Tablets are not only there for fun, they are actually marketed to customers as tools that will help them with their productivity. With their introduction into classrooms in many schools around the world, many companies are racing to put out educational apps. However, educational apps do not only have to cater for the needs of students in schools. Many apps are also designed and targeted at toddlers and young learners.
Of course parents have to be careful at how much time their young kids spend on tablets. Since it is recommended that those under two actually not use them at all, kids who are older than two should only be spending one to two hours maximum. The type of apps they use should also be monitored by the parents since not all apps are designed to be equally beneficial to kids. The apps that tend to be engaging but have no learning value should be avoided, whereas those that help kids be creative and imaginative are the ones to look for.
One of the ways that children learn is picking up sounds and words as though they are blocks, and over time using these to build something with them. Many apps try to create activities where toddlers can play around with sound recognition, and thus improve their language learning experience. There are also apps that help with literacy, where parents and kids have access to electronic libraries with many books and they can share in reading together and this improves kids abilities in letter recognition and adds to their vocabulary.
There also apps that are made to target children with disabilities or children who are in need of special education. Children who have autism benefit greatly from certain types of learning. For example, they are not comfortable interacting with people because they do not behave in a systematic and predictable manner, whereas technology does, which makes technology a platform that they are more at ease with. Of course facilitators must be present, but give a child a tablet with the right apps and they will be able to have a much more fulfilling learning experience.
There are applications that can be used on tablets such as Raz-Kids, that are interactive and have a reward system and can help learners with certain disabilities to learn at their own pace and feel confident in what they have learned due to the reward system. The vice president for scientific affairs at Autism Speaks, Andy Shih has said that, “[a] lot of families are telling us how technology, particularly apps and iPads, are contributing to a quality of life for their kids they couldn’t begin to imagine.”
It is thus that technology is opening up new frontiers, and hopefully as more apps are developed, it will be able to facilitate the learning process for all.
References
abc.net.au
slate.com
businessinsider.com