Not related to the app, but I wish people stop measuring education with time.
In my opinion, kids must spend quite a bit of time understanding basic stuff. Information overdose reduces the quality of understanding. So, the metric shouldn't be "18 months of maths in 6 weeks". A child who learnt the same stuff in 18 months is able to comprehend advanced stuff in the later stages than a kid who learnt it in 6 weeks. Again, this is not a criticism about the app. We just need to give time for kids to learn stuff.
I have these apps, my kids love them,and they do get many concepts across very quickly. It's good to know that they are part of a bigger cause.<p>However, if the apps described in the article are the same as those in the App Store, then some of the concepts are very simple (the early levels can be done by a 2 year old) so it isn't surprising that older children do very well after they are exposed to them.<p>The later levels on number-lines and fractions are a bit more challenging, it will be interesting to see how well children do on those.<p>Regardless, even though some of the exercises seem boring and repetitive to an adult, they do seem to have the knack of holding children's' attention.
> And after 30 minutes, she told us, most of the children have had enough and want to go and play outside. Reassuring for anyone who, like me, would rather not have a child who prefers apps to apples.<p>But why? Faced with straightforward evidence of better performance, even for UK children, why should we be relieved that the app fails at 30 minutes?<p>We should be talking about making games that teach kids for hours! That little tablet is way more engaging than 99% of the experiences impoverished Malawi children are going to have. Perhaps sadly, the tablet is way more engaging that some large majority of experiences UK children will have too.<p>It's obvious to anyone who plays video games that achieving that level of attention is possible. And with games like Civilization and Europa Universalis, you can certainly make a long-play game that teaches kids traditional educational knowledge.<p>I hate the conspiracy idea that educators are opposed to this technology out-of-hand because it threatens them as an institution. And I'm relieved that there are researchers with government backing showing games teaching kids in rich Western countries.<p>At some point though, parents will have to confront teachers to do what improves performance. The question is not, when will games be capable of improving educational performance? That has already happened, and the evidence will mount inevitably.<p>The question is, when will we abandon the pastoral fantasy of today's schooling? When will parents have no opinion whether a child "prefers apps to apples," whatever that means?<p>The dark-age Carolingians made the template for today's public schooling. If a magic book capable of delivering all the world's knowledge (i.e., an iPad) were available to them, don't you think they'd make a very different education system?
I wonder: In the article they mention that the reasons for such effectiveness are "rapid personalized feedback" and "entertaining content keeping kids focused".<p>Those reasons could apply to many educational fields. So i wonder: are there any other apps/sites showing very strong gains versus standard teaching?
This strongly reminds me of my favorite Derek Sivers post titled 'There is no speed limit'. If you haven't read it please do:<p><a href="http://sivers.org/kimo" rel="nofollow">http://sivers.org/kimo</a>
Aside from the issue of the teaching methods being compared through measurements of time, can we discuss what, if anything is lost through this teaching platform? While it is not being suggested as a teaching replacement, does the lack of social engagement or the confusion on real world applications have any bearing on the way this material is stored inside these young minds? Perhaps if a portion of the lesson included participating as a group, or if the system switched from a lesson guide on the screen to a few remarks from the educator as a back in forth it may better incorporate both the advantages of technology and the advantages of a caring educator? I am curious to read more articles or research on such combinations if anyone can point me in the right direction. Thank you.
Cool, I think this is the first positive article I've read about tablets at school.<p>And if you want, you can get the apps for your child for free at <a href="https://onebillion.org.uk/apps" rel="nofollow">https://onebillion.org.uk/apps</a>
I really don't like commenting on these threads but I had to bite here.<p>I call bullshit on this. 18 months of maths is a completely vacuous measure of anything and this is pandering to teachers getting even more lazy and dependent on technology as a magic bullet.<p>As a parent in the UK with three children at school, I can safely say that the problem is that mathematics teaching is just totally shit. The methods are totally ineffective and the fundamentals just aren't taught. It's about teaching the mechanics of passing tests, particularly at primary level which is about the SATs and nothing else. That's why this seems like such a wonderful headline and the BBC sensationalises it.<p>Teachers buy in every technical measure and scheme that avoids introspection and looking at the real problem.
downloaded the apps, will test these with our 4 year old over a few days.<p>What mobile apps that effectively teach kids programming would you recommend? I have seen Scratch mentioned, and some Minecraft mods, any others that would actually work? The UK has an initiative to teach primary school kids programming, but I dread to think what the quality of teachers or children to teacher ratio will be.