Blurred Definitions
“A growing body of leisure time activities span both ‘entertainment’ and ‘socializing,’ with the lines between these two categories becoming blurred,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. “Arguably, an activity like talking on the phone with a friend has always had an intrinsic entertainment value, but this has become even more pronounced in light of the many new ways in which one can now communicate. For marketers, this translates into more ways to reach kids from both a product/content standpoint as well as marketing/messaging.”
No Threat to Traditional Toys
There seems to be minimal impact of these ever-expanding entertainment and device options on kids’ interaction with toys. Participation rates, share of time and weekly hours spent each tell the same story: toys are a stable foundation in kids’ leisure time landscape. Unlike movies, kids are still as actively engaged with toys as they were in the past few years. In fact, they may even be spending slightly more hours per week with toys than they did in 2009.
“While some of these newer ways to spend their free time are quite alluring to kids, toys hold a unique place in kids’ lives,” said Frazier. “Toy manufacturers should embrace and expand upon what makes traditional toys special to both kids and adults.”
The report comes from the NPD Group.
Here’s the slide I showed at EETC. 
No, although this kind of question is thick with potentially clouding variables.
That’s why I was thrilled to find this study from my Alma mater (Michigan State University) that properly addressed the question using statistical techniques to account for the complexity of the question.
Here’s the executive summary of the study called Internet use, videogame playing and cell phone use as predictors of children’s body mass index (BMI), body weight, academic performance, and social and overall self-esteem by Linda A. Jackson, Alexander von Eye, Hiram E. Fitzgerald, Edward A. Witt and Yong Zhao; Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA:
In this research we examined the prediction of children’s body mass index (BMI), body weight, academic performance, social self-esteem and overall self-esteem from their IT (information technology) use, specifically, their Internet use, cell phone use and videogame playing, after controlling for the effects of gender, race, age and household income on these measures. Participants were 482 children whose average age was 12 years old.
One-third was African American and two-thirds were Caucasian American. Results
indicated that IT use did not predict BMI or body weight, contrary to one previous survey and the widespread belief that screen time is responsible for the obesity epidemic among our nation’s children.
Instead, BMI and body weight were higher for African Americans, older children and children from lower income households. The sole and strong positive predictor of visual–spatial skills was videogame playing, which also predicted lower grade point averages (GPAs). Gender and Internet use predicted standardized test scores in reading skills. Females and children who used the Internet more had better reading skills than did males and children who used the Internet less, respectively. Implications of these findings for future research on the benefits and liabilities of IT use are discussed.
by WARREN BUCKLEITNER
(updated December 28, 2010)
There’s good reason Apple’s iPad ranks up there with a pony on your child’s “most wanted” list. Kids are adapt at sniffing out authentic play opportunities, and when loaded with the right apps, the iPad delivers. But it’s far too easy to clutter a high quality screen with low quality apps. In order to help, here are ten or so of the best, listed from young to old.
“Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president…”.
-Nelson Mandela (From CCIE daily newsletter)
Number of Children's Interactive Media Titles: The First 27 Years vs. The Last Four Years
There’s been a 64.14% increase in commercial children’s interactive media products over the last four years. Said another way, more products have been published in the past 48 months than in the first 27 years of children’s interactive media (graph).
BEHIND THE NUMBERS: From 1984 to 2007, we reviewed 9,306 commercial products for Apple II, IBM/DOS, Windows, Macintosh, OSX, commercial web sites, and cartridges for toy platforms like Leapster and V.smile, sold for children aged 0-to 15-years-of-age. Keep in mind that this is not completely comprehensive. CTR reviews products submitted to for evaluation, or that we found in our research.
Since January 2007, we’ve reviewed an additional 2,291 products; as set containing significantly fewer Windows and Mac titles, with more Nintendo Wii and DS titles and web-related content. Most recently, we’ve seen several promising Kinect titles.
HOW MANY APPS? Since the iTunes App store opened for business in July, 2008, there have been 12,984 apps tagged by apple for “kids” (as of January 9, 2011). This number obviously does not include Android-based apps, and Apple does not reveal how they assign the tags. With the establishment and stability of the iPad, we expect this significant growth trend to continue well into 2014.
Here are the links to some select sessions at Kids at Play at CES, posted by Scott Traylor.
