Tag Archives: apps

Apps for social communication, learning, and play are a prominent part of nearly every family’s life today. Are they having a similar impact on how families and educators help their children learn to read? And if so, what kinds of apps are they using? As part of Seeding Reading: Investing in Children’s Literacy in a Digital Age, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and New America are analyzing the app marketplace to answer these questions. In 2012, we conducted a baseline…

“Interactive” is one of the most overused words in the 21st Century, a label attached to thousands of digital devices, apps and TV shows for kids. Interactive tablet apps will read a book to your kid and interactive cartoon characters will invite your kid to dance during a TV show. The word “interactive” can make anything sound more educational. But what does it mean, really? Digital devices generally provide solitary experiences for kids, but these tools are marketed to parents…

This spring, Oxford University Press released an important new contribution to the literature of media and developmental psychology with Media and the Well-Being of Children and Adolescents, edited by Amy B. Jordan and Daniel Romer. The volume examines the role that media play in the daily lives of families with children, from “traditional” media such as television and film as well as “new” digital media, including video games and mobile devices. Together, the research that comprises this volume provides an…

Last month, here at TribePlay, we celebrated the two-year anniversary of Dr. Panda games. Since its initial release, the Dr. Panda series has expanded to over 14 educational games for kids. Dr. Panda games are uncommon in the sense that they do not focus on math and languages, but on life skills: skills that help kids recognize and deal with situations in everyday life. In the two years we’ve been making kids’ apps, we have become strong believers in the…

Children are constantly experimenting. It’s ingrained in everything they do, and it’s how they learn. The process is full of humorous misunderstandings, setbacks, and successes that all lead toward mastery. And while it’s impossible to fully anticipate how children will react to something new, they can provide plenty of clues along the way. Which is exactly why playtesting our products is so important.

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve submitted two panel proposals to SXSWEdu. We’ve lined up some great speakers, and can’t wait to share their insights with you.

Back in 2010, Motion Math was a finalist in the first Cooney Center Prizes for Mobile Learning. They’ve continued to make some amazing apps since then, including Motion Math Zoom, Motion Math: Hungry Fish, and more.  CEO and co-founder Jacob Klein shares some of the inspiration behind the creation of their latest app, Questimate!, a game that makes estimation fun. Our new estimation game Questimate! came out a couple weeks ago. It’s the first game where players make their own…

The topic of kids and technology is a hot topic again. This would normally be a good thing, if the questions that are being discussed weren’t fundamentally the wrong ones. It is, however, a familiar situation. We are going through a normalization of a new technology, and it will be met in the same way that technology has been met before: with skepticism, doubt and the occasional hint of technophobia. Discussions like these cloud the interesting part—the choices that parents…

Like many people attending the jam-packed SXSWedu event in Austin, TX last week, I found that so much information was exchanged that I had to divide it all into categories.  At the end of four days of conference sessions, informal meet-ups and parties, product launches, and personal introductions, a few trends emerged. So with no further ado—here are the Top 5 topics of conversation at SXSWedu related to our research and teacher development work here at the Joan Ganz Cooney…

This post originally appeared on Playwell’s website, and appears here with permission. As 2012 came to a close, the children’s media and marketing industries saw a flurry of activity from the Federal Trade Commission. In December alone, we saw reports on mobile apps (“Mobile Apps for Kids: Disclosures Still Not Making the Grade”) an updated Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, and a new report on food marketing to children and adolescents. None of these were unexpected, and savvy industry experts…