‘A is for Apps’

Nov 22, 2011

Miles Berry

Long, but interesting and well-balanced piece in Friday’s Guardian about apps for pre-schoolers which may be of interest to many of you – there are connections here with some of the conversations we’ve had at Roehampton about interactivity in PGCE and Y2 lectures.

One of the contributors makes an interesting distinction between toys and games, although “The concept of a computer toy is something many children and their carers still have to learn to get their heads around.”

John Siraj-Blatchford is quoted: “A child’s computer time could be solitary, sedentary and of little educational value. Or it could be educationally rich, involving a group of children, for example, interacting together at the computer and encouraging off-screen activities…” This, of course, is as true inside school as outside.