Wi-Fi = Riverside Conference, Password = Station11

ThisWelcome packet contains your agenda,to Dusta participant listor and Magic handouts for applying 2014 the theories of develop- ment to interactive media design. Online resources include: • Twitter http://twitter.com/dustormagic (maintained by CTR) Hashtag: #dustormagic • Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/dustormagic/ (maintained by old timers) • YouTube http://www.youtube.com/dustormagic (maintained by CTR) • Wiki http://dustormagic.wikispaces.com (maintained by alumni) • Virtual Demo Board http://dustormagic.wikispaces.com/Demos (maintained by alumni) • Web: http://dustormagic.com (maintained by CTR) • LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/WJ4ZjD (maintained by old timers) • Read CTR reviews: http://childrenstech.com You should all have login credentials. Note the evaluation form at the end of this binder. Give our staff the same type of feedback we give your prod- ucts, by filling it out and dropping it in the evaluation box at any time over the course of the Institute.

Objectives: • To familiarize you with key products and point out strengths and weaknesses. • To contribute to your personal definition of “dust” and “magic.” • To review of the fundamental theories of in the context of emerging . • To give you hands on access to current products. • To provide critical, honest, fair and open demonstrations of current products, with room for discussion. • To provide an overview of the elements of CTR’s definition of successful design. • To introduce you to others who are passionate about creating children’s interactive media This book belongs to: • To provide a comfortable, structured, relaxing experi- ence. Let’s begin...

Printed on 100% non-interactive paper, with retinal display toner Wi-Fi = Riverside Conference, Password = Station11

How do I share my iOS screen?

STEP 1: Setup your Wi-Fi. Get onto the wi-fi network “Dust or Magic.” This is in your settings (look for the gears).

STEP 2: Double tap the HOME key; you’ll see the recent apps appear. Swipe right until you see your music controls. Look for the AirPlay icon

STEP 3: Touch Apple TV and make sure mirroring is on. Presto -- youre screen is on the big screen, audio and all.

Suggestions: • Communicate with the group -- don’t inturrupt a session in progress. • Use your camera to display a drawing or brainstorm list. • Have the apps you want to demo in your bottom tray, so you know where they are.

Dust or Magic 2014 2 Tips for finding magic Illustration: Peter Reynolds

In order to get the most out of this institute, we ask that each participant consider the following during the small and large In demonstration settings — group discussions. WHEN GIVING CRITICISM: Ground feedback in real examples and provide opportunities for differing opinions. 1. Represent: take a lot of notes and make sketches. Remember “modifiable” vs. “unmodifiable” issues, from the Learn from others, listen, and leave the institute as better perspective of the person getting the feedback. reviewers, critics, researchers, teachers, designers, and pub- lishers. Remember that it’s OK to sit quietly and reflect. WHEN GETTING CRITICISM: Make sure you are comfortable There is no pressure to participate. with the process. If not, ask for more feedback in a confidential setting. To this end -- 2. Keep a child’s-eye view. This is the key to understanding • Grouping and seating is flexible. If you end up in a group the magic. Try to look at each product through the eyes of a and you are not comfortable with the membership, it is per- child who will have little regard for public relations budgets, fectly OK to get up and change. cost, packaging, political context or size of publisher. • Participation in discussions is optional. You should not feel Remember .... a child can’t spell the word “hypocrite,” but obligated to express opinions at any time. they know what one is. • If you record any information or take pictures (other than note form), make sure that all people know that a recording 3. Manage your bias. It is natural to have cultural, commer- or photographic device is active. Not all participants want to cial and theoretical bias. This bias can help you, but it can be “on the record” all the time. also blind you. You can’t get rid of it, but you can understand and manage it. It helps to honestly disclose this bias when evaluating products or talking to others about a particular General Definitions product. Children— children from birth to 15 years. We must think broadly about this, however, as children use and benefit from 4. Keep an open mind. Interactive media is changing rapid- products designed for adults. ly, due to Moore’s Law. So think broadly and with an open mind. Try to avoid negative thinking at the start of a thought Interactive Media — the broadly defined category of "new" or stream. Phrases to avoid include “I can’t work with that plat- interactive media, or software that runs on hardware in any form” or “we don’t use that hardware in our office.” This is a form, such as a tablet, , game console (Nintendo time to think outside the box. U, DS, Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, iPhone/iPod Touch), site, a smart with embedded software. The key word is 5. Support the group process. Give and take, don’t domi- "interactive media" rather than “linear media.” nate the discussion, and don’t be afraid of healthy controver- sy or disagreement. Materials in the Room 6. Don’t sell (or if you do, at least do it honestly). Please avoid Please take care of all items as if they belonged to you. If you PR fluff, hype or promoting your own materials. Participants notice a toy with low batteries, find the battery box and change are free to put materials on the handout table for anyone to them. If you use one of the game consoles, return the software take. This event is about evaluating, designing and creating, and controllers for the next person. and not about marketing and selling. If you take some software or a book from one of the collections, 7. You may end up on YouTube. Many of the discussions please make sure you put it back when you’re finished, with all and presentations are being recorded; please keep this in the internal materials intact. We cannot be responsible for any mind. Participation in any conversation or staged photo- lost items, but we’ll try our best to keep your items safe. graph is optional. We can’t control informal photographs being taken by other participants, however. If you plan on recording the sessions, please let us, and the speak- er, know.

3 Dust or Magic 2014 The Story of Dust or Magic nce upon a time (1996), the world’s oldest and largest children’s book fair wanted to start a prize initiative for “new media.” They asked Children’s Software Revue if we’d create it for them. We accepted on the condition that they would host a juried competition that included a face-to-face meet- ing of editors, in a setting where each juror could demonstrate a variety of products.

Early in the spring of 1997, a group of reviewers were flown from around parts of , Asia and the USA to participate in three days of debate and product demonstrations.

Participants included some of the top minds in the interactive space -- people like Judy Salpeter from The first Dust or Magic Institute. Speakers include Aleen & , Dr’s. Ann Orr and Ellen Stein, Mark Schlichting and Bernadette Gonzalez. You’ll see a young Daren Carstens and Kelli , too. Wolock from CSR, James Oppenheim, Peter Scisco (former editor of Compute!), Dr. Kyung Woo Lee from Korea, Thomas Feibel from Germany and Caterina Cangià and Gigi Tagliapietra from . From France, repeat jurors were Georgia Leguem and Claude Combet; and from the UK came Pam Turnbull and Jon Smith (Editor of CD-ROM Today, and today a producer for Travelers Tales, aka Star Wars).

In 2001, when the market for the software slowed, the Bologna New Media Prize ended. In an effort to keep the spirited conversation growing, we decided to start an annual meeting to be financed by participant tuition. We also wanted to consider the expanding range of children’s tech- nology products, and to personally get to know others who where working in this space. Rather than coming up with a prize, we decided to review the year.

The title “Dust or Magic” came with the blessing of Bob Hughes, author of the book Dust or Magic: Secrets of Successful Multimedia Design. In the forward of his book, Bob referenced the poem “An idea can turn from dust to magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.” (Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694). The first Dust or Magic was planned for September 23, 2001, and the event sold out. Unfortunately, the disaster of September 11 forced us to change our plans. So the first Dust or Magic event actually was held in January of ‘02. Right away, it was clear that we had not only captured the essence of those early juror’s meetings, but we’d improved upon it.

We, the media, could learn much more about the thinking behind each product without feeling bribed or manipulated. The spirited debates have continued and the quest for the magic has become a celebration. We are thankful to everyone who has helped make these events possible, and hope it continues to influence the quality of children’s interactive media products for many more years to come.

Warren Buckleitner, Editor Children’s Technology Review

Dust or Magic 2014 4 Riverside Room at The Inn at Lambertville Station, 11 Bridge Street, DM14 Agenda Lambertville, NJ. Sunday November 2 1:00 AppFest setup

2:00 AppFest begins. Demo Givers take a balloon and write the name of the product you want to demo. Children are welcome. Demo takers freely wander and explore.

5:00 pm Riverside Room- Welcome; 2014 Trend Report. AppFest participants are welcome to sit in on this session providing we have space.

6:00 Dinner at the Lamberville Station Restaurant (Note: this is in the old train station depot located by Bridge Street, with the train car attached). Welcome and Introductions 8:00 Annie Murphy Paul: Intelligent Thoughts on Intelligence (Riverside Room)

November 3, 2014 7:30 Breakfast 8:30 Child Development Appled to Screens 9:30 Critic's fishbowl with Chris Byrne, Warren Buckleitner, Tonda Budge Sellers, Claire Green and Robin Raskin; moderated by David Kleeman.

10:30 Demos, AppDance and Nice Touch

11:00 Jason Krogh, Founder and CEO of Sago Sago. testing, with specific examples of things we caught and changed through the process.

11:30 Chris Heatherly, Disney

12:00 Group Photo, Lunch (Lobby)

1:00 Kate Wilson of Nosy Crow: What goes into making a story app? A Look Under the Hood

1:30 Chip Donohue Back to the Future: Lessons in App Design from Mister Rogers

2:00 Demos

3:00 Bus trip to Mediatech Foundation, 118 Main Street, Flemington, NJ 08822 1. Meet the testers. 2. Going Global -- Two Projects to Know. Global Literacy Project: Tinsley Gaylean from MIT, the Director; and Stephanie Gottwald from Tufts, who is the Director of Content. From the Breteau Foundation Lainey Franks. Moderated by Claire Green..

4:00 Demos in the community room

5:00 Bus leaves to the Inn.

6:00 Dinner (on your own)

8:00 Jesse Schell, The Tablet Has Landed... Now What?

10:00 Demos, free play and late night discussion.

12:00 out. “An idea can turn from dust to magic, depending upon the talent that rubs against it”

5 Dust or Magic 2014 Tuesday November 4, 2014 Wi-Fi not up to speed? If you're staying in the Inn, make sure you checkout of your room by 10:00 AM. It is Need some more coffee? OK to store bags in the Riverside room. The Number for the Front 7:30 Breakfast Desk is (609) 397-4400 8:00 Dust or Magic Talk Series (20 minutes each; a great mind attacks a timely topic of choice and we make a video for the world to see). Or send a text to Warren’s Cell 908-797-3580 Barbara Chamberlin ”What are we even doing? Rethinking the impacts of our work.”

Mark Schlichting, CEO Noodleworks. Animation Tricks and Character Design Short Cuts: Creative tips on efficient animation design for children’s products.

Chris Byrne WTF ??? It’s Not What You Think it Means.

Kate Highfield The view on Children’s IMM from the other side of the world.

Drew Davidson Who makes the magic? A look at the teams behind the prod- ucts.

11:00 Stephen Gass: Get Out Your Lasers…. A Review Quiz on the latest research, myths and what happened in the past 36 hours.

11:45 Evaluations

12:00 Lunch

12:20 option (for those who want to eat fast and dash). Transbridge Bus #1 leaves to Newark Liberty, arriving 1:35 PM (for early flights). Departure is from the Hess Station, 5 blocks from the Inn.

1:30 Dust or Magic limo bus departs to Newark Liberty International Airport, arriving 2:45 PM

1:55 Transbridge bus departs to Newark Liberty Airport, arriving 3:15 PM

5:50 PM last Transbridge bus departs to Newark Liberty Airport, arriving 7:15 PM (departs from the Hess Station, 5 blocks from the Inn).

You can buy tickets from the Valparaiso Deli, Rt 165 & Rt 518, 609-397-1116

Dust or Magic 2014 6 Participant List 2014 Fall Institute

Chloé Benaroya, VP Consulting and Services Tribal Nova Chloé Benaroya joined Tribal Nova as the VP Consulting and Services in May 2012. She has produced over twenty children's interactive educational games, ebooks and web portals in her career, among them The little Prince, Artus, Toupy and Binoo, Bayam and more recently Mini-TFO.Founding producer of the successful million account virtual world for teens Woozworld.com, she also worked on interactive projects for ONE DROP, the Cirque du Soleil foundation, and renowned museums such Le Louvre, le Musée de la Légion d'Honneur, le Musée de la Marine. She is an Honors graduate from the Sorbonne - Paris.

Connie Bossert, President & CEO Fairlady Media, Inc. Connie Bossert is president and CEO of Fairlady Media, Inc., an independent game studio near Raleigh, NC. Connie and her husband James co-founded the company in 2009, and have produced more than 30 games for iPhone and iPad with millions of downloads and counting. The company specializes in development of -friendly and educational mobile games and has partnered with companies such as Sesame Street, Houghton-Mifflin, Callaway Digital Arts, Sanrio, Hearst Corporation, and American Greetings to create the highest-quality products in the market. Connie holds a doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from Penn State University. She has worked as a senior instructional designer and professor, teaching courses in adolescent and child development. She is a self-taught graphic designer and illustrator. As a of two young children, she applies her experiences with technology-savvy kids to the rapidly changing educational games market. web: www.fairladymedia.com twitter: @FairladyMedia email: [email protected]

Francois Boucher-Genesse , Co Founder Ululab Francois Boucher-Genesse did a master’s degree in in order to find the best ways to use video games as educational tools. He realized through his research and consulting activities the tremendous potential games could have in education. He then cofounded Ululab, hoping to contribute to this exciting new branch of the game industry. Ululab released their first title this year: Slice Fractions.