2nd Annual KAPi Awards (Kids At Play Interactive Awards)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IEqw3R-AiA
Dancing Vacuum Robots by Mint Robotics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNlSdbXMdt0
Dueling Keynotes – Jesse Schell & Ge Wang
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XModvXyK-_A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uYkJT140lU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7tsBY_BjAs
SIfteo – David Merrill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6Ia3hwuFQw
Virtual Worlds – JumpStart, Hot Wheels, Whyville
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH2eBXXDCyo
Angry Birds, the toy by Mattel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fedydti9QCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nFxGAARC7o (Daren & Krista version)
Hot Wheels Video Racers by Mattel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xujxUWs-rs
New way to play a vinyl record
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8dCPoLOJHk
The Spider With Remote
About the size of your hand, Web Runner ($35, www.fantasmatoys.com) is a
remote control spider that can run up walls and ceilings, as long as the
surface is smooth. It features articulated legs, glowing red eyes.
The spider’s stickiness is provided by air suction, provided by a small but powerful (and rather noisy) fan. That, combined by the light weight of the plastic parts, makes it possible for the spider to move quickly up a wall — a rather creepy effect. The spider is powered by lithium-ion batteries that are charged by drawing power from the six AA batteries in the remote through a small wire. The spider’s movement is controlled wirelessly through two thumb switches. Includes limited edition collector’s comic book and a spider bite temporary
tattoo. Besides startling your spouse, you get the added benefit of vacuuming your wall.
Details: Fantasma Toys, www.fantasmatoys.com. Price: $35. Ages: 7-up.
What is it? a remote control spider.
Teaches/Purpose: Halloween, robotic controls.
Entry date: 10/11/2010.
We’ve already considered Maria Montessori’s perspective on the iPad (Nov 2010 CTR). This month, Seth Schiessel, the video game reviewer for the New York Times asked “what does it mean to play a game?” (see http://nyti.ms/f4Vf0D). In the article, he referenced the father of American education, John Dewey. Schiessel wrote:
And then a friend gave me a copy of “Art as Experience,” John Dewey’s seminal 1934 work on the philosophy of art, and it became clear: art exists not as artifact but as we engage with it. As Dewey puts it: “The product of art — temple, painting, statue, poem — is not the work of art. The work takes place when a human being cooperates with the product so that the outcome is an experience that is enjoyed because of its liberating and ordered properties. With no media do humans cooperate so intimately as video games.”
Drill and practice gets a new face, voice and brain, with this updated edition of one of the first robotic learning toys. Powered by three AA batteries (included) the 9 inch tall robot is controlled by inserting one of 30 two sided cards into his belly, covering every letter of the alphabet and numeral up to nine. The cards are color coded on the bottom so Alphie can keep things straight using an optical reader. There are eight possible button combinations so children can make matches (e.g., 2D shapes with 3D shapes; sets with numerals, and so on). The LED screen and light-up mouth gives Alphie a wide range of expressions. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
I’ve been asked to give a talk on digital parenting. Here’s the blurb. In this talk, I’ll draw upon my MA in human development and apply my knowledge of current technology. The recipe won’t be very surprising (hint — it has stuff like time for play, walks in the park and cat chasing…)
Raising a 21st Century Problem Solver: A Recipe for Modern Parents
By Warren Buckleitner, Ph.D.
Back in the good old days (the 1990s) school success was gauged largely by how well you did on the “three Rs.” Not anymore.
Raising a child who will thrive in the 21st century means being a parenting pioneer, who can apply old fashioned child development information to a completely new context that no other parenting generation has faced. Come learn and share stories about how you can help a young child navigate a world of video games, smart phones and social media… to help your child grow up at ease with multiple streams of information, and who can excel as a self-learner of digital tools that have not yet been invented. Educational psychologist Warren Buckleitner will share some of the strategies he used with his own children, who grew up swimming in their own sea of the latest technology. He’ll provide a recipe for success that you can implement on a shoestring, discuss how the library can help, and reassure you that when it comes to raising a modern child, you probably know more than you think.
[This press release was sent to me on 10/18/2010]
CLOSE TO HALF OF TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT ON KIDS IN JULY 2010 WAS SPENT ON PRODUCTS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED BY THEM
PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, October 18, 2010 – According to Spotlight on Kids: Understanding Cross-Category Purchasing: Data from July 2010 – Back To School, a consumer tracking study from leading market research company, The NPD Group <http://www.npd.com/> , of the total dollars spent on kids in July 2010, 49 percent was spent on items specifically requested by the children.
