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Hello happy fellows, During 12 years I Was a teacher for pupils from 3 to 12 years old. I taught in French as a foreign language in Germany and in the UK. After that I stood in France and taught all the school subject. One of my favorite was English because we could alternate between settlers and stirrers, songs and games ... I had one problem : my accent and the fact I'm not really fluent. I saw the arriving of tablets like the perfect tool to complete my lecture. Children will after all listen a perfect english thanks to this kind of app.
Furthermore we could study the body, answer sharp questions immediately : And why is the blood red ? Etc ... Launch of tablets changed our relationship with screens. In this world there’s no more “screen time” just “time with screens”. Parents don’t even know where to go, what to do with digital devices. That’s why I decided to change direction from teaching to help parents, french ministry of education and teachers by recommending the best apps for kids in order to give kids a chance to get the best of their time with screen for a better use. Nowadays, you will find more than 80,000 apps being considered as “education” apps.
Parents and kids are looking at apps in the stores like a sky in a summer night : full of beautiful shiny stars but there is so many you don’t even know where to watch.
Suddenly, WOOSH, there is a shooting star that capture the attention. I don’t have THE recipe … but for sure some elements and strong feelings. THE VIP (very important points) TO ATTRACT PARENTS Let’s have a quick look on key numbers of our brain development : From 0 to 5 years old, 700 to 1 000 new connections are created in our brain EVERY second. Each thing the baby and young children perceive from their environment create a synapsis. They have to be stimulated : Stakes are high ! WHAT PARENTS AND TEACHERS ARE EXPECTING FOR CHILDREN In general, they want them to be smarter / have more knowledge / be stimulated / find their talent.
Stimulation : The “serendipitapps” : apps help kids to find why are they made of. There’s plenty of alternatives in life. How discover which one fits to my child ? Answer : Because there’s apps on almost every subjects. They’ll try this and that and this again, and again. An app about instruments of a philharmonic orchestra ?
Link between digital and real life You should keep the idea to give the opportunity to the children to reuse the skills they learned in the app in real life (I’ll give some examples later) and those get children looking up from their screens, that make them shoot their environment, have something to print and to cut with scissors in order to make some little paperpuppets etc ...
Personnalisation. Parents are always seeking the app that fits perfectly to their children. Apps with algebra with thickbox to choose what children will learn ... app about geography : check which countries are well known and let’s discover the others.
Quiet ! Parents don’t want the kids to go crazy and nerved by playing. It’s better to do sport to spend energy. A quiet game with thinking will encounter more success with parents (Tiny Bang for example).
Vocabulary : High level required, please. Be “so chic”. Even if children don’t understand some
words, in your apps you can put some definitions or flash cards to give them the chance to learn. And I will be happy to improve my english thanks to you, guys. This is very selfish.
What parents expect from kids apps : Facebook poll
No proposal. On the page there is more than 11 400 users and parents answered free as birds. The results :
28 % : Pedagogical qualities 20 % : Adaptive and progressive learning 15 % : Graphics arts qualities 4 % : Ergonomic
Other words were : creativ ; good Gameplay ; ludic ; surprising ; NOT educative ; not expensive ; secure (socials networks) … Almost nothing about the apps’ price. BUT there is a difference between what parents say and what they do. Apps for kids = education for parents = game for kids. It’s not an impulsive purchase but a thoughtful one. Recommendations are precious. They will compare, think about it, ask some friends AND share it when they are satisfied. #2 Facebook poll : parents had to choose among several words MCQ format
Results :
21 % Pedagogical 18 % Creativ 18 % Ludic / playful 16 % Evolutivity 12 % Ergonomic 8 % “Wow” effect 4 % Graphic arts 3 % Price
3 points for discussion :
Design, graphics art at the 7th place on the charts. Hammer stroke on the head. In fact, parents are not aware on the effect of drawns on them. We are all any sensitive to the beautiful.
Gameplay : is to link with the ludic aspect. Parents are the first being asked when it doesn’t work.
