Can iPhone Apps Make Your Kids Smarter?

Posted by gyrovague on October 2, 2010 · Comments Off on Can iPhone Apps Make Your Kids Smarter? 

By Jonathan Wylie

A recent study by PBS Kids found that mobile apps, like those used on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch can provide "an engaging, educational experience for kids." The study found that children aged 3 to 7 who played the Martha Speaks Dog Party app showed an improvement of 31% on their vocabulary skills. While it would be easy to be skeptical of a PBS sponsored study on a PBS mobile app, the link between education and technology has existed for some time now.

Today’s children are what Marc Prensky, an American education expert and author, calls "digital natives." They are being raised in the time of a technological revolution. They are surrounded by hi-tech gadgets that are more accessible than they ever have been. Playstations, Nintendos, iPods, smart phones and social networking sites are a daily part of our children’s lives, and part of the way they learn, communicate and entertain themselves. In short, they learn in ways that we did not.

Mobile learning, or m-learning as it is often referred to, is the practice of using portable electronic devices to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom, and iPhone apps for kids are a great gateway into this. As a percentage of a whole, the number of dedicated educational apps available at the iTunes store is still small, but it is a growing market, especially as more and more schools are investing in the use of devices like the iPod Touch as part of their lessons.

Another recent study conducted at Abilene Christian University involved the integration of the "Statistics 1" app into an introductory statistics class. Students found that they were more motivated and understood the content better when using the app, while instructors noticed a marked improvement in student preparation for each session. Can iPhone apps make your kids smarter? Absolutely, but, in reality, they are just the tip of the iceberg.

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Filed under Education, Technology