Description

Ever noticed something interesting? Look out for this when you arenear a baby or a child. I never realized this until I had my ownchildren. Put a baby, or a child, in a room where there is atelevision on. Their gaze automatically gets drawn to thetelevision. There is something about an interactive screen thatattracts everyone. As my children grew older, I realized that theylearn a lot by just watching random television, to the extent thatmy daughter could recite whole advertisements verbatim. The sameapplies to a mobile phone. Children tend to automatically operatethe mobile and play games etc on it without any prompting. It istherefore natural that we capitalize on this and introduce mobileapplications as the way forward in education. These days a mobilephone has become a luxurious necessity. Everybody has one, or wantsone. And as the upgrades come into the market everyone wants thelatest gadgets with the latest technology. So what better way thanto learn “On the go”. With this concept in mind, Basic Math wasconceived. The app has been divided into three subsections: 1.Addition 2. Subtraction 3. Test game ADDITION This screen teaches achild how to add two numbers. Alongside the numbers there arepictorial representations of that number. The children simply haveto count the objects and add them together. This teaches the childto recognize and count a number at the same time. For instance, thesum 2 + 3 = comes up on screen. Beneath the two are pictures ofmaybe two balls. Beneath the three there will be a pictorialrepresentation by way of the same three objects used in 2. Thechild simply counts the number of total objects and clicks on thescreen and the answer will come up automatically alongside thetotal number of objects, say in this instance 5 balls will come upbeneath the number 5. SUBTRACTION The same principal applies as foraddition but instead of addition, the child learns subtraction. Forexample 7 – 4 = will have a picture of seven cups. The appautomatically shows the child how to subtract 4 from 7 by strikingthrough 4 cups, leaving with 3, which the child learns is theanswer to the subtraction 7-4 = 3. TEST GAME Enough about learning.Where is playtime here? Well a game has also been devised on BasicMath. This section has been divided into two segments, a one minutesegment and a two minute segment. The objective of this game is toanswer as many questions correctly as they can in one minute or twominutes, depending on the chosen option. Once the time is up, thechild gets a score of how well they have done. If for example, thechoice was one minute and the child answered 10 questions correctlyout of 12 then the score will appear on the screen as 10 correctand 2 wrong. This is represented by way of text boxes on theinteractive screen. The app is supported by a friendly and happyvoice encouraging and teaching the children as they go through thescreens. Basic Math improves a child’s confidence. Children usuallytend to learn best by doing something by themselves, rather thansit through a whole hour listening to a teacher teaching themaddition and subtraction on the blackboard. Apps have the abilityto hold the child’s concentration, which is always a problem whenin school. Most importantly we have to remember that today’s appsare helping in defining tomorrow’s future.