Happy App Friday!
Welcome back! As the kids head back to school, we’re ready to dive back into the world of handcrafted educational apps. First up, follow along with the adventures of Heidi as she helps her friends and family in Mountain Adventures, and then understand, add and subtract large numbers using base 10 blocks in Kids Count. Finally, three experts weigh in on the state of educational technology.
Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes
Heidi: Mountain Adventures
by Midnight Pigeon
Mountain Adventures follows a little girl, Heidi, as she helps her grandfather, friend, and pet navigate their day. Each scene is narrated and animated and feature simple puzzles that represent activities such as making stew, doing homework, finding animals, and navigating a path through the fog. Puzzles include counting, matching items to cutouts, tracing a path, and finding hidden objects. Everything is bright and polished, and kids can follow along with the story or jump straight to repeat their favorite scene.
Kids Count: Place Value
by Bryan Hathaway
Kids Count helps kids understand numbers by taking the concept of arithmetic blocks and presenting it in multiple ways. Kids take blocks that represent thousands, hundred, tens and ones and use them to build numbers, add and subtract, uncover treasures, buy items at a market, and more. At a more advanced level, blocks can be broken into smaller blocks (one tens block into ten ones blocks) or glued together into larger blocks (ten hundreds blocks into one thousands blocks). The app is attractive and covers the concept well, although it could use a tutorial for kids not familiar with number blocks.
The State of Educational Technology
Edtech is becoming big business, and is trying to become the same transformative force that it has in other industries. However, education has its own needs and practices. I think there is still room for our corner of smaller, handcrafted, apps that focus on reinforcing specific techniques or areas of learning and supporting teachers and parents.
https://builtin.com/edtech/negative-effects-of-technology-on-education