Warren Buckleitner, Editor Children's Technology Review Warren Buckleitner is an educational psychologist who reviews children's interactive media. He's been a , elementary and college teacher (currently TCNJ's IMM program). He is the founding editor of Children's Technology Review (www. childrenstech.com). He speaks at education and library conferences, and contributes content to many books and publications, including a decade of children's tech coverage for the New York Times. He holds a degree in elementary education from Central Michigan University (Cum Laude), an MA in early childhood education from Pacific Oaks College, and a doctorate in educational psychology from Michigan State University. He serves as a Sr. Advisor to the Breteau Foundation, and coordinates the KAPi prize at CES and the BolognaRagazzi Digital Prize at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. In 2000, he started Dust or Magic (www.dustormagic. com) and the Mediatech Foundation (www.mediatech.org), a non-profit community technology center in his town's library where he serves as a Trustee. He is the father of two daughters, tries to play trumpet in a Dixie band, and wants to someday be able to juggle like Jesse Schell.

7 Participant List 2014 Fall Institute

Chris Byrne, Content Director TTPM Chris Byrne has ”toy sense,” and he’s always willing to share his ideas, which is why it’s great when we can get him to Dust or Magic. And this is his busy . Despite seeming like a kid, Chris has a 30-plus-year career in the toy industry. Currently, he is a partner in aNb Media, LLC and content director for TimetoPlayMag.com. During his career, he has held a variety of positions with toy companies covering marketing, media, operations, product development and creative. In 1988, he formed New York-based Byrne Communications and is a researcher, analyst and consultant who has worked with a variety of Fortune 100 companies tracking kid trends, product development and strategic marketing campaigns. He is regularly sourced by the investment community for insights into all aspects of the toy and children’s products industries. He speaks at trade shows and for corporate events on the effective integration of play into creative management. Chris is widely published on the topic of toys and family life and in addition to his work with Time to Play he is editor-at-large for the trade publications Toys & Family Entertainment and Royalties. His latest book, “Toy Time” was published by the Three Rivers imprint of Random House in October, 2013, and his next book, “Serious Fun: An Introduction to the U.S. Toy Industry” is due out from Business Experts Press in early 2014. In addition, Chris is widely quoted in the media and appears regularly on local and national television commenting on toys and demonstrating new products. His media appearances reached more than 120 million consumers in 2012 in just a three-month period (October through December). He has appeared onLive! With Kelly & Micahel, Oprah, LIVE, Soap Talk, Today, Good Morning America, The CBS Evening News, ABC Nightly News, FOX News, CBS This Morning, Good Day New York, CNBC, CNNfn, MSNBC, ABC, The Motley Fool, National Public Radio, Bloomberg Television and Radio, and on countless other national and local market business and consumer programs around the country and internationally. In addition to his work in the toy industry, Chris is involved in several non-profit organizations benefiting children and literacy. Visit www.timetoplaymag.com

Daren Carstens , President Carstens Studios Daren Carstens founded Carstens Studios Inc., where he authors, designs, programs and develops educational products for children. He has worked in K-12 educational publishing for 20 years, and his work has received many awards including the prestigious international Bologna Children's Book Fair New Media Prize in the Best category, 2010 & 2011 ' Choice Gold Awards - Parents' Choice Foundation, and 2010 & 2011 Editor's Choice Awards - Children's Technology Review. Daren combines the rare talent of a thorough understanding of learning processes with the ability to bring creativity and innovation to sound instructional products. In addition to creating and developing its own products Carstens Studios has partnered with other companies including PBS, The Jim Henson Company, and Money Savvy Generation.

Barbara Chamberlin , Professor, Game Developer NMSU Learning Games Lab Barbara Chamberlin oversees development and research at the Learning Games Lab at New Mexico State University, where she is a professor. The Lab develops a wide range of learning tools — including games, apps and interactive sims — and does extensive formative testing with users while developing products. She is especially enthusiastic about games for math and (such as mathsnacks.org and scienceofsoil.org), financial literacy, and active games. Her PhD is in educational technology from the University of Virginia. She’s also a math and science nerd, museum fan, experimental cook (especially with chile… yum!), and a mom of a 6 and 10 year old (who share her enthusiasm for math and science, museums, and eating in general, but not chile.) See apps and games from NMSU’s Learning Games Lab and information about their testing programs at learninggameslab.org

Jayne Clare, President Teachers With Apps Jayne Clare has been a Special Education teacher for the past 30 years. She puts the utmost value in motivating students creatively and getting them excited about their own learning. She has always known the importance of integrating technology across all curriculum and content areas. Jayne Clare’s passion is working with struggling learners; reading readiness is her expertise. Jayne is co-founder of Teachers With Apps, an educational app review site. In addition, she offers her expertise in working with developers achieve appropriate educational content for their apps via Jayne Clare Consulting. Jayne hosts the weekly Educational App Talk, a Facebook Forum that discusses hot topics in the app world. She recently won the NSBA 20 to Watch Recognition Award, which identifies emerging leaders within the education technology community who have the potential to impact, the field for the next 20 years. Her undergraduate is in Art Education from Southampton College, she has a first Master’s in Special Education, and second in Educational Technology, both from CW Post.

8 Participant List 2014 Fall Institute

Chris Crowell, Chris Crowell is a nationally recognized educator who has taught for the past 18 years in Flemington, New Jersey. He has been a member of federal, state, and local curriculum development teams and has attained local, national, and international recognition for his work in education including being honored in 2004 by the US Department of Education Teacher to Teacher Initiative. He has his Masters in early childhood education from The College of New Jersey and his Bachelors in communications from Seton Hall University. Chris is a Geraldine R. Dodge Fellowship Recipient, Rutgers Family Science instructor, national and state soccer coach, and currently serves as President of Mediatech Foundation — a non-profit community technology organization established to provide technology access to Hunterdon County residents while fostering creativity, learning, and socialization. He likes kids, basketball, coffee, Mini Coopers and responsive, well designed apps that empower young children.

Drew Davidson , Director ETC at Carnegie Mellon University Drew Davidson is a professor, producer and player of interactive media. His background spans academic, industry and professional worlds and he is interested in stories across texts, comics, games and other media. He is the Director of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University and the Founding Editor of ETC Press and its Well Played series and journal. Drew helped create the Sandbox Symposium, an ACM SIGGRAPH conference on video games and served on the IGDA Education SIG. He serves on many advisory, editorial and review boards as well as judge and jury panels. He is the lead on several grants with Macarthur and Gates, and has written and edited books, journals, articles and essays on narratives across media, serious games, analyzing gameplay, and cross-media communication.

Jens Peter de Pedro , Play Designer Toca Boca Jens Peter, also known as JP or Jens, is a Play Designer at the digital toys studio Toca Boca. He is planning on presenting the full version of his TED talk about and app design. He is the master mind behind apps such as Toca Hair Salon, Toca Band, Toca Kitchen, Toca Train, and Helicopter Taxi. Jens Peter has worked for organizations such as WGBH Boston, Swedish Television and The United Nations. Jens Peter has a Masters in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, 1999. He also received a Bachelors degree from Stockholm University in Psychology, Education and Children’s Culture, 1997. Jens Peter likes cheap food, playing basketball, rhyming and going for walks in desolate industrial areas. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters. Jens is pronounced Yens. Twitter: Jens Peter de Pedro @jenspeter

Matthew DiMatteo, Director of Publishing Children's Technology Review Matthew DiMatteo is the Director of Publishing at Children's Technology Review. He currently is working with relational databases to build CTREX. He also is teaching Games I: Design and Architecture at The College of New Jersey as an adjunct professor in the Interactive Multimedia department. He holds a Master's degree in Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon University, and has a background in game design and digital media.

Chip Donohue, PhD. , Dean of Distance Learning & Continuing Ed. TEC Center at Erikson Institute Chip Donohue, PhD, is the Dean of Distance Learning and Continuing Education at Erikson Institute in Chicago, where he is leading the development of online Master’s degree, certificate and continuing education programs. He is also the Director of the TEC (Technology in Early Childhood) Center at Erikson. Chip is a Senior Fellow of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College, where he co-chaired the working group that revised the 2012 NAEYC & Fred Rogers Center Joint Position Statement on Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs serving children from Birth through Age 8. In 2014, Routledge and NAEYC have co-published a book he edited, Technology and Digital Media in the Early Years: Tools for Teaching and Learning. In 2012 he received the first Bammy Award and the Educators Voice Award as Innovator of the Year from the Academy of Education Arts & .

Linus Feldt, CEO Filimundus

Leah Feuer, Product Manager Tinybop, Inc. Leah Feuer is a Product Manager at Tinybop - a Brooklyn-based studio of designers, engineers, and artists elegant, educational iOS apps for kids around the globe. Throughout her career she has worked to weave together tech, data and design. She has produce over 20 apps for big brands and startups alike.

9 Participant List 2014 Fall Institute

Dan Flannery, Co-Founder Jumping Giant Dan is a former preschool teacher and entrepreneur with a background in child development. My current venture, Jumping Giant, is an audio house that specializes in original music composition, voice-over, and sfx for children's apps, animations, and more. Side projects currently include educational consulting, curriculum development, and music programs at libraries and schools. When I'm not at the studio, I enjoy foraging for wild foods and riding my bicycle. Feel free to say hello@ [email protected]!

Taylor Foley, Digital Product Manager Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Taylor Foley is the lead on consumer apps for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She develops enhanced ebooks and other digital products in the kids, adult, and culinary spaces. She aims to create the best possible interactive experience to fit the target audience—whether it's kids, teens, cooks, or adults.

Lainey Franks , General Manager Breteau Foundation Lainey Franks is the General Manager of the Breteau Foundation (breteaufoundation.org), which is bringing digital educational tools to the world’s underprivileged children. Lainey has over 14 years of international experience in strategy, marketing and business development. She held senior management roles at Lonely Planet, where she played an important part in the transition from print publisher to multi-platform content publisher, working with Apple, Google, Amazon and other digital partners. She is a qualified teacher and has taught Mathematics at a secondary school in London. Lainey has a panel of young app-testers at home (3, 5 and 7 year old children), an MBA from INSEAD and a BA in from Harvard. You can reach her at [email protected].

Tinsley Galyean , MIT Tinsley Gaylean is the Director of The Global Literacy Project (globallit.org) and is a Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab. He serves on the Steering Committee of The Dalai Lama Center For Ethics and Transformative Values. Tinsley's education has spanned both art and technology -- long before it was considered a good career move. He was the first person to receive his Ph.D. from the Interactive Cinema group at the MIT Media Lab, where he worked to evolve cinematic storytelling techniques for use in interactive experiences. In 1996, Tinsley founded Nearlife, leveraging the power of new technologies for corporate clients. Must of this work involved Location Based Entertainment (LBE) and museum exhibits. Examples of this work are the large scale interactive table and touch walls for: MoMA, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Liberty Science Center, Georgia Aquarium, and the new a interactive experience for Cirque Du Soleil’s Beatles Revolution Lounge. Tinsley is an inventor and holds a number of patents, several of which have been used in the development of new children's television projects. This work has included broadcast and online projects for Disney, Warner Brothers, and Discovery Kids. The work for Discovery Kids received an Emmy nomination. His unique mix of skills and experience allows him to develop unique concepts and experiences, often never done before, while also delivering the technical means by which these ideas can become a reality.

Stephen Gass , President The GASS Company STEPHEN GASS President, The Gass Company

From about the second grade on, Stephen Gass wanted to be a doctor. During college, his interest turned to education. After a few years teaching, the doctor calling returned. But, with just a dissertation to go to complete a PhD in child development, a job at Sesame Street released his inner “Geppetto.” Stephen’s spent the last 30 years creating and marketing a wide range of children’s products, both traditional and digital, including toys, books, games and video for kids between the ages of 6 months to 12 years. Gass has been an innovator throughout his career: he launched an educational toy group at Coleco; led the creative efforts at Scholastic’s and Nickelodeon’s first software groups; played on the original development team; served as President of Sesame Workshop, Online; created and built eebee’s adventures, the multi-award winning infant brand to over 15 million views. He is a member of the Education Committee of the board of trustees at PBS-affiliate, WNET/ Thirteen; a trustee of the Toy Industry Foundation; an advisory board member of the NY International Children’s Film Festival; and a TechStars mentor. Currently, he serves as the president of The Gass Company, a children’s media agency that provides creative, business and content strategy services for clients including Sesame Workshop, Citibank, Discovery, American Museum of Natural History and MoMA. Gass received a B.A. in psychology from New York University, an M.A. in from Teachers College, Columbia University, and completed work toward a Ph.D. in educational psychology at The City University of New York.

10 Participant List 2014 Fall Institute

Nathalie Gauthier , Co-Founder Seven Academy Nathalie is one of the three co-founders of Seven Academy. She is a key player in the organization always on the lookout for innovations that revolutionize children’s ways of learning. Prior to Seven Academy, she worked as an eLearning Consultant for Miyagi, holds a Masters Degree in Design and Contemporary Technology from ENSCI, Paris, and a B.S. in Environmental Design from UQÀM, Montreal. Contact: [email protected]

Stephanie Gottwald , Stephanie Gottwald, Ph.D. is the Director of Content and Deployments of The Global Literacy Project (globallit.org). She is also the Assistant Director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts Universtiy. Stephanie is a linguist specializing in the interaction between the acquisition of spoken and written languages. For the last 15 years, she has directed educational investigations into research-based solutions for struggling readers, including the development and longitudinal, NICHD-funded, efficacy testing of the RAVE-O program, an evidence-based fluency and reading comprehension curriculum. Stephanie coordinates the language and reading data from coding systems of raw input to analysis, as well as contributes to the development of theory-driven apps.

