3 ms·
My 5 year old has been using his iPad since he was 4, and we've encountered all these problems and more. The funny thing though is that he learnt to work around
by pessimist 15y ago
My 5 year old has been using his iPad since he was 4, and we've encountered all these problems and more. The funny thing though is that he learnt to work around all of them! Accidentally presses menu, after a couple of times he learns what to do.
I think these obstacles of bad design are just more little puzzles for children. As parents we shouldnt obsess about having a perfect environment for our kids.
On the other hand, what really bugs me is when educational apps can be easily gamed. The math bingo app was completely useless once my son figured out he could solve it by randomly banging on cells and would eventually win. A lot more effort should go in to designing apps so that the child learns something real, as opposed to just learning to play the game.
- coryl 15y agoYou're right about apps improving their design, but it should be noted that game design for kids is kinda tricky. For example, what if in that math app, the player had "X" amount of lives, and every wrong answer cost a life? It might solve the issue of "keyboard smashing", but would create negative feedback, which is very inappropriate in this kind of game. Learning and with especially younger children, positive reinforcement tends to work far better than negative reinforcement. Every option has a cost.
- ht_th 15y agoNegative feedback is easily turned into positive feedback and the other way around. Instead of losing points or lives when you fail, you could reward thoughtful actions. For example, when the number of steps to a solution is closer to the minimum number of steps needed to solve this problem it could be an indication of thoughtful actions and rewarded accordingly.