They are disappointed because they paid for something useless and won’t come back again soon for an “encore”.
In the very successful apps, pedagogical aspect IS the gameplay itself. DragonBox, for example. The keys to move forward are the acquisition to do equations.
Creativity. Not everything should be written. Parents want to keep the ability of their children to create.
THE VIP TO ATTRACT CHILDREN They all have something to do with the video games codes. Be iconic ! “Wow effect” of the graphics arts is to ranks first. It starts with icons : they are the keys to draw in an app, the call of the siren. Test the icons before you launch your new app. Fox and Sheep is really foxy. They develop a tool : they display different icons of the new app in the formers ones and measure the number of clicks on the icons. See, elephant attracts more. Let’s choose the elephant to be the next icon.
Don’t be too academic ! I hate that. Am I really allowed to recognize it as a former teacher ? Yes ! I would like to play a game every moment of my life, as every child wishes. When I am in front of an app with basic math operations to do without any stake (sans enjeu), I find it booooooooring. Watch this cartoon of Brian Gordon.
If I have to calculate because I’m chased by a big bad octopus, calculation becomes vital. 1 goal : to get the answer really quickly.
When a child is playing, he is entirely in the game. For me, the app change the way to learn. Children will learn “without pain”, even without realizing they are learning. In a new situation, they will realize they know something new, they acquired a new skill … “Hey, I know pretty well the difference between a clarinet, an oboe and a bassoon !” “And me, I know the ingredients to make bread dough …” Remember what Alexandra Lange a journalist said about Monument Valley : “architects could learn a great deal from playing the game about how people move through space, about which options our instincts scream out against, and about impossible moves real buildings can only suggest.” Be ergonomic ! A child will try once. Not twice. After, he turns back to the older app he perfectly knows. [waiting music … irritating, isn’t it ?] The waiting time to download : not acceptable. Kids go fast.
Gameplay. The easiest way to get in the app is the better. Nothing to read but a few words and that’s it. By testing an app, I am acting as if I were a child. Touching everything without reading even if I am supposed to be a reader, I have not a single second of patience.
Don’t make the children “swipe” for nothing. If it’s just to draw the attention back, put something else in. Children are not stupid : they know when you take them for a ride.
Other important element : there are steps in your app. Be sure it’s harder and harder BUT not too hard at a time. Children love to be challenged, but if it’s suddenly too hard, they will drop. Winning is the best way to get child involved. Iteration doesn’t scare kids. They will try hundred times to cross the road with a little pinguin. Put “algebra, grammar, whatever ...” in it. As a matter of fact : children and us learn by repeating something. With some free space in between. Avatar : when I make a mistake, I’m not so glad everyone can recognize me. With an avatar, I don’t mind if I fail. But be careful with avatars. Artgig apps just wrote : “a mom who had downloaded Marble Math Junior for her daughter was upset to find that our game only offered lightskinned avatar choices.” You have to put diversity in the avatar or to put a quite simple character that would fit to every child (cf. Ida Princess in Monument Valley or a shape as in the tinybop apps.) No reward but a new step : Trophy is like the “congratulation” of the mummy, the teacher but the access to the next step is as good as a fake trophy. Children compare the levels with fellows and that’s it. No penalty when they didn’t succeed to do something. Trialanderror gives them confidence to try without being punished. They’ll be more confidents thanks to that. THE LOGICAL LAST POINT IS : THE VIP FOR BOTH What are they ? Ok, time to go ! I have just a swimming lesson starting right now. You really want me to square the circle, right ? Here are the keywords : EASY TO USE CULTURAL APPROACH MEET THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN QUIET
The KISS principle : Keep It Simple, Stupid. Einstein used to say : “If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.” The big deal the apps for kids have to face is to turn in a simple way the complicated notions of our lives, like notions that are really tough for teachers to clear up. For example : the DNA role. This app propose to change the DNA parameters and the “little monster” you are creating is changing.
Paper. What ? This old stuff ! Through augmented reality children will discover not only a book but sounds, colors and motions. Albert Einstein : “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” Fairy tales in an augmented reality are great as well, and necessary.