Claire Green , President Parents' Choice Foundation Claire helms Parents’ Choice Foundation, best known for the Parents’ Choice Awards program. In commemoration of Parents’ Choice Foundation's 30th anniversary, Claire cofounded Sandbox Summit.® Clearly, all things connect to Dust or Magic; Robin Raskin made it possible for the inaugural Sandbox Summit® to be held at the 2008 CES; Scot Osterweil and MIT’s Education Arcade have hosted Sandbox Summit for the past five years. In September 2014, Claire resigned from Sandbox Summit to concentrate more fully on the PlayAbility Scale, nutrition labeling for toys and games. Claire serves on the selection committee for the National Toy Hall of Fame® at the Strong National Museum of Play,® as a member of the Toy of the Year (TOTY) nomination committee for the Toy Industry Association and beginning soon, as a judge for the KAPi Awards.

Steve Grosmark, Director of Development Artgig Studio Steve joined Artgig Studio, a boutique interactive firm based in Westchester, NY in 2002. Before that, he worked at Sunburst Technology, then a division of Houghton Mifflin Interactive, developing and producing educational tools and games for schools and children. Over the last 12 years Steve has architected websites, games, enterprise web tools, and mobile applications for a variety of clients. Steve has also worked on all of Artgig's own award-winning kids educational apps, including Mystery Math Town and Marble Math – developed under the Artgig Apps brand. You can find examples of Artgig Apps on the website: http://www. artgigapps.com

Colleen Hampton, Product Manager Tinybop, Inc.

Chris Heatherly, SVP/GM Disney Interactive Kids The Walt Disney Company Chris Heatherly is general manager & vice president of Toys for Disney Consumer Products (DCP). He leads the toys and electronics line of business and oversees product innovation and development. Previously, Heatherly was vice president of Technology & Innovation for Disney Consumer Products. He joined Disney in 2002 and launched the company’s consumer electronics business. Heatherly came to DCP from Frog Design, where he was a Chief Strategist, managing the cross-functional strategic consulting practice for companies ranging from startups to global brands such as SAP, Dell, Ford, Target, and Nike. Prior to that, he held several positions at Power Computing and Apple. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Jesse H. Jones School of Communications, University of Texas at Austin.

11 Participant List 2014 Fall Institute

Kate Highfield , Lecturer, Mathematics, Science & Technology Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University Kate Highfield is a teacher educator from the Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. After teaching for over ten years, Kate now works with student teachers, children and educators. Kate’s PhD focused on the use of simple in mathematics learning and examined the key role of metacognition in . Her current research and teaching explores the use of interactive technologies for learning and play, with a focus on how mobile and touch technology can be used as a tool to enhance learning. Kate has been recognised as an exemplary educator at faculty and university level. She currently convenes a range of units in Mathematics, Science and Technology (STEM) and Professional Experience and is a research supervisor for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Kate also works as the research liaison for Macquarie University’s ICT Innovations Centre and is an engaging and sought after presenter with experience with small groups through to keynote presentations at large conferences throughout Australia and Internationally. Kate has been interviewed by a wide cross-section of the Australian media and regularly presents for the Australian Council on Children and Media. She acts as an educational consultant for a range of App development companies and was recently part of the team awarded two national awards for the ABC Playtime App (AIMIA 2014). Email: [email protected] Twitter: @kateytwit Web: http://www.katehighfield.com

Grant Hosford, codeSpark Grant is the CEO and co-founder of codeSpark, a learning game company driven to ignite interest in computer science and turn programming into play for young kids. Previously Grant was a Sr. Director at Idealab, one of the most successful tech incubators in the world. Grant was responsible for evaluating early stage ideas so the best could be turned into companies. Idealab has started over 125 companies since 1996. Prior to Idealab Grant was a senor executive at several early stage companies, including eHarmony and ZAAZ, an award- winning interactive agency. Grant has been using data to improve online marketing and business performance for 15 years. Grant has a MA from The Fletcher School (Tufts University) and a BA from Claremont McKenna College.

Katya Hott, User Testing Lead, Project Manager BrainPOP Katya Hott leads user testing initiatives at BrainPOP as well as project managing BrainPOP's GameUp. Before coming to BrainPOP, Katya worked as an ESL teacher in Boston and was passionate about incorporating technology in her classroom. After teaching, Katya received a Masters in Digital Media Design for Learning from NYU and spent three years as the learning content producer for educational games at E-Line Media. Katya also co-leads the #EdTechBridge community on Twitter, with the mission of bridging the gap between educators and EdTech entrepreneurs.

Azadeh Jamalian, PhD., Co-founder, Chief Learning Officer Tiggly Azadeh Jamalian is a PH.D student in Cognitive Studies in Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is one of the main researchers and designers for the pre-kindergarten activities in MathemAntics project- with a research interest on gesturing and its effect on early mathematical learning. Azadeh is also one of the primary designers and researchers for the Lit2Quit game project, with a focus on emotional and cognitive responses to game play. She holds a master’s degree in Instructional Technology and Media from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her master’s project was about Boogie Bash- a pattern recognition mobile game for preschoolers, which was chosen as one of the top 10 projects in The Cooney Center Prizes for Innovation in Children's Learning competition. Azadeh has a bachelor of applied sciences in Systems Engineering and a certificate in Liberal Arts from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.

Bee Johnson, Creative Director Homer Learning, Inc. Bee Johnson was born in Memphis, Tennessee. She studied Illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her illustrations have been featured by WNYC, Juxtapoz, Applied Arts, 3x3, and the Creative Review. Her select clients include The New York Times, National Geographic, US Green Council, EBONY Magazine, and This Land Press. She recently illustrated her first children's book, to be published by Ivy Press in the UK and is working on her second title currently. She is also the Creative Director at HomerLearning, Inc., where she writes, designs, and art directs a team of artists and animators.

Sanj Kharbanda , SVP, Digital Markets Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Sanj Kharbanda (@sanjjk) is SVP, Digital Markets at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He is responsible for identifying cultivating and growing new digital markets for Trade content. This includes: new format incubation, innovations in content delivery, managing the digital ecosystem and new audience development. Beach, Books, Music, Technology, & Football (not necessarily in that order).

12 Participant List 2014 Fall Institute

Matthew Kicinski, Owner & President Artgig Studio Matt founded Artgig Studio, a boutique interactive firm based in Westchester, NY in 2002. Artgig’s key employees first met while working together at Sunburst Technology, then a division of Houghton Mifflin Interactive, developing and producing educational tools and games for schools and children. Over the last 12 years Artgig has worked with various clients to produce websites, games, enterprise web tools, and mobile applications. Artgig's own award-winning kids educational apps, including Mystery Math Town and Marble Math, are available in the App Store – developed under the Artgig Apps brand. You can find examples of Artgig Apps on the website: http://www.artgigapps.com

David Kleeman, Senior VP, Insights Programs & PlayVangelist PlayCollective Strategist, analyst, author and speaker — for a quarter-century, David Kleeman has led the children’s media industry in developing sustainable, kid-friendly solutions. In May 2013, he broadened his focus, and is now developing a unique new global kids & family "think tank” as Senior Vice President of Insights Programs and PlayVangelist for PlayCollective. PlayCollective is a global company and network that employs a uniquely integrated mix of market research, strategic business planning, brand building, and multi-platform product development to help organizations of all sizes establish meaningful life-long connections with consumers in today’s fast-paced, non-linear, connected world. From 1988-2013, Kleeman was President of the American Center for Children and Media, promoting the exchange of ideas, expertise and information as a means for building quality. He remains advisory board chair to the international children's TV festival (Prix Jeunesse) and a 2013 Senior Fellow of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media. Kleeman travels worldwide seeking best practices in children’s and family media, technology and products; he has given presentations on six continents. He writes extensively for trade and general press, including two book chapters and commentaries for the Huffington Post.

Jason Krogh, CEO Sago Sago Jason Krogh is the founder and CEO of Sago Sago, a company dedicated to creating the best apps for young children. Jason has designed and developed interactive media for 15 years working with clients such as the National Geographic, Sprout, Disney Jr, Vancouver Olympics and the Toronto Public Library. Jason is also the founder of the Zimmer Twins, an online storytelling platform for kids. His most recent venture started after a particularly satisfying rant with Bjorn Jeffery of Toca Boca. In short, Sago Sago was born out a shared passion for making the world more childish.

Allisyn Levy , Vice President, GameUp BrainPOP Since joining BrainPOP in 2007, Allisyn Levy has played an integral role in the creation, launch, and continued development of BrainPOP Educators, our online professional community of more than 400,000 members. Now, as Vice President, GameUp, she leads outreach efforts for BrainPOP's online learning games portal, a collection of top, cross-curricular game titles from leading game creators. Allisyn is a National Board Certified Teacher who spent 11 years as an elementary education teacher. She coached an award-winning Lego Robotics team and has worked with students on an array of documentaries, animations, and public service announcements. Her 6-year-old son enjoys being called for duty for occasional play testing. Come talk to Allisyn if you've got a great game that needs to get in front of teachers and kids! @allisyn www.brainpop.com/games

Beth Marcus , CEO Playrific, Inc. Beth Marcus founded Playrific in 2010 to provide kid-facing brands with economical and successful COPPA-compliant mobile strategies and engaging, entertaining and educational apps. The publishing platform reflects Marcus’ vision of rapid, economical app creation and launch, app store optimization, actionable insight and frictionless content refreshes. Tech-veteran Marcus sold her first company, EXOS, creator of the SideWinder feedback joystick, to Microsoft (over 10 Million product units incorporating this technology have been sold). With 30+ patents to her credit, Marcus is extensively published and has guided more than 20 start-ups, several of which – such as LeapFrog and SmrtGuard – have been acquired by public companies. She holds a Master of Science (SM) and a Bachelor of Science (SB) in from MIT, and has served on its Mechanical Engineering Department faculty. She received a PhD in Biomechanics from the Imperial College, London, where she was a Marshall Scholar. http://b2b.playrific.com/ Things I recommend for attendees: LearnLaunch http://learnlaunch.com/ (Boston area) and the LearnLaunch accelerator http: //learnlaunch.com/accelerator/program/. Dust or Magic Attendees can receive an extension for application to the next cohort (see me for details). Also recommended: a new app store optimization company we’re working with, Gummicube http://www. gummicube.com/. I can introduce you to their founding team.

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Ann McCormick , Founder Learning Circle Kids LLC Ann H. McCormick, PhD founded and lead software design at the Learning Company for it’s first 16 products, including Rocky’s Boots and Reader Rabbit.With her team, she created a new category of software and a leading national brand. Ann gave invited presentations for the Special Office of the President (US), the LIbrary of Congress, Members of Parliament (UK), the Congress of the Latin Americas (Brazil), and spoke at telecommunications companies (Northern Telecom, Pacific Bell, ATT) advanced labs (IBM, Apple, HP) and for publishers and toy companies. She consulted to Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow and won grants from the Apple Education Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, the and venture funds from Melchor Venture Management, NEA, and Robertson Stevens. TLC went public and was sold for $660M. Ann next founded Learning Friends, where she invited industry leaders to “build the future now” at the Nueva School where young children built and played in their own virtual realities, learned C programming with “mentors by modem,” learned 3D graphic design from Macromedia Fellow, Young Harvill. Supported by Apple, the Library Corp and 35 software companies, Ann worked with Apple Fellow Bill Atkinson, consulted to Alan Kay’s group at Apple ATG and to government and industry leaders in 15 nations. She developed prototype literacy software for urban illiterate African-American teen boys with US Department of Education SBIR grants, consulted to Gravity, Inc, Tiny Planets, KidSource and other start-ups. She served on Boards of Odyssey Middle School, Synapse School and was appointed Honorary Head of School for an international school in Beijing. She was awarded grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the US Department of Education and NSF. She raised venture funds from Mohr-David, Greylock, Viacom, and Singapore EDB. Ann is now President of Learning Circle Kids, LLC where she leads a team developing an iPad app, Reader Bee, for young children going from not reading to reading. Ann earned her MA and PhD in the School of Education from the University of California at Berkeley in 1972, where she gave the 100th Anniversary Commencement Address.

Jennifer McLean, Project Manager Cupcake Digital

Todd McMullin , Creative Team Manager Waterford Institute

James Miller, Project Manager - Product Development Vtech Kids James Miller is a product developer at VTech Kids. He has recently managed the development of the Kidizoom SmartWatch and produces eBooks and downloadable games for the InnoTab and InnoTab Max platforms. He is also director of the tasked-based learning project for Seeds of Empowerment, a non-profit organization that is a spin-off of Stanford University’s School of Education. James is also a 2nd year grad student at Columbia University Teachers College pursuing an MA in Computing in Education.

Annie Murphy Paul, Author Annie Murphy Paul is a journalist and writer who covers how we think and learn—and how we can do it better. A contributor to Time magazine and The New York Times, she also writes the Brilliant Blog, at www.anniemurphypaul.com. She is the author of the forthcoming book Brilliant: The Science of How We Get Smarter.

