Apps Encourage Learning
Toddlers and older kids have experience with iPhones, whether they have their own or use their parents, reported The Tahlequan Daily Press.
“It’s very common to observe what we call the ‘pass-back’ effect, where the parent passes their own device to the child,” said Carly Schuler, a Fellow At the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Seame Workshop, in an interview. “And it makes sense – parents’ devices, like phones, have always been amongst children’s favorite ‘toys,’ and as the devices become more functional for adults, they simultaneously get more fun for kids.”
Shortly after the iPhone came out, Shuler said she noticed children as young as 3 years old playing with the shiny devices.
“I saw it on the subway, at the grocery store — anywhere you’d see a parent and child interacting, really,” she said.
A recent report by CNN indicates that over half of the top-100 selling iPhone apps are for kids and over 3,400 education apps are available at the iTunes store. Almost all children in the U.S. have access to a mobile device, according to the Sesame Workshop. A 2007 study found that 93 percent of 6 to 9-year-olds had access to a cell phone in the home and more than 30 percent owned their own phone.
And they are encouraging learning. Schuler said. While some believe phones are just another distraction, the potential for learning far outweighs any disadvantages.
“First, these devices are mobile and allow the parent to encourage anywhere, anytime learning,” she said. “The second advantage is that, because of their relatively low cost and ubiquity, these devices allow educators to reach underserved children that are geographically or economically disadvantaged. The third is that these devices can encourage 21st century skills like communication and collaboration.”