Market of board games and interactives figurines will explode because children will carry on handling objects AND will have an augmented game. The volumiques are doing great stuff with that.
“The everything machine” from Tinybop allows children to create electrical circuits, to connect devices etc … We could imagine a real circuit to connect (by buying a box with stuffs ?).
Use what children can do. Transform real drawings in an app and play with your own creations. It’s engaging for the kids. “The only things you learn are the things you tame” ― Antoine de SaintExupéry, The Little Prince
Link apps with real humans. In an app that teaches a foreign language, we could imagine a way to send some postcards to a spanish kid who is learning english in purpose to correspond. With all the guarantees of security, writing through parents mailbox, etc … Like “Maily” propose it, for example. They won’t know what to write ? Suggest questions : Do you have homework to do ? At what age did you learn reading ?
Children, by asking questions, will learn not only a language but discover the way other children live in the world. They will tell their friends what they discovered (and speak about your app).
The “Wow” effect. Be surprising. Put stuffs in their everyday life, hidden surprises on their way,
make them laugh and learn. Like a permanent “Show and Tell”. Pew Research Center reports 24% of 13 to 17 year olds admit checking their phones "almost constantly".
French adults checks 160 times everyday in average. Use this addiction to teach something strongly surprising just near them. For example, an app was just launched in Paris to discover original pieces of reading. How ? You are wandering around in a parisian parc. Some benches are tagged to emit. BipBip : a notification invite you to sit down and listen. What a great idea to learn in situ (like Rousseau “used to do” with l’Émile). Monuments could be tagged … And what about an app that when locating you send you a push notification inviting you to seek this flower around you and to learn something new ? It’s huge to developpe. I know. That’s your job.
the 360 degree : immersive apps. Children can visit places in the world, rebuild virtually a castle by scanning the destroyed one … Next step : an atlas with places and monuments everywhere to click on it and to visit in 3D. And what would you think about Monument Valley in 360 degree ? We spoke about fairy tales : Wuwu is one that disrupt the way to tell a story by immersed kids in a room, a forest … with a 360 degree technology.
Tools to share are not an option anymore BUT should be assorted with safeguards. Social networks are not longer to ignore : teachers are using them in the classroom (twitter to post dictation, FB to show crafts … ). Kids know that exist and are able to use it at very early stage, with teachers or parents’ supervision. You have wonderful graphics arts ? Take a postcard that the child can send after writing a small note for his friend by email (cf. maily) … And how about to find a shrewd way to share it on the parents FB page, as viral way to promote wider the app ?
To code. Parents are very much aware of the benefits such a skill will bring to children, to empower them. Problem : neither parents nor teachers are able to teach how to code today. The winner will be the app editor who will find the way to involve the child sufficiently in an application to motivate him to program.
We could imagine a new game, with a story that suddenly stops. Problem : a piece of the story is missing because we have to code the following part. With tutorials and guidelines, the child could program what will come next in the story and carry on by acting concretely to get the story continued. Like a history of which you are the hero.
Today, the essential quality sought in a human is to be creative. Many educational speeches denounce the fact that schools kill creativity. As a child, you have a personal vision of things that is not common. And your imagination is still unlimited. Einstein said : “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” For me, an app doesn’t need to give all the keys and a single way to follow. The big deal is that children are not any more simply users but practitioners / makers. An application should provide the tools to enable children to dream not the best way to use it, but his personal way to use it, to reinvent the world indeed. TAKEAWAYS :
there’s no more “screen time” just “time with screens” more than 80,000 apps being considered as “education” apps parents are expecting for their children to be smarter / have more knowledges / be stimulated / find
their talent. The “serendipitapps” : apps help kids to find why are they made of Link between digital and real life Personnalisation. No need of violence, timer and feeling nervous to enjoy an app : calm and reflexion are
good as well High level vocabulary Be iconic ! Don’t be too academic ! EASY TO USE CULTURAL APPROACH MEET THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN CALM Give children a chance to create