Sandhya Nankani , Founder Literary Safari Inc. Sandhya Nankani is the founder of Literary Safari Inc., which develops K-12 print and interactive content that aligns to 21st century skills and standards and the CCSS. Her work blends her 15+ years of experience in educational publishing, international media, and journalism and has been recognized by the Association of Educational Publishers. Literary Safari's recent projects include ION Future, a STEM career education game; History Detectives Lab (HD Lab), an online game based on the PBS series History Detectives; Nextpert, a suite of digital learning tools for teachers; and international low-literacy versions of What to Expect When You're Expecting for Liberia and Bangladesh. In 2014, Literary Safari will publish its first picture book app, based on a Liberian folktale, How Plover Bird Came to Clean Crocodile's Teeth. This app is the first of what Sandhya hopes will be a series of interactive folktales that introduce elementary-school aged children to the diversity of world literature and enable them to--in the words of author Jane Yolen-- "listen, touch magic, and pass it on!"

Mathew Peterson , Owner Shiny Things Mat Peterson’s of apps and programming began as a child. The 29-year-old founder of educational app development startup, Shiny Things, says he has been building apps since before they were ”sexy”, having built his first one before Apple had even launched the App Store. Today he is focused on producing high-quality education products, designed to enhance the classroom experience for both teachers and students.

14 Participant List 2014 Fall Institute

Robin Raskin , Founder Living in Digital Times Robin Raskin is a recovering journalist who now organizes conferences and events on what it means to be “ living in digital times”. An author, editor, magazine publisher, blogger, TV and radio personality, and consultant, Raskin says she’s never met a media she doesn’t like. Raskin is the former editor of PC Magazine and Editor in Chief of FamilyPC. She’s been a columnist for USA Today Online and has authored 6 books about in the digital age. The current roster of events include : Digital Health Summit http://digitalhealthsummit.com Silvers Summit silverssummit.com Sports and Fitness Tech Summit http://sportsandfitnesstech.com MommyTech Summit http://mommytechsummit.com Kids@Play Summit http://kidsatplaysummit.com HigherEdTECH Summit http://higheredtechsummit.com Last Gadget Standing http://lastgadgetstanding.com Mobile Apps Showdown http://mobileappsshowdown.com FashionWare http://fashionwareshow.com and Cloudbase 3.

Robin Rath, CEO Pixel Press Robin Rath is the CEO and a co-founder of Pixel Press, a mobile technology startup that enables anyone to create their own using nothing more than paper, a pencil and a mobile device camera. Robin grew up playing video games and building websites and is passionate about technology that makes sharing stories and content in creative ways accessible and fun for all ages. Robin lives with his wife Ashley and daughter Kate in St. Louis, Missouri and dreams of one day owning his own X-wing.

Dave Ringler, Digital Product Manager Highlights for Children Dave has over six years of in-house and agency-based digital product management, marketing management and digital project management experience. As the Digital Product Manager for Highlights for Children, Dave helps lead cross-discipline teams in concepting, business planning and development of digital products ranging from websites and apps, to tangible play toys and content marketing. He joined Highlights in January, 2014 after a tenure with Resource , one of the largest privately held digital marketing agencies in the country. Dave has helped deliver digital product and marketing solutions to brands of all shapes and sizes, including Pearson Education, Otterbein University, Great Oaks Institute, Nestle Purina Cat Chow, Cintas, Nationwide Insurance and Paul Mitchell. If you’d like to geek out with Dave, he’s always ready to talk about AR, 3D printing, wearable’s and form as function in apps.

Kenny Roraback, Director of User Experience Homer Learning, Inc. Kenneth Roraback is the Director of User Experience at HomerLearning, Inc. where he designed the user experience of the award-winning app, Learn with Homer. Kenny has also worked in UX design, web development, and digital strategy for international nonprofits such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network. He has designed and moderated hundreds of usability tests for digital interfaces within the United States and abroad with subjects 2 to 70 years old. Kenny holds physics and theater degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons.

Jesse Schell, Asst. Prof. of Entertainment Technology Carnegie Mellon University Jesse Schell is CEO of Schell Games. Started in 2002, it’s the largest, most successful game development company in Pennsylvania. As a leader in creating transformational games, they’ve produced innovative, transformational and award-winning entertainment experiences Disney, SeaWorld, Amplify, Yale University, Lionel LLC and The Fred Rogers Company. Jesse currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center, where he teaches game design. His critically acclaimed book, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, captured Game Developer magazine’s coveted “Front Line Award” for 2008. Jesse was also Creative Director of the Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio, where he worked and played as designer, programmer, and manager for Disney theme parks and DisneyQuest.

Mark Schlichting, CEO NoodleWorks Interactive Mark Schlichting is an advocate for play. He is also a pioneer of the multimedia industry, an expert in children’s interactive design, is probably best known as the creator of Broderbund’s Living Books CD-ROM series. In 2000 Mark founded NoodleWorks Interactive, a creative design and production company specializing in innovative design for children. In November 2011, NoodleWorks released its’ first iPad app, a word toy called Noodle Words. In March 2012 Mark also joined Wanderful interactive storybooks as their Chief Creative Officer to help with the redesign, update, and release of many of the original Living Books for the iOS and Android platforms. His own (multilingual) storybook, Harry and The Haunted House was released in October of 2012.

15 Participant List 2014 Fall Institute

Kabir Seth , Founder, Chief Storyteller Storied Myth Kabir Seth is the founder of Storied Myth, a company focused on educating 5-10yr olds through entertaining E-Book Apps and interactive Real-World Puzzles. The Storied Myth app contains a diverse set of characters that live in the fantastical world of Pangea where they share adventure stories, cultural folktales, character and non-fiction stories. Every adventure story includes a physical “puzzle” adventurers need to solve in order to advance the story. In addition, every story contains comprehension questions that are tracked and shared with parents via a “parent dashboard” Kabir grew up in Michigan with a left-brained father and a right-brained mother (the best of both worlds). He rediscovered his creative side after years in a variety of corporate jobs. Storied Myth is a way for him to connect back to the wonderful world of the Hardy Boys, Bernstein Bears, Encyclopedia Brown and countless other stories he read growing up.

Megan Smith , Senior Designer, Interactive Media Highlights for Children Megan has been creating great stuff for kids since 2007, after earning her BFA in Visual Communications at University of Delaware. Her publishing career began in print with National Wildlife Federation as the art director for‬ Your Big Backyard‬ (lat Ranger Rick Jr.)‬ and Wild Baby magazines.‬ Her role there quickly expanded into the digital space, as she helped crea several apps, including‬ What Did Snakey Eat?‬ and the‬ Ranger Rick Jr. Appventures‬ ser Megan has also worked as a freelance designer on several apps with No Crusts Interactive, including Williamspurrrrg, a collaborative play app featuring hipster cats and her own cut-paper art, and Stride and Prejudice, an endless runner game with Jane Austen's classic novel. In 2014, Megan joined Highlights for Children as the Senior Designer, Interactive Media. She currently lives in Honesdale, P.A., with her chef husband, Zach, and their cat, Spunky.

Wendy Smolen, SVP Sandbox Events and PlayPublisher PlayCollective Wendy is a recognized advocate and expert in the children’s toys and media arena. She is the cofounder of Sandbox Summit, an idea forum that explores the intersection of play, learning and technology. Wendy has held senior editorial positions at Nick Jr. Family Magazine and Parents. She has been widely interviewed on topics relating to 21st century kids and parenting, has written and edited books and articles on parent and child interactions, and has consulted on branding and strategy for companies including LEGO, A&E, and HaPE . She’s judged toys for the Industry’s TOTY awards and the video awards for Kidscreen, where she writes a bi-weekly blog. She is a member of Women In Toys’ Empowerment Committee, serves as a mentor for The Refinery, an accelerator focused on women-led startups, and is a member of the Advisory Board of In This Together Media. www.sandboxsummit.org http://kidscreen.com/category/blogs/out-of-the-sandbox/

Aleen Stein , Founder and Owner The Criterion Collection A founding partner and principal shareholder of the Criterion Collection, Aleen is also CEO and Publisher of Organa L.L.C., a new media publishing company. Organa seeks to bring the best in children’s animation from around the world to American , and include art, science, culture and physical health to them. Its partners are mothers and grandmothers, working on original apps, and welcomes partnerships with other creators. She is a former Director of International Licensing for Scholastic, Inc.’s Software and Internet Group, based in New York, and a founding partner and President of Voyager, an innovative publisher of interactive laserdiscs and software since 1984. The Criterion Collection has become known as the "Rolls Royce" of home video. This world-renowned and critically-acclaimed collection of important films with interactive "making-of" supplements has been credited with inventing the “added value” home video market. She is known for her ground-breaking work in the new media industry, including executive producer of several international award-winning CD-ROMs and DVDs. She has been publishing, creating and selling interactive titles for more than 30 years, personally contributing to more than 340. Professional Awards: Winner of special VIRA award for Lifetime Achievement in Home Video Publishing by Video Review Magazine, 1991 Winner of Le Premiere Prix Mobius de la Creation Artistique Multimedia, Paris (CNRS) 1993 Lifetime Achievement from Prix Mobius International Multimedia, Beijing 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award in DVD from DVD Entertainment Conference & Showcase, 2002 www.organa.com www.criterionco.com

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Bob Tedeschi, Columnist New York Times Bob Tedeschi has written for The New York Times since 1998, when he began writing a weekly the e-commerce column that ran for a decade in the business section. He has also been a columnist for the Travel section, the Real Estate section, and the Sunday regionals section, and his stories have appeared in multiple other sections in the paper, as well as on Page One. Mr. Tedeschi now writes a monthly column for the Home section on do-it-yourself home improvement projects, and from 2008 until this he reviewed mobile technology and apps for the Personal Technology pages, as the creator and author of the Times’ weekly App Smart column. He has also dabbled in software development, as co-developer of Bobo Explores , an educational iPad app for children that was one of three iPad titles this year to win a prestigious Apple Design Award at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference. (Mr. Tedeschi wrote the app under the pseudonym Craig Fusco, and only revealed his identity to Apple after the awards were announced, and after the company had selected the app for its iPad app Hall of Fame.) He is now pursuing other app-development opportunities while on hiatus from technology reporting with the Times, and while contributing to Children’s Technology Review.

Julie Thieblemont , Game Designer Tribal Nova Julie Thieblemont works in innovative education application design, specializing in multi-media platforms. Julie obtained her diploma in Education as administered by the French National Department of Education. Thereafter, Julie taught kindergarten and elementary school for 3 years where she developed pedagogical practice and knowledge of the child audience. She then obtained a Master’s degree in Communication and Children Studies from the University of Bordeaux (France). Following this, Julie accepted a position at Tralalere, a company which develops educational applications and serious games. She then moved to Canada to work at Tribal Nova, an Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company. Her role in pedagogical content and coherence has been paramount in the design of the company’s innovative educational apps.

Scott Traylor , CEO, Founder 360KID Entrepreneurial business leader and maker of forward thinking kidtech products, on a mission to see more product successes happen in the consumer and classroom marketplace. Business advisor, research evangelist, former computer science professor, data junkie, blogger & vlogger. Searching for the next new thing. California dreamer. If you share any of the same passions, let me know. The password is "orange."

Sara Vitale , Project Manager Seven Academy Sara is a Project Manager at Seven Academy. Though she is new to the team, her experience and education have allowed her to make significant contributions to game development, research, and creation of educational content. Prior to joining Seven Academy, she worked as a substitute teacher in Montreal, QC and spent the summer teaching Life Skills at the Umoja Center Arusha, Tanzania. She has a Bed Kindergarten and Elementary from McGill University.

Hans Wagner , Owner Computer Explorers

Bob Wickenden, President Jersey Cow Software Co. Robert Wickenden, President Wick is one of the original founders of Jersey Cow Software Co., Inc. Wick has been designing interactive and educational software for over 30 years. He designed the award winning language adventure game “Who Is Oscar Lake?” He is one of the principal design contributors to highlightskids.com, a children’s web community developed in collaboration with Highlights for Children. He is the chief architect of numerous online community infrastructures including highlightskids.com, Money U, the Pocoyo project for the Hispanic Interactive Television Network and most recently Money Habitudes. He is currently working with the COW team on a variety of tablet, smartphone and web-based projects. Education: BFA, University of Vermont; MFA, Rutgers University 1976

Kate Wilson , Managing Director Nosy Crow Kate Wilson is the founder and managing director of Nosy Crow, a four-year-old, multi-award-winning publisher of children’s books and apps. She comes to app making with a background in children’s publishing: before setting up Nosy Crow, she was the UK publisher of US books from Goodnight Moon to The Hunger Games and Judy Blume’s Forever, as well as working on UK bestsellers like The Gruffalo and Horrible Histories. She’s interested in children’s literacy, in building businesses for the long term and in cake.

17 Participant List 2014 Fall Institute

Keli Winters , Director of Technology Products Evan-Moor Educational Publishers Keli Winters is the Director of Production at Evan-Moor Educational Publishers. Keli has been with Evan-Moor for 10 years, working with a team of Editors and Designers toward achieving the goal of creating innovative K-6 supplemental teaching materials. She works closely with various departments to shape the technology vision for the Evan Moor including technology that is integrated with print products, standalone technology products, and Evan-Moor's internet presence.