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Have you registered for Dust or Magic 2010? Are you worried about logistics? Here are the ten most common questions:
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 features levels inspired by the first four Harry Potter stories. Designed with TT’s famous drop in, drop out interactivity (so you can explore and collaborate with a second player). As you explore, you can do more than walk — you can can also drive a cart and fly a broom. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Who said:
“I came to the country at age six, and I immediately went to a Montessori school, actually, which was remarkable because my family was penniless, and they sent me to a private school at that time. I benefited from the Montessori education which in some ways gives the students a lot more freedoms to do things at their own pace, to discover. Interestingly my partner Larry Page also went to Montessori for preschool and kindergarten; that’s something we share in common. I do think that some of the credit for the willingness to go on your own interests — you can tie that back to that Montessori education.”
My friend and former MSU MAET co-teacher Dr. Aroutis Foster is offering a Yearlong Seminar Series: Digital Games: Teaching, Learning, & Assessment
Here’s a link to the Drexel Learning Games Network
http://mobile.goodwin.drexel.edu/dlgn/
Which is best for your kids? Here’s a side by side comparison in PDF format.
Buckleitner, W., 2010. Book Review: Engineering Play: A Cultural History of Children’s Software. American Journal of Play, Spring 2010, page 485-486.
Engineering Play: A Cultural History of Children’s Software
by Mizuko Ito
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2009. References, index, photographs, tables. 234 pp. $24.95 cloth. ISBN: 978026203352
If you’re looking for a thrilling tale of corporate espionage and rags-to-riches (and rags-to-rags) careers, you need look
no further than the business of making children’s software over the past two decades. In Engineering Play: A Cultural History of Children’s Software, cultural anthropologist Mizuko Ito opens the door for a closer look at children and
technology during this time period. Limited in scope for reasons described below, the book breaks new ground in the way it attempts to interpret what happened during this period of optimism and frustration, when publishers were competing to produce and market 979 commercial products per year during the peak year (2001) and trying to market them in retail settings.
Write a blog post describing a day in the life of a specific child (say your own child or grandchild) in 2020 (or 2040). Predict how technology will influence your child’s growth and development. In doing so, you may want to consider:
• The current generation of kids is unique. No other generation will need to live through such a dramatic change. In other words, iPods, the Wii, Wi-Fi and multitouch will only be invented once.
• That any person’s idea of childhood is defined by his or her culture, values and theories of learning. Not all of us share the same vision, and there are no “right” or “wrong” answers.
• An infant born in 2020, 2040 or 2060 will start out with the same biology as if that child were born today. Jean Piaget’s stage theory will still apply, and Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs will still apply. Wikipedia is a great resource on these guys.
COMMENTS:
The great way to understand time is to watch your kids grow up. Ten years ago I wrote A Day in the Life of a Child in 2020 (CSR, Jan/Feb 2000, online at http://childrenstech.com/2020). My two daughters were 3 and 7 (pictured with their Compaq Presario, playing Catz by PF Magic) and I was eager to test the latest software products on their developing brains. Today, they’re 13 and 17 and have burned through six cell phones (each!).
My, how things have changed. Ten years ago, cell phones made phone calls and to get online, you used a wire and AOL. There was no IMing, Wii or DS, Club Penguin, Webkinz, Facebook, Twitter, iPhones, iPods or Netbooks and Alta Vista was way bigger than Google. Gordon Moore (aka “Moore’s Law”) was true to his word—Microprocessor-based technology has continued to multiply in power and drop in price. What does this mean for my daughters’ children?
Technology changes, but a child’s development doesn’t. The answer, of course, is to study both, testing the technology, and continually assessing if it is “good” for our kids, based on how we define “good.”
It’s a safe bet that the next ten years will be marked by significant evolution on the software and human/computer interaction front, now that we’ve made it to connected tablets with ten hours of battery life. We have the tools. Now it’s time to figure them out, and start the sometimes uncomfortable process of assimilating it into our home or school culture of choice.
This is a fun question, and one that I’ll be exploring in depth in my presentation tomorrow night at the Strong Museum of Play. I’m also going to be introducing ten apps that I think support Montessori ideals.
Download some pages from the November 2010 issue of CTR that explores this question in PDF format: Pages from the November 2010 Issue of CTR.
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By the time she was 43 years old, Maria Montessori was an educational rock star.
In the fall of 1913, two of her admirers — Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, invited her to come to the United States to give an address at Carnegie Hall, and 1000 people had to be turned away at the door. See http://bit.ly/92w6w2. John Dewey himself provided her introduction.
So what if it were 2010 instead of 1913, and Montessori was asked to talk about technology? Would she condemn it, as being overly commercialized and abstract? Or would she embrace it, recommending the purchase of iPads in all of her schools?
