iPads and Children
Nielsen did a study among households with tablets in 2011, and they found out that 7 out of 10 kids below 12 are using iPads. I don't even need to go far. All my friends who have iPads and who have children rave about how their kids just figure out how to use the iPad even without the parents teaching them (which shows me that their kids do frequently use their iPads). Now, sometimes, it seems wrong to just let kids play with tablets so that they'd behave themselves. But it is a fact that apps fascinate kids and hold their attention.
Have you seen kids nowadays? They're so... active... most of them seem to have ADHD. But give them an iPad and they can sit there and play with it for a long time (an average of 43 minutes, according to study). This got me thinking. I'm sure a lot of you have thought of this, too. But maybe it's time to change the format of how we teach.
Speak in front of kids. You'll be lucky to get 10 minutes of their undivided attention. Give them a tablet. They'll give it their undivided attention for almost an hour. Why? Because it's interactive. They can explore apps. Traditional teaching requires them to just listen. It's one-sided. With apps, they can go with their own pace, and for most kids, that's faster than the classroom's pace. They move around a lot because class is too slow. They're bored.
I know the government is doing something about our education system. But maybe implementing K-12 isn't the solution. Lengthening the time they spend in class doesn't seem like the right move. This is merely my opinion, of course. But what if we introduced a new game with a new story each grading period, instead of introducing a new lesson. The lesson will be integrated in the game and would come out as just a means to progress in the game instead of the actual point of it. Maybe, just maybe, we should start looking into edutainment as a mainstream form of education, and not just a supplement. What do you think?
Have you seen kids nowadays? They're so... active... most of them seem to have ADHD. But give them an iPad and they can sit there and play with it for a long time (an average of 43 minutes, according to study). This got me thinking. I'm sure a lot of you have thought of this, too. But maybe it's time to change the format of how we teach.
Speak in front of kids. You'll be lucky to get 10 minutes of their undivided attention. Give them a tablet. They'll give it their undivided attention for almost an hour. Why? Because it's interactive. They can explore apps. Traditional teaching requires them to just listen. It's one-sided. With apps, they can go with their own pace, and for most kids, that's faster than the classroom's pace. They move around a lot because class is too slow. They're bored.
I know the government is doing something about our education system. But maybe implementing K-12 isn't the solution. Lengthening the time they spend in class doesn't seem like the right move. This is merely my opinion, of course. But what if we introduced a new game with a new story each grading period, instead of introducing a new lesson. The lesson will be integrated in the game and would come out as just a means to progress in the game instead of the actual point of it. Maybe, just maybe, we should start looking into edutainment as a mainstream form of education, and not just a supplement. What do you think?