Lorri Wyndham, Preschool Curriculum Coordinator Computer Explorers

Paul Zdanowicz , Creative Director Tiggly

Kiersten Zimmerman, Early Education and Research Lead VizuVizu

18 Child Development 101 for the Developers of Interactive Media

An Overview of Influential Theories of Child Development, Applied to Practice

his is a handout packet for the designers of children’s interactive media (IM). It is designed to accompany the talks and lectures that are part of the Dust or Magic Institute. Designing IM that works with children depends on a variety of factors, including a solid knowledge of the capabilities and learning patterns of the intended audience, in this case children from 0 to 15 years-of-age. There are three parts:

Part 1 covers basic child development theory, especially motivation and Piaget’s stage theory. Part 2 provides an developmental, year by year overview. Part 3 includes essays on various aspects of design.

“An idea can turn from dust to magic, depending upon the talent that rubs against it.” 松尾 芭蕉 Matsuo Bashō ( ), from the forward of the book by Bob Hughes

First edition, 1996. Revised June 2014 Parts by Ellen Wolock, Ed.D, Ann Orr, Ed.D. and Warren Buckleitner, Ph.D. © Active Learning Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or in whole without written permission is strictly prohibited. Printed in the United States of America.

Children’s Technology Review is a trademark of Active Learning Associates, Inc. 120 Main Street, Flemington, NJ 08822

Internet image references: 16mm projector -- (www.xs4all.nl/~wichm/ cinimage.html, flashlight (cartalk.cars.com/Store/ Car-Kit/list.html), slide projector (www.gpc.peachnet.edu/~ecoway/ equipinfo.htm, Jean Piaget (www.piaget.org). Other

1 Contents Part 1. How Children Learn ...... 3

Intrinsic Motivation Factors: I WANT to play! ...... 3 Piaget: Constructivism, and his Theory of ...... 4 Other Influential Theories ...... 6 ...... 6 Constructivism...... 6 Social Learning Theory ...... 6 Social Constructivism ...... 6 Enhancing Feelings of Control ...... 6 Information Processing Theory...... 7 Bloom’s Taxonomy...... 7 Definitions ...... 7 Howard Gardner’s Theories of Mind...... 8 The Marshmallow Study ...... 8 Literacy Theory at a Glance ...... 9 An Amazing History (of Literacy and Technology) ...... 16 The BolognaRagazzi 2013 Winners ...... 18 Maria Montessori ...... 16

Part 2. Developmental Stages ...... 18

Birth to 18 Months ...... 18 18 Months to 2 1/2 Years ...... 18 2 1/2 to 3 Years ...... 18 3 to 4 Years ...... 19 4 to 5 Years ...... 19 5 to 6 Years ...... 19 Taxonomy of Touch ...... 20 Child as a Tree ...... 22 Part 3. Application ...... 23

Capturing the Magic of Interactive Media ...... 23 Contributors to Magic; Contributors to Dust ...... 25 Engagement as a Variable ...... 25 Eight Lessons for Structured Activities ...... 25 Instructions on Giving Instructions...... 27 The Five Ingredients of Active Learning ...... 27 Digital Play-Doh ...... 27 The Waterline Principle ...... 28 How to Build Feelings of Ownership...... 28 Pondering Pokémagic...... 29 Seven Rules for Making Solid Web/Toy Connections ...... 30 A Code of Ethics for Children’s IM Publishers ...... 33 Why Tap Zoo is a Morality Fail ...... 35 A Generic Evaluation Form ...... 36 To Help You Remember...... 36 Sketch pads ...... 37

2 Part 1: How Children Learn Four Ingredients of Intrinsic Motivation The efficiency of children’s learning is increased when they have a stake in the task. It is commonly believed that intrinsic motivation plays a critical role in the degree to which a child will become engaged with an activity. But what is “intrinsic motivation?” Several factors have been identified by motivation theorists (Weiner, 1986, White, 1959; Maehr, 1983; Stipek, 1986; Lepper, 1973 to name a few) as being central to the development of intrinsic motivation attributes in a learner's behav- ior. These factors can be used as a framework for understanding a child's actions when he or she is using IM or for assessing the overall quality of the IM experience. 1. Enjoyment 3. Interest Children choose activities that they like to do, and avoid Children are more likely to engage in an activity when their activities that are frustrating, static or boring. interest has been sparked. Implications for interactive media design: Implications for interactive media design: When designing an activity, make sure the child finds initial Children love surprises so remember that “variety is the success within the first 5 to 20 seconds. Sign-in screens spice of life.” Make sure that each play offers a surprise, or should be intuitive; the first activities easy and fun. Nothing has some sort of open-ended element. Get to know as many kills enjoyment faster than failure, in any form. Also, don’t real live kids as you can. What are they interested in? Fads underestimate kids. Some designers think that children come and go, but kids always want interactive media with don’t pay attention to fine details because they are too characters they can relate to, good story lines, quality music, young (“don’t worry ... these are just little kids”). Put your- humor, and familiar items and themes. Mix in a surprise, self in the child’s shoes— would you want to play the activity and you have increase the chance that you’ll support intrin- you are designing? Walt Disney understood that the process sic motivation. of creating a successful children’s film is just as difficult as that of creating a film for adults. Disney’s films appeal to all 4. Feelings of Success ages, stand the test of time and are watched over and over Children develop feelings of competence if they think they again. Similarly, the early success of titles like The Living have a reasonable chance of success. Books or Toca Tea Party can be tied in part to their clever use of animation and humor. When interactive media is easy Implications for interactive media design: to use and respectful of children, kids are more likely to use It is the developer’s responsibility to provide children with it, and enjoy it. materials and activities that are at or near their develop- mental level. This, of course, refers to program content, but also to its design as well. There are several components of this. “Minimum User Competency” or MUC means that the challenge should be in the activity itself, not in the physical operation of the program (non-intuitive icons, reading required when the target audience is preschool, etc.) “Motivation Inertia” means that you make sure your interac- 2. Control tive media includes elements that build on previous success, Children avoid activities in which they feel they have little allowing greater challenge that is tailored to the child’s abili- or no control. Good interactive media increases children’s ties. Pacing and leveling is also critical— too fast, and the feelings of control by providing an environment where their child builds a failure history rather than competence history. actions have impact. Too slow, and the interest decreases. Teachers have learned that one of the most effective punishments is “time out”, Implications for interactive media design: because children hate to wait, yet that’s exactly what some Make it crisp. Send instant, snappy control messages (such interactive media design does. If extrinsic reinforcers are as an action or audio cue) with each touch or mouse used such as “nice job” or “try again,” make sure they click. A responsive interface, measured in microsec- don’t slow the pace of the activity, especially when onds, increases feelings of control. You don’t grab Memorize there is a timed element. the child's attention with music, video or animation, these 4 factors if it is at the cost of the responsivity. Good interactive ADDITIONAL RESOURCES media allows many opportunities for child input. Carolyn Handler Miller’s “Seven Kisses of Death” has a Why are apps like Wheels on the Bus (by Duck Duck Moose) lot of overlap with these four factors. such favorites? Because every action the child makes results in something happening on See also High/Scope’s Five Ingredients of Active Learning. screen. The child is leads the way, not the interactive media. Finally, good interactive Annie Murphy Paul’s “Brilliant Report,” media also always leaves an intuitive “back http://anniemurphypaul.com/blog/ explores motivation door” or “go back” icon that is in a consistent and children. place on every screen. Once a child under- stands that he or she can reverse a choice or decision, they are more likely to explore further or try a harder challenge.

3 Jean Piaget Constructivism The research and writings of Jean Piaget (1896-1980), have had an enormous impact on the field of cognitive development and chil- dren’s interactive media design. Piaget’s ideas can help you under- stand the way children think and learn. I like to think of Piaget’s the- ories in two general clusters: Stage Theory (his description of a set of discreet stages through which children proceed over time), and Processes (his explanation of a set of processes that help move a Learn more about Piaget, his life child from one stage to the next). A basic understanding of Piaget’s and his work at www.piaget.org. A good book on Piaget for novice theories can help the interactive media designer create more devel- readers is The Piaget Primer: Thinking, opmentally appropriate interactive media, aka “Magic.” Make sure Learning, Teaching by Ed Labinowicz (Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley you search on “Jean Piaget” in both Wikipedia and YouTube for Publishing Co., 1980). some great resources. See also “What if Jean Piaget Visited the Jersey Shore at http://youtu.be/22APMOH6cik

Sensorimotor Preoperational Birth to 2 1/2 years. Ages 2 1/2 to 7 years (a period of sensory input and physi- A period of representational, prelogical cal actions) thought Piaget described the ages of 0 From approximately age 2 to Sensorimotor children think to 2 years as the Sensorimotor like a flashlight—where the age 7, Piaget described the child as Stage. All learning is done via being in the Preoperational Stage. beam shines is where they Preoperational children physical exploration of the envi- think. The rest of the world Language acquisition is a major goal, think like a slide projector. ronment. As the child interacts doesn’t exist. as is “object permanence” or the idea They can typically hold dis- with people and things, pleasing that objects continue to exist even tinct thoughts in mind, but have trouble mixing them, or reactions are eventually noted, making the when they are out of sight. This is understanding that they can action more likely to be repeated. In the the first building block of memory affect one another. later portion of this period, the child and higher order thinking skills. begins to actively experiment, trying out Piaget also believed that children at various actions and reactions in a more this age fail to understand that the mass of an object is purposeful manner. By the end of this unchanged even when something is done to it. For example, period, the child has acquired an initial if you take a short glass of milk and pour it into a taller, nar- set of concepts dealing with space, rower glass, children in the Preoperational Stage will think objects and causality. that the taller glass contains more milk. ✓ Babies initially think that objects out ✓ Children begin to represent experiences through play and of sight aren’t there, but later communications. understand that the object doesn’t ✓ Children are generally egocentric, less able to take anoth- really disappear (like in peek-a-boo). er’s perspective. ✓ Children learn through the direct manip- ✓ Children consider the current ulation of objects, using all senses (touch, condition of what they see. taste, sound) For instance, a small ✓ Children learn through the repetition of actions and imi- banana cut into lots of tation. little pieces is “more” ✓ Children understand simple cause and effect. than a big banana cut into just a few pieces. ✓ In the early period of this stage, expressions may be taken literally, e.g. keep an eye on the ball.

4 Concrete-Operations Formal-Operational Ages 7-12 (a period of focused logical Ages 12-17 thought) (a period of unlimited, logical thought) From about 7 to 12 years, the Formal-Operational thinking is child is described as being in the said to begin around age 12. Here, Concrete-Operational Stage, a peri- the adolescent begins to use od characterized by a more mature abstract logic, and no longer relies understanding of the world and on concrete objects to form his Like a computer controlled DVD objects around them. They under- thinking. Learning can occur player, formal operational thinking Concrete operational kids stand that you can do things that through verbal reasoning, and by children can quickly skip from one think like a motion picture idea to another, hold multiple con- change appearance of an object, projector; a step up from taking the perspective of others. trasting ideas in memory, and eval- without changing the essence of the distinct “slide by slide” pro- Pre-teens/teens in this period for- uate the relevance of different ideas. object. For instance, children at cessing. But they still have mulate their own hypotheses trouble jumping, or mentally this age understand that a certain juggling different ideas. This about causes and solutions. They amount of liquid has the same vol- is why they rely on concrete are now able rely on abstract symbols to learn. ume regardless of how it looks, or a materials. ✓ Preteens/teens can rely on symbols to understand and ball of clay has the same mass even learn. after you smash it into a patty. This kind of thinking ✓ Preteens/teens understand complex concepts like densi- forms the basis for scientific exploration and Can ty. thought (kids at this age love science), but they you name the ✓ Egocentrism may disappear completely with the still rely upon concrete objects and experiments two stages on dis- play in “Charley Bit capacity to think and reason beyond own beliefs. to form their ideas. My Finger?” ✓ A sense of fairness and equality supersedes adult ✓ Children are tied to their direct experiences, authority. but can consider and coordinate more than one dimension. ✓ Children understand time, space and number. Children can conserve, understanding that objects are the same if their original state was equal, e.g. a small banana is smaller than a large banana, no matter how it is sliced. ✓ Children can take another’s perspective. ✓ Children in this period still learn best through con- crete experiences.

The Art of Confusion: Equilibration vs. Disequilibration Your job as an IM designer is to confuse children. But in the right way, and not in a way that has unintended conse- quences.

How do children move from one stage to the next? Piaget argued that children “build” knowledge via a cycle of repeated and expanded interactions with their environment. Piaget described this process as having two mechanisms. One, he referred to as assimila- tion. When encountering something new in our environment (which is the prerequisite to learning), humans first try to incorporate that new thing into our existing mental frame- work. Accommodation is the complement to assimilation. Accommodation occurs when we have to adjust our existing mental framework in order to make room for that new “thing”. Piaget said that these two processes are occurring all the time, back and forth as we experience (learn) new things in our environment. When children encounter some- thing new, they are slightly off balance, experiencing what Piaget called disequilibration. The child naturally seeks equilibration, or a balance between interacting factors inside and outside the child.

Real world examples are easy to find. Learning a difficult sport, such as golf (trying to sink a putt, or hit a drive down a fairway), water skiing or boarding all have definable moments of assimilation, accommodation and equilibration.

Interactive media developers gently nudging the child from equilibration to disequilibration to equilibration, and so on.