I think she’d see the issue in the same way she saw the role of the teacher, using the same criteria she used to choose and design materials.
Apps would be merely a new kind of material for her. Some apps are supportive of a young child… others are less so.
I think she’d be extremely excited about multi-touch on the larger iPad screen; and she’d love the concept of how you can use the Internet to deliver content to a child, at any time. After all, she was a scientist/MD, who embraced new technology. She’d like way the Wii gets children moving around, and be curious about additional applications for the accelerometer.
She’d be the first to give a young child a digital camera to capture representations of his or her world, and would be on the front edge of exploring how to tap the power of the touch screen to help children acquire language and logic abilities.
I think she’d be very excited by apps that self-level, and that give children instant feedback on their finger swipes.
She also wanted her students to be active participants in the future, and it is clear that she understood that her students would grow up in a world different than the present time, having lived in the time of Marconi and having personally witnessing the effects of many medical breakthroughs.
But she’d view the issue as the scientist she was. This new stuff should be studied, and implemented carefully — in a way that is customized to each individual child.
MONTESSORI’S CONCERNS
I’m quite certain that Montessori would have a lot to say about the downsides of technology; most principally the abstract nature of most glass screens. She’d be highly critical of the amount of didactic media (one way, non-interactive) or time that a young, modern child spends with in structured settings like classrooms with rows of seats, or in front of a screen with nothing but abstract symbols, and she’d be very quick to remind today’s parents and teachers that young children learn best when actively engaged in some way. The more real, the more meaningful, the better chance the learning sticks.
She’d condemn programs like Baby Einstein, comparing them to the worst possible teacher who does nothing but try to talk and stimulate, and leaves nothing for the child to do or play with. She’d say it removes the creative spirit from a young learner.
She’d be horrified at the amount of time children spend with low quality, didactic teaching (and media), especially where there is some sort of marketing angle going on; worrying loudly about the morals of a society that would attempt to manipulate a child for financial gain. Montessori often invoked themes of spirituality in her writing, as you can see, and I think probably invoke the highest of powers on this issue.
Don’t take my word for it. Have a look at Maria Montessori’s orginal text and make your own conclusions. It’s a great educational exercise.
Finally, there’s no doubt that Maria Montessori would be amazed at the number of the schools that bear her last name. Here are four of the five famous Montessori Graduates who have helped form today’s technology landscape. (The fifth is Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales).
1. Larry Page; son of Carl Victor Page (MSU computer science professor) attended Okemos Montessori School (now called Montessori Radmoor) from ‘75 to ‘79. He also attended Interlochen Academy and the University of Michigan; taking a class from Elliot Soloway
2. Will Wright had a “brief, intense” elementary Montessori experience in Atlanta GA, until sixth grade. (See Maria Montessori: The 138-Year-Old Inspiration Behind Spore, Kotaku http://bit.ly/8uiER)
3. Sergey Brin attend Paint Branch Montessori School in Adelphi, Maryland. He later tried unsuccessfully to get into M.I.T. In 1995, Sergey got into a two-day argument with a visiting younger U of M student, Larry Page. He talks about his Montessori education, here.
4. Jeffrey Bezos took his crib apart with a screwdriver. After his Montessori early education, he attended River Oaks Elementary in Houston from the 4th to 6th grades. By his mother’s account, the young Bezos got so engrossed in the details of activities at his Montessori school that teachers had to pick him up in his chair to move him to new tasks. http://bit.ly/afmDHb
Here’s the complete press released emailed to me today from Jackie Lustig, hired to do PR for OLPC. You can make your own conclusions. Can OLPC fix it’s sorted reputation for making hard to use, clunky hardware that doesn’t compare well to commercial mobile devices? Stay tuned.
One Laptop per Child and Marvell Join Forces to Redefine Tablet Computing for Students Around the World
Marvell and OLPC Empower Education Industry to Revolutionize the Classroom Experience through Advanced, Affordably-Priced Tablets
Cambridge, Mass. and Santa Clara, Calif., May 27, 2010 – One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a global organization whose mission is to help provide every child in the world access to a modern education, and Marvell, a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions, have agreed to jointly develop a family of next-generation OLPC XO tablet computers based on the Marvell® Moby reference design. This new partnership will provide designs and technologies to enable a range of new educational tablets, delivered by OLPC and other education industry leaders, aimed at schools in both the U.S. and developing markets. Marvell is also announcing today it has launched Mobylize, a campaign aimed at improving technology adoption in America’s classrooms.