I recently downloaded an app on my son’s galaxy tab 3. It was called “Kids ABC Letters”, an app created by Intellijoy. This app is compatible with android, iOS and blackberry devices. Recommended for children ages 3- 7 years old, my son is 3yrs old. It contains Four Categories in which a child can explore or play games; Naming Letters– learn the name and the appearance of each letter. Kids can tap on the letters to verify that they’ve learned the names correctly. Forming Letters– children create letters by sliding colorful puzzle pieces into place. Recognizing letters– children help a cat catch fish with letters written on them, helping children learn appearance and pronunciation of the letters by heart. Identifying letters in context- teaches children how to recognize letters as they appear in words, reinforcing the concept that words are made up of letters.
I really like this app, I would recommend it to teachers and professionals alike. More and more we are seeing technology brought into the classroom, but there are so many apps/programs out there it can make a person feel discombobulated just looking for the right program. I read an article by June S Gyone, called Practical guidelines for evaluating educational software. In this article it explains that like teaching there is no one direct model for learning situations, when it comes to an educational software program. “Just as there is no one teaching model or strategy that works for all learning situations, there is no one type of software program that is best for all learning situations” (Gyone, J., McDonough, S. & Padgett, D. 2000). Gyone also explains that software can range from drill and practice (behaviorist learning) to problem based (Constructivist) software. This app in my opinion has a drill and practice type of style, however depending on the child; you can install a less supervised environment for them to explore the app. For myself personally I was able to leave my son to explore; Naming Letters, Forming Letters, and Identifying letters in context sections with after instruction and doing it with him once. Recognizing letters for my child requires a one on one supervision to help him get the concept of when to click the fish to grab the letter he wants.
This program in my opinion doesn’t provide children room to explore through various activities, definitely not a hypermedia style program, “Hypermedia puts learners in control of their own learning experiences, allowing them to select the content, methods, materials, and activities that suit their own needs, interests, and abilities” (Gyone, J., McDonough, S. & Padgett, D. 2000). My reasoning for this is out of the four categories, each has one game/activity associated with it, no room for alternate games with the same context, no room for higher or more challenging activities. Unless the adult downloads the app that is the next step up. This is not nesscarly a bad thing, as a parent and ECE, I would use this program as reinforcement to a child’s learning and understanding of the alphabet.
As we move further from the original framework of educating (instructional-behaviorist approach), we still need to take into consideration that practice is need (drill and practice approach) is still very important, as being a component of the learning process, “Cognitive research has shown that through extensive practice, information becomes automated for the learner,” (Gyone, J., McDonough, S. & Padgett, D. 2000) This is why I would suggest to Intellijoy, that it would be beneficial if they added in a type of review system for parents and educators to see if the child is getting the concept and if practicing in one area is needed more than another. They can do this by, having it be in a section of the app or installing an monthly or bi-weekly email system.
All in all this app gets a thumbs up from me.
Gyone, J., McDonough, S. & Padgett, D. (August 2000). Practical guidelines for evaluating educational software. The Clearing House. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zz11UpsJbdemjt_Q29tW28CG96-O1dO76i27Aaq-pv4/edit
From Crayons to Heels - And Everything In Between 