5 Other Influential Theories Social Learning Theory The work of Albert Bandura (b. 1925) gave rise to the social Behaviorism learning theory. Bandura emphasized the social aspects of Behavior can be explained in terms of observable responses learning, for instance, the importance of observing and mod- to environmental stimuli. Influenced by the conditioned- eling the behaviors, attitudes and reactions of others. In reflex experiments of Pavlov, behaviorism was introduced in other words, Bandura claims that much of what we learn is 1913 by J.B. Watson who emphasized stimulus-response lab- attained by watching other people. Bandura sees learning as oratory techniques. B.F. Skinner took things up a notch by a continual, reciprocal interaction between cognition, behav- documenting responses to stimuli and rewards in both chil- ior and environmental influences. The learner’s attention, dren and ; one outcome was the concept of mastery memory and motivation are seen as key determinants of learning, which was applied in the 1950’s as “teaching learning. Interactive media that models desired machines.” Edward Thorndike was another important propo- responses or that provides children with opportuni- nent of behaviorism; his work looked at the role of rewards ties to see other kids learning and doing can be said and consequences and the technique of breaking tasks into to draw from social learning theory. small parts to be learned. Interactive media that is lin- ear and scripted or that relies heavily upon external Social Constructivism rewards draws from the behaviorist perspective. Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist and philosopher in the Slot machines and gambling apply reinforcement 1930's, is most often associated with the social constructivist theory very effectively. theory. He emphasized the influences of cultural and social contexts in learning and supported a discovery model of Constructivism learning. Vygotsky believed that learning and development is This school of psychology asserts that children actively con- a social and collaborative activity that cannot be "taught" to struct their own knowledge from prior experiences — a anyone. It is up to the student to construct his or her own process of fitting together new experiences with old to create understanding in his or her own mind, while the teacher acts a new reality. The theories of Jean Piaget (1896-1980) have as a facilitator. Vygotsky maintained that learning should been used to support constructivist curricula which include take place in meaningful cultural contexts. Simulation pro- the open classroom movement, whole language, and others. grams like SimCity are perfect examples of social construc- The idea that the child is an active, not passive, learner is key tivism, as are online games which facilitate the communica- to this theory. Interactive media that is child-led using tion between two or more players. Vygotsky’s concept of the open-ended components or virtual manipulatives “zone of proximal development” is a useful idea for interac- draws from the constructivist theory. tive media developers. This “zone” has been defined as the distance between a child’s independent problem solving and

Enhancing Feelings of Control Both clippers have the same function, but the one on the right seems easier to use because of the exaggerated rub- bery handles. So it gets used more than the one on the left. Here are some dos and don’ts when it comes to children’s app design.

Do • Use rollovers and other “tangible” techniques to foster feelings of empowerment. Things like eyeballs that fol- low the cursor (ask Moshi Monster’s Michael Acton Smith about that one). • Make the stuff on the screen that catches your eye have a function. The biggest resource you have is a child’s immediate attention (or the first slide, using the preop- Don’t erational metaphor). • Clutter the screen with nonfunctional, “dead” art. Save • Provide pointers to the hot spot. the frosting for the movie. • Use crisp audio to amplify a child’s smallest action. • Underestimate the role of sound in the design. • Use “hot spice” that is related to the task at hand. • Let your narrator go for more than a sentence or two. • Provide status indicator metaphors that have meaning to • Parrot back instructions. a child (e.g., climbing a set of stairs, getting higher in a • Let decisions about licensed characters get in the way, or tree to get to the treehouse, helping a dog get to a bone). diminish child control. • Make it clear when it is “your turn.” • Use reinforcements that have no relation to the task. • Let a child interrupt the narration or animation. With IM design for children, it is easy to kill two birds with • Make sure a child can get out of whatever the get into. one stone.

6 his capabilities of problem solving while under adult guidance or Definitions the guidance of more capable peers. The “zone” is where you want to be when teaching a child— just slightly beyond what he can intermittent reinforce- already do by himself. The same goes for interactive media activi- a type of rein- ties, you want them to be challenging, but not overwhelming, and ment— you want to give the child enough support while doing the task that forcement schedule in he succeeds at learning something new. Programs that track a which the praise or reward child’s past performance and automatically offer slightly is given only once in a more challenging activities are using the concept of “zone Lev Semyonovitch Vygotsky was born in while (like a slot machine). of proximal development”. 1896 in Byelorussia (Soviet Union). He began Of all the reinforcers, this his career as a psycholo- gist in 1917 and only pur- one is the most powerful Information Processing Theory sued this when used in software. Based on the work of George Miller and others, the Information career for 17 years before his death from tubercu- Processing theory of learning maintains that children are actively losis in 1934. processing, storing and retrieving information (much like a com- minimum user competen- puter) and that teaching involves helping learners to develop information processing cy— the lowest level (entry skills and apply them systematically to mastering the curriculum. Two major princi- level) skill a child must ples of this theory are that short term memory (or attention span) is limited to seven possess in order to be suc- chunks of information and that processing information in sequential steps is a funda- mental cognitive process. CAI (computer assisted instruction) interactive media uses cessful with an activity. A these principles. Tasks are broken into sequential steps, connections between new menu that requires reading and old information are highlighted, retention strategies are suggested and there is raises the MUC, for exam- ample opportunity for repetition and review of information. Developers of inter- ple. active media designed to teach memorization of facts, reading, etc. should explore this theory further as its concepts can be easily integrated into learning games and activities. responsivity— one of the variables considered to be Bloom’s Taxonomy most related to engage- In 1956, a group of educational psychologists led by ment. An example of Benjamin Bloom found that over 95% of the test Evaluation responsivity in software is questions students encounter require them to think Synthesis an immediate response to a only at the lowest possible level...the recall of infor- mation. Bloom identified six levels within the cogni- Analysis mouse click or key stroke. tive domain, from the simple recall or recognition of Application facts, at the lowest level, through increasingly more Understanding zone of proximal devel- complex and abstract mental levels, to the high- opment— or “ ” is an espe- est order which is classified as evaluation. Knowledge (facts) 1. Knowledge: define, list, match, order, name, cially useful idea for soft- repeat, memorize, recall. ware developers. This 2. Comprehension: describe, sort, classify, report, review, identify, review, translate. “zone” has been defined as 3. Application: demonstrate, illustrate, solve, employ, use. 4. Analysis: categorize, appraise, calculate, compare, contrast, distinguish, examine, ques- the distance between a tion, test. child’s independent prob- 5. Synthesis: compare, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up. lem solving and his capa- 6. Evaluation: assess, defend,estimate, judge, predict, support, value, test. Interactive media has much to contribute to “higher order” thinking, bilities of problem solving through simulations such as Sim City or Oregon Trail, where children while under adult guidance must continually evaluate and synthesize information related to a long or the guidance of more term task. Other activities such as programming in HTML or creating capable peers. The “zone” with a database or spreadsheet are also examples of these skills. is where you want to be — * Adapted from: Bloom, B.S. (Ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives: The when teaching a child— classification of educational goals: Handbook I, cognitive domain. New York ; just slightly beyond what Toronto: Longmans, Green. he can already do by him- self. A “smart” character that suggests a new activity based on previous perform- ance is one example.

7 Howard Gardner’s Theories of the Mind Howard Gardner was a student of a student of Jean Piaget. His mentor was the Cognitive Scientist Jerome Bruner; who was a student of Piaget’s. His greatest contri- bution is his 1983 theory of multiple intelligences, which he wrote about in Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. His idea provides a framework for helping curriculum designers expand the definition of intelligence. Gardner on April 15, 2013 at MIT The Seven, and later, Nine Intelligences When it Comes to Apps, There are Three Types of Originally there were these seven. Learners 1. Logical-mathematical Gardner has largely remained quite on technology, attribut- 2. Spatial ing most tech-related behaviors to logical/mathematical. 3. Linguistic However, he is collaborating on a book called “The App 4. Bodily-kinesthetic Generation” in which he identified three types of learners: 5. Musical 1. App dependence = You do what the app lets you do. 6. Interpersonal 2. App enablement = The app lets you do things that you 7. Intrapersonal couldn’t do otherwise, like make a puppet show or song. 3. App transcendent = I’m not going to be limited by any These two were added later app. I’m going to make my own app. 8. Naturalistic 9. Existential See Howard Gardner’s Sandbox Summit talk at http://youtu.be/g4i4RifZzWk (recorded by Scott Traylor). Exercise: Think up a profession associated with each intelle- gence. Two tweetable quotes from this talk: “I think all Amercian Education Thinking is a footnote to Five Minds for The Future John Dewey,” and “In the struggle between Dewey and In 2006, Gardner described the “minds” that children will Thorndike, Thorndike won.” need to “thrive in the world during the eras to come.” The book, called Five Minds For The Future provided these examples: 1. The disciplined mind 2. The synthesizing mind 3. The creating mind 4. The respectful mind 5. The ethical mind

The Marshmallow Study The famous and much quoted Marshmallow study (e.g., see Galinski, 2011) was conducted by Stanford’s Walter Mischel at the Bing Preschool in 1988. It attempted to measure a child’s ability to exhibit behaviors associated with delayed gratifica- tion. The idea was that if you could had the ability to delay gratification as a young child, it could have big implications as you grow into an adult.

Procedure: Preschoolers were led into an empty room and offered a treat of choice (Oreo cookie, marshmallow, or pretzel stick). They were told that they could eat the treat, but if they could wait fifteen minutes they would get a second treat. Children responded very differently. Some just ate the marshmallow, while others waited, making up games to help them resist temptation. The video was often very humerous.

Preschool children who delayed gratification were described more than 10 years later by their parents as adolescents who were significantly more competent. A second follow-up study, in 1990, showed that the ability to delay gratification also cor- related with higher SAT scores.

8 Literacy Theory At A Glance Learning your letters is hard stuff. An “A” and an “N” look slightly different, but they also carry hundreds subtle attributes which become appearant when combined with a “T” to make a word like ANT. Mix them up and the same letters turn into TAN. In one of the first comprehensive reviews of literacy research Edmund Burke Huey (1908) wrote one of my favorite quotes:

".. to completely analize what we do when we read would almost be the acme of a Watch: Technology, Literacy and the Mind psychologist's dream for it would be to describe very many of the most intricate by Marilyn Adams at EETC working of the human mind, as well as to unravel the tangled story of the most http://youtu.be/3WJgzuwIIm4 remarkable specific performance that civilization has learned in all its history." See Read: Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading. Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press SOME ADVICE Take a developmental view. A child’s capacity with reading and writing varies incredibly, day by day or year by year, which is why Piaget’s stage theory applies. Remember that any theory can find a champion in technology. Constructivists have whole language and apps like Doodlecast; behaviorists have phonics apps like the Bob books. Neither are right, neither are wrong. You should be fluent in both bodies of discourse.

RESEARCH on the effects of the iPad Oral reading: on reading pedagogy is as slippery as KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS the iPad’s screen, in part because apps Marilyn Adams defines literacy as “the Emergent literacy: can vary so widely. Look for studies of process and product of gaining con- specific apps and the activities within cious, reflective awareness of our Fluency: apps. Also of use: ethnographic studies knowledge, thought and language.” In that watch how children use technology her 2011 talk at EETC she reminds us Phonetic Awareness: in general. These can greatly inform that humans have have been “visually your work. It is safe to say that “the representing” for 30,000 years, but it is Scaffolding: iPad effect” opens new opportunities only within the past 6,000 years that for reading, writing and literacy in gen- “pictograms” were used to tell stories. Sounding out: eral that are largely unstudied; other The tablet is only 3 years old. than: Phoneme identity: a) Children seem to like iPads, and LITERACY TERMS TO KNOW b) There’s a LOT of story-related con- Here are some terms from reading the- Print Awareness: tent being created. ory discourse. Define each and be ready to share: Contextual clues: MY FAVORITE LITERACY EXPERTS include my former teacher at MSU, Representation: Labeling/labels: Taffy Raphael, now at the University of Illinois at Chicago (see http://tig- Encoding: Invented spelling: ger.uic.edu/~taffy/) who helped me greatly. Here’s a paper that I wrote for Writing: Reciprical reading: this class: http://childrenstech.com/?p=11691 Zaner-Bloser: Text to speech:

Also good to watch: William Teale at D’Nealion: Speech to text: the University of Illinois (watch http://youtu.be/sg9ED-Fdsks) and his HWT: Recording: wife, Junko Yokota. They’ve been exploring eBooks recently and have a Print awareness: ______deep history in traditional history theo- ry. See Junko speak: A “print rich” environment: ______http://youtu.be/5FGbG2Vq6T4. Also Nell Duke at University of Word awareness: ______Michigan and Nonie Lesaux at Harvard; plus Marilyn Adams. Whole language vs. Phonics

Silent reading:

9 LIT REVIEW Tseng, K. H., Liu, C. C., & Liu, B. J. (2012, March) found that tablet-based e-book readers can facilitate child-parent collaboration and afford variety forms of interactions. In particular, the storytelling activity on such tablets helped the par- ents provide different guidance including dialogic reading strategies and those related to story structure, helping the chil- dren to reflect on the book read. The result of this study also suggests that a persistent platform that can record and demon- strate the reading experience is a critical element to facilitate participatory reading among children Educators may find it useful to apply such approach in other reading context.

Stewart, S. M. (2012) did a doctoral dissertation called Reading in a Technological World: Comparing the iPad to Print at Bowling Green State University and used a control/experimental group and found that “children who read the e-book exhib- ited progress in the meaning and reading of the words supported directly by the computer compared to the control group. No such progress was observed for words without direct support. No differences appeared in the progress between the two age groups and no interaction was found between age and type of word support.”

Korat, O., & Shamir, A. (2012) found that as readers encounter children's literature in new formats and modes of deliv- ery, the basic processes of reading, sharing, discussing and analyzing texts will change. Because of these changes, new instructional approaches and resources will be required.” They have created a pedagogical approach called Reading Workshop 2.0. They calle it Direct and Indirect Teaching: Using E-Books for Supporting Vocabulary, Word Reading, and Story Comprehension for Young Children.

10 Lessons in App-Craft

One night, a prosperous publisher was dreaming up an exciting new app ...

So began the talk by John Cromie of Touch Press that you can watch at http://youtu.be/R82og144EG8.

John’s story, called “the publisher, the app, and his budget” describes how a grand app idea can end with a sadly if it is approached with traditional thinking. His talk was one of two, behind-the-scenes presentations on what Cromie calls “app-craft” given at the first ever Dust or Magic Bologna Masterclass, held the day before the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. A second pres- entation approached the topic from a fiction angle, given by Kate Wilson of Nosy Crow. Wilson also provided a generous look into the Nosy Crow creative process. Note that the notes in this article are loosely transcribed from the talks, and should not be taken as http://youtu.be/R82og144EG8 direct quotes from either speaker without their permission. Non-Fiction Case Study: Touch Press

JOHN CROMIE is the co-founder and chief technology officer at Touch Press. He’s been making CD-ROMs for many years which • As the technology improves, we, as a larger culture, are also has prepared him well to lead the team of engineers at Touch evolving in our expectations of what apps can do, which Press. Some main points: explains why the notion of skeuomorphism (making screen • If you have a craft, you must also have a medium (a potter has objects resemble real objects) is starting to fade for the first clay, for example). App-crafters have a new and mostly unex- time. We need to start thinking about an “app” as a much plored medium that has really come into being in the last 12 broader thing. months, thanks to instantly responsive multi-touch screens • Understand your medium. A carpenter understands wood and with no lag; high speed solid state drives and always on con- a set of tools, and the limits of what wood can do. The same is nectivity, not to mention all sorts of sensors and a compact true for app makers. form. What we do with these devices isn’t television, books or • Interactions between people and apps can be intimate experi- the web. It’s something that is new and unique. ences, and this type of special interaction must be understood • Go native. While there are a lot of app development environ- in the design process. ments, like Unity, that you can choose, the Touch Press solu- • Every app is an original work even though it may be based on tion is to use the native SDK so that nothing stands between existing content. your creative team and what is possible on that platform. • App-craft requires a creative team with multiple levels of Anything that gets between the ideas and the possibilities expertise, and each team member must work in sync with the presents a new set of constraints. others. This includes knowing each person’s limits, and under- • The biggest enemy to an app-crafter is an attitude of “it’s good standing when to back away from a task that someone else enough, lets get it out the door.” might be better qualified to handle. The best attribute for a team member is a passion for both the content and the audi- ence. In other words, a bird lover is likely to make a better app about birds. • Passionate engineers are those that try their best to come up with a viable answer to the question “what if;” for example, “what if we added another language” or “what if we could put every Disney film on a single screen.” It’s also someone who never admits “it’s good enough.” • Creative teams work incredibly hard, under inspirational lead- ership and they hate the word “impossible.” • Sweat the detail. (Cromie showed a globe with hand painted tiles, where you could see the brush strokes, as an example). • Make apps for “all ages.” A two year old child can enjoy spin- ning a responsive globe, or watching text sparkle. • Save some room for polish, and tidy up the loose ends. Polish is what you do when you’ve done everything you plan to do, and you have some time left. This is time that needs to be built into the budget. 11

told and retold over the years. The idea of giving the girl a choice in the path she takes to get to Grandma’s house came from came from one of the classic early versions of the story. Finding these things takes research. • Nosy Crow infuses fic- tion with real elements. The clouds in Jack and the Beanstalk come from photographs of real clouds; and a well where Jack finds a key is made from stones that were photographed at a castle in North Wales. Fiction Case Study: Nosy Crow • An iPad screen is roughly the size of one page of a board book. That’s not very big, and can feel very limiting to a publisher who is used to a large format printed page. That’s why Nosy KATE WILSON, Managing Director of Nosy Crow, is a passionate Crow has implemented several page expanding features, such champion for reading, and the role that reading can play to as the ability to scroll or zoom. We also use motion driven 3D effects to help to make a child feel welcome. empower a child. Her enthusiasm was baked into every aspect of • We have two levels of writing. One has the main story, with a her talk; and she started by reminding the group “there are no beginning, middle and an experts, only explorers.” Nosy Crow is a 15 person company that end. On top of that, we float has published 100 print books and 12 apps that have inspired the non-linear writing which field of children’s appmakers with their uncompromising quality. consists of conversations Some main points: between the characters that,

if we’re doing it right, • Fairy tales are extraordinarily robust, which is why we like to turn them into apps. You can bend them and you can twist increase your understand- ing of the characters, but them, whether it’s in a book, film or app -- and they don’t break. won’t interfere with the There’s a good reason they’ve been going for 100’s of years. story. • Today’s children come to an iPad with an expectation about • Imaginative engagement screens, and reading must not be the most boring option for already exists in a book. Our them. We’re trying to create new kinds of reading experiences app design invites them fur- that present different types of reading opportunities in a non- ther into the experience. linear way. • Like Touch Press, we prefer • Making our apps is not like a relay race, where one person to use native tools to hands off a job to another. The process is fluid and dynamic, increase our control over and requires a lot of give-take and revision. the medium. It’s harder, but • When I design, I try to empower the child. How scary should we we’ve been able to create a box of code with each app that gets make it? That type of decision affects the level of complexity better and better. and the interaction, and it must be just right for the intended • It is so important to test with children. We keep lists of the audience. bugs to fix on a collaborative list. We’ve learned that left and • Nosy Crow apps start with original source material. Little Red right handed children touch the screen differently, and we’ve Riding Hood began with a close look at ways the story has been had to adjust such things as which direction characters enter a

scene.

• Making an app is a collaborative and collective process, rather than based on a single individual’s talents (Wilson frequently seconded Cromie’s message about the need for creative teams working together). The work is anonymous in a lot of ways, and that’s quite an interesting concept.

12 The Art and the Science of the Children’s eBook by Warren Buckleitner Throughout the ages, children’s storytellers have tapped into the state-of-the-art to practice their craft. Whether it was achieved with charcoal drawings and shadows from a torch, or color ink in the case of Beatrix Potter, the goal is always the same: to educate and delight a child. Today’s state-of-the-art tech- nology comes in the form of a slim glass tablet with day-long batteries, multi-touch screens and the abil- ity to access the Internet. Gone are keyboards, wires and complexity. A 21st century child has two kinds of bookshelves: one with traditional printed books, plus a virtual bookshelf that is in the cloud. These titles are stored in a virtual closet managed by iTunes, Google Play or Amazon, or perhaps in one of many content management services that are popping up. These stores reach across borders, permitting a storyteller’s ideas to flow around the world at the speed of light, often in your choice of lan- guage. These are exciting times.

The BolognaRagazzi Digital Award was established in 2011 to identify best practice in this emerging category of commercial products, on a global scale. The six winners serve as guideposts for others. But the prize initiative digs up a lot more than just a list of winners. As we made our journey through this year’s entries, we made some notes on what worked or didn’t work. If you’re in the digital storytelling business you can learn from someone else’s mistakes. We also made a video (for 2013, at http://youtu.be/Ea0VL0-Jiw4, for 2014, at http://youtu.be/bAHkW4SYaFU) in which we discussed the entries. eBook, Defined: “Narrative Driven Interactive Media” Howand manyKlaas productsVerplancke, wereIllustrator, considered?AuthorFor& theLecturer, 2014 edition,Brugge, We understand that an “eBook” can be many things to dif- thereBelgium. were 258 entries from 37 countries. All entries ran on ferent people. For the purposes of this prize, we define an either Android, Kindle or iOS. ebook as “narrative driven interactive media” or an interac- How many winners? There were two winners (one fiction, tive work based around some sort of story. We didn’t con- one nonfiction), four mentions (two fiction, two nonfiction) sider products with no story involved. We also didn’t con- and ten finalists (five fiction, five nonfiction). The winners sider non-interactive products, such as digitized printed and mentions were included a short list (either the top ten books presented as PDFs or on e-readers. This year, we or top 20). broke the entries into fiction and nonfiction. Why a Product Didn’t Win FAQs about the Prize In many contests, it is common to end by issuing a press Who can enter? This is a free, public, annual contest spon- release and some trophies, and then start thinking about next sored and paid for by the Bologna Children’s Book Fair year. Not with this one. We are equally interested in under- and organized by Children’s Technology Review. Any author standing these fascinating products from an objective van- or publisher can enter, and there is no entry fee. Only tage point. We want to know -- and share -- what’s working recent products are considered (within the past year). and what’s not. So we want to be just as clear about what Who picks the winners? For 2014, the Jurors were counts as dust as well as what gets the prize. In that spirit, Warren here are some common attributes of the many non-winning Buckleitner, Editor, Children’s Technology Review (USA), products we encountered. Chris Meade Digital Director of if:book, London (UK); Cristina Mussinelli, AIE (Italian Publishers Association) Milan, Italy; • Sprinkled with hot spots, as in “it’s been sprinkled” with http://youtu.be/bAHkW4SYaFU animated hot spots that may not support to the story. Said Chris Meade “there were a lot of things being trotted out that were nothing more than some illustrations for you to jab.” THE LESSON: Make sure the interactivity “does work” for the narrative.

• Static graphics. Worse from a child’s point of view, are items on the screen that look like they should do something, inviting a child’s curious touch, but responding with still- ness. THE LESSON: If you put a balloon in an illustration, make sure you can pop it.

13 • Page flippers is a term that came up more than once in the juror meeting, as in “it’s just Comments from the another page flipper.” It came to stand for old thinking in a new age. Page flippers were very common in this year’s entries. Sometimes they even had their own paper rustling sound. Judging Form. Such a navigation choice is an instant flag that says “not very innovative.” THE LESSON: Here were some of the notes I Think outside the page. jotted down as I reviewed the • Free. Free products were treated with a healthy dose of suspicion. We’d ask “what’s the entries. Not all were deal catch?” Some free products act like a spring-loaded snake, reading to jump at you with an breakers, but they were marks offer or a distracting web page. THE LESSON: If you have a “free trial” version, keep the in- against making to the winner’s app purchases away from young children. list. • Noisy. Achieving a psychological balance between screen and child initiation is an art that is instantly violated when sound can’t be controlled. Jurors noted many apps that start like a • Clumsy design: e.g., three-ring circus, throwing music, sound effects and moving graphics, and removing a child’s pages flip in the wrong ability to control the experience. THE LESSON: Make sure you have a mute button. direction. • Anonymous. Sometimes it was hard to find out who made the app. THE LESSON: Make • Not responsive. the answer to the question “who made this app” easy to answer. • I’ve seen this before. This • Nothing new. Many ebooks blend together into a collective mush of medium quality sto- design was clearly influ- ries with limited features and perhaps a jigsaw puzzle, a coloring page or a game of concen- enced by Toca Tea Party tration. There’s so much more the medium can do. THE LESSON: try to stay a step ahead on with no attribution. the innovation wave. It’s far easier to get noticed. • Good story, amazing • No help for the emerging reader. How does the ebook help a child who can’t read? We graphics, but it is hard to were impressed by labeling strategies, closed captioning options, and touch and hear tech- operate the catapult. niques to help a child build a bridge (or a scaffold) toward becoming a reader. THE LESSON: • Instructions are confus- create hooks for success for all developmental levels. ing and unnecessary. • Loads too slow. Attributes of Winners • Background music loops, over and over and over Each other juror might have his or her own list of winning attributes; these are mine. again. • Innovative. Thinks outside the page; ideas haven’t been done before. Said André • Crashed. “Imagination and authenticity count for a lot.” • Starts with a wordy • Narrative. The value of a good story can’t be understated. introduction. • Pulls the child into the story. There are many ways to pull a child’s ideas into the experi- • Contains ethnic stereo- ence, using the camera, for example. types. • Beautiful. Today’s tablets have clear, bright screens that are good vehicles for delivering • Evil. This is a “free” cata- high quality experiences. log designed to tease • Technically sound. No bugs, snags, crashes or delivery worries. children, and trick them • Social. There are opportunities for more than one player to participate, simultaneously. into an in-app sale. • Made by a real person. Good apps make it possible to learn more about the people behind • Contains links to web the work. See, for example Identikat. content in the main • Well crafted. The animation and sounds dance perfectly with the story. menu. • Text scaffolding. Helping readers of all levels participate with the language by decoding • Feels like a template, the print. See We are Alaska. with sprinkled hotspots • Work on various screen sizes. We saw some titles like the Nutcracker that were designed • Not reversible. with small or large screens in mind. • Asks you to rate this app • Ethical. Priced reasonably, with commercial links and/or prompts for additional content before you play it. kept behind a firewall to protect children from frustration and wasted playtime. • Pages get turned acci- • Scary. See iPoe or Midnight Feast. dently. 2014 Winners and Mentions • Lots of beautiful looking art that just sits there. • Yet another page-flipper. Love, The App Fiction • Clunky mechanics get in WINNER by Niño Studio (Argentina). It was easy to love this app - tremendous the way of the narrative. digital imagination and inventiveness applied to a book which celebrates the textures and trick- • Horrible narration. ery of paper, giving life to the vulnerability of the story. Midnight Feast • Ending makes no sense. • Who made this? The MENTION , Slap Happy Larry (Australia). Evocative, sinister and strange (fortu- author/illustrator/pub- nately you can turn down the scariness level for younger readers) this is a story to linger over lisher are not clearly and take into your dreams, full of surprising changing perspectives. Jack and the Beanstalk identified.

MENTION by Nosy Crow (UK). Jack's magic beans spouted a magical app, full of innovative interactive design elements that stretch the medium. Hunt for the Golden Goose, outrun the giant, and mend a broken mirror image, of yourself. 14

Pierre et le loup Non-Fiction WINNER - (Peter and the Wolf) by Camera Lucida (France) is a well crafted celebration of crisp music and graphics; raising the bar for mixing storytelling, information and musical play. This is an extraordinarily well-thought visual mix of motion media, animation, typography and graphic design that is full of surprising extras. ABC Actions

MENTION by Peapod Labs (USA) Crystal clear images bring language action to life at a child’s fingertips; we loved the multiple navigation paths and the ability to dynami- cally change between the two available languages English and Spanish. Double Double

MENTION by And Then Story Designers (USA). Simple drawings and basic animation with elegant, funny and intelligent results, based on a simple idea. Shortlist (Top 20 for 2014) esting facts with non-page, non-linear, up/down, left/right tab-based navigation format. Noteworthy feature: the book- marks that signal a different navigation path; and the inter- Jack and the Beanstalk Here are the top 20, including winners and mentions, in alpha- active growth scales, where you get to stretch your foot. betical order. Note that comments are CTR’s and do not reflect 13. by Nosy Crow (UK) is yet another the1000opinions Adventures of the jurors. outstanding fairy tale from Nosy Crow. Noteworthy feature; Love - The App the interactive mirror puzzle. 1. by Dada Company (Spain) employs a cre- 14. by Niño Studio (Argentina) combines a ative “touch countdown” meter on each page, which strongMidnight storyFeastwith compelling illustrations. The story has a increased engagement and helps children know when it’s Amico Ragnolo surprising twist as it reveals itself to you. time to move to the next screen. 15. by Slap Happy Larry (Australia) reminds us 2. by SmallBytes Digital (USA) is a Spanish lan- allPettingthat touchZoo screen storytelling isn’t exclusive to the very guage book with excellent illustrations, although the respon- Byron Barton young. sivity could be improved. 16. by Fox & Sheep GmbH (Germany) is a textbook 3. by Oceanhouse Media (USA) combines clean Disney Animation example of interactive animation; with visual surprises that graphics with Oceanhouse Media’s fantastic text scaffolding. morph from screen to screen, challenging the definition of Pierre et le Loup 4. by Touch Press (UK) is one of the most page. breathtaking non-fiction apps of all time. Download this Double Double 17. (Peter and the Wolf) by Camera Lucida app, if you have room. (France) puts visual and auditory quality of the highest cali- 5. by And Then Story Designers (USA) shows bre at a child’s fingertips. In this case, it’s a symphony Droleshow to Animauxuse a multi-touch screen to present a simple idea, in orchestra. Noteworthy feature: The augmented reality Red in Bed a surprising way. exploration of the orchestra. 6. by Goodbye Paper (France) is a wonderful- 18. Rules of Summer by Josh On (USA) is a playful exploration of the ly illustrated, zany app with enough interactivity to bring an Easy Studio primary colors, and the role they play in what a child sees. element of surprise to the letters. 19. by We Are Wheelbarrow (Australia) is a 7. by 3 Elles Interactive (France) turns a child into huge download, for not a lot of content. But the idea of Facciamothe animator by way of a well-designed set of tutorials and pinching and pulling out of a picture is unique, landing this Sneak a Snack animation tools. app on the finalist list. 8. (Let’s Face It) by Topipittori Isotype.org 20. by Mario Brodeur/U.n.I Interactive (Canada) Semidigitali (Italy) is a delightful collection of interactive is comprised of 3D pages that can be moved or swiped, your forms that can be mixed and matched to make numerals, choice. faces and relationships. Take note of the way the unveil Fun With Colors The Discovery App technique is used to uncover hidden images. 9. by Bastei Lübbe AG (Germany) brings the primary colors to life by way of refreshingly unique illustrations. Noteworthy feature: The “color snake” feature that chases your finger, as you scrib- Gekke Dieren ble. 10. by Querido Children's Books (Netherlands) lets you mix and match animal parts, and record a sound. The illustrations are particularly strong, and manage to go together, despite coming from very different types of ani- I Love My Dad mals. 11. by SnappyAnt Play Limited (Australia) com- bines delightful illustrations and a meaningful story; though This Is My Body limited interactive design. 12. by Urbn: Pockets (Germany) mixes inter- 15

Maria Montessori Maria Montessori once said: “Never give more to the mind then you give to the hand.” So how does the iPad fit into this thinking?

In the fall of 1913 an important visitor from Italy came to the stage at Carnegie hall. But it wasn't to star in an opera. It was to lecture about education, at the invitation of two of her big fans: Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. After an introduction by none other than John Dewey (can you imagine that pressure?) Dr. Maria Montessori, the 43-year- old doctor-turned-teacher described her new teaching meth- ods for working with the “idiot” children in the Roman slums. She apparently struck a chord. According to the New York Times coverage of her visit, 1,000 people had to be turned away at the door (http://bit.ly/92w6w2) all eager to hear her plans for "the eventual perfection of the human race." Maria Montessori died in 1952, but if she were alive today, she would probably be astonished by how her meth- ods have grown and multiplied.

FAMOUS MONTESSORIANS. Graduates of programs bear- ing the Montessori name include some of the most famous pioneers of the information age: Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google, Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia and Will Wright of The Sims. (For a good discus- sion of Will Wright’s Montessori education, see Brian Crecente’s article on , at http://bit.ly/8uiER). All attended Montessori schools, and have mentioned the value of the experience. But she'd be shocked by the number of times her name shows up on schools -- and more recently apps, that vary widely in quality.

The Google/Montessori connection is particularly interest- garten"), years before Montessori opened her school. ing, in part because of Genia Brin, Sergey Brin's mother. Since coming to the United States, Mrs. Brin has helped cre- A HOT BUTTON ISSUE. Among Montessori groups, the use ate a Montessori school -- the Alef Bet Montessori school in of technology-based materials like the iPad is debated. One Rockville MD. So it’s only fitting that you can find a tribute important Montessorian who doesn’t seem afraid of the iPad to her service on her son’s video sharing service: YouTube is Virginia McHugh Goodwin, the Executive Director of the http://bit.ly/dspD2z. Today, when Sergey Brin gives a talk, Association Montessori International/USA he seems fond of mentioning his and Larry’s Montessori (www.amiusa.org). She told me in a phone interview that past, at http://bit.ly/d4DeFA. One can’t help but notice the "Montessori would appreciate the deep, intuitive connection similarities between a Montessori learning environment and the iPad fosters between content and user, taking working Google's campus, where employees are encouraged to pursue with knowledge to another level.” personal interests like tending bees or planting gardens, and are served a nutritious carrot smoothie during the morning Other clues can be derived from Montessori’s book, "The break. Montessori Method" which you can read at (http://bit.ly/MNO4D). You’ll find plenty of evidence that During a visit I made there last fall, I spotted a life-sized Montessori was a bit of a geek. She wrote about the promise replica of a T-Rex skeleton, and was inspired by the of Roentgen Rays (later renamed X-rays) in 1912, and accu- replica of SpaceShipOne: the first manned aircraft rately predicted "wonderful things to leave orbit and land safely, hanging in the lobby. from the Marconi Telegraph" (aka While these cool toys may seem unrelated to the radio). search engines, they are very much related to play, and how people learn. She was also a consummate game maker, constantly fiddling with Tapping into the power of play was part of innovative materials like sand Montessori’s magic, but she was hardly unique paper to perfect a new self-teaching with the idea. It was central to the theories of gadget. Because she’d always put a Johann Pestalozzi and his student Friedrich child’s interests ahead of any formal Fröbel (the guy who coined the word "kinder- curriculum, it’s a safe bet that she would’ve encouraged young Sergey

16 The power of a theory: Montessori on Italy’s 100 lire note, and a KLM jet bears her name. Images from WikiMedia Commons

Brin's play with a Commodore 64. Said Goodwin, "Maria the senses through exposure to real wood, sand and water. Montessori would view the iPad— and devices like it— as a Technology-based experiences can supplement this mix. tool for tomorrow’s mind." For example, the camera on the new iPod Touch is an ideal tool for capturing observations on a field trip. So when Montessori wrote that education was "seeking the • Screens are abstract. Said Goodwin “She'd (Montessori) release of human potentialities," it is easy to imagine her remind us that any screen is an abstract, two-dimensional including an iPad in her modern arsenal of materials. Let me object that is removed from reality." In other words, the recap the “pro iPad” reasons: movements of a virtual fish in the Koi Pond HD app ($1.99 The Blimp Pilots, LLC, www.theblimppilots.com) might • Montessori was a scientist who was future-centric. She fool your cat, but one sniff tells you they're not real. What understood that she was living in a changing time, and app could replace the smells and sounds of a real pond? that children needed to be exposed to modern materials. • Technology tends to be expensive and quickly becomes She was in the business of preparing children for their obsolete. You can buy a lot of chromatic silk frames and future, to live to their full human potential, so she sandpaper letters for $500, and anyone knows that iPad would’ve wanted them to embrace, and feel empowered, 2.0 will be “newer, better, faster and cheaper.” by every element of their environment, including technolo- • Don’t sugar coat the learning. She'd like apps that are sim- gy. ple and stripped "of all that is not absolute truth," sans • She would be discriminating about the types of apps she licensed characters, long musical introductions, or links loaded on her iPads. She’d look for non-commercial apps that steer a child toward the iTunes store. Because she that promote active learning, are self-correcting, are multi- frowned on the notion of shaping a child’s behavior with leveling, don’t talk too much and empower children. external prizes and punishments, she'd recommend apps Another word Montessori used frequently was “didactic” where the process, in itself, is rewarding. She might ask as in “didactic materials,” or working toward one right “What type of society exposes its young to manipulative answer; a feature found in many better designed apps. tricks with commercial motives?” Montessori would prob- • In designing apps, she’d compensate for the iPad's sensory ably insist that every children’s app should have a “no limitation of just sight and sound, using apps in concert candy lane” mode, that perhaps costs a few lire/EU more. with real, concrete experiences. She would use the iPad to supplement and extend traditional experiences rather than It's been 97 years since Maria Montessori gave her famous to replace them. After the trip to the Apple orchard, she’d Carnegie Hall address on how to teach hard-to-teach chil- give each child their own apple, to hold, smell and taste. dren. We have no shortage of hard to teach kids today, but Only then would she read a story about the apples, or let it's nice to hope that we have better materials. them “pick” the abstract apples on a multi-touch screen. Keep learning. Watch Sergey Brin talk about his Montessori education. http://youtu.be/3OCAdXjlLBA SOME WORDS OF CAUTION Before you rush out and purchase every child an iPad, con- sider Goodwin’s (and my) words of caution. Mine are based on a close reading of Montessori’s book and a review of hundreds of apps. Goodwin’s have been printed in the essay following this article: • Keep an open mind about this issue. iPads are like chameleons— they take the form of the app they are run- ning. Some apps match a child and your learning philoso- phy; others don’t. Like anything new, it must be observed and studied to maximize the strengths and minimize downsides. As a scientist, Montessori was trained to sys- tematically study various techniques, use what works, and discard the rest. • Keep things in balance. She'd urge modern parents not to upset the balance of diet, exercise and the development of

17 Part 2:

Developmentalhe following pages offer descriptions Stages of children’s “ages and stages”, and what children can do on the computer at what age. Also presented are some general developmental mile- stones that children display during their early years. These age estimates and developmental attainments are based on several instruments used to track young children’s growth. While this compila- tion will help you get a sense of what children can do at each age level, keep in mind that individual children acquire skills at different rates.

Knowledge of children’s developmental abilities is particularly important when designing interactive media for younger chil- dren (below age 6). Many aspects of interactive media will be affected, such as menu design, content, reinforcement mes- sages and so on. Birth to 18 Months ✓ Can name 1 to 2 colors. ✓ Is able to answer simple questions. ✓ Enjoys copying activities of parents ✓ Usually speaks in short but complete To babies, a computer or an iPad is lit- and siblings. sentences. tle more than a busy box. They love to ✓ Generally plays along side of peers ✓ Understands the concept of “now”. look at the colors on the screen, hear rather than cooperatively with peers. the sounds from the speakers, mouth the screen or mouse cord and wap at 3 to 5 Years the keyboard. Don't expect young 2 1/2 to 3 Years These preschool years are the first real babies to make the connection between Age 2 1/2 for many children is a real years of independent computer or their movements of the mouse or key- turning point when it comes to technol- tablet use. Children can now start and board and events on the screen. ogy. Children can sit for a bit longer exit from apps, or manipulate the (we've seen kids who can sit for as long mouse expertly, providing they've had 18 Months to 2 1/2 Years as 60 minutes), but many have the fine plenty of time to practice. Kids at this motor control to use a mouse inde- age typically want to share the fun with While the computer is still viewed as an pendently. Now they can easily negoti- a friend. Ebooks work well at this electronic busy box, at about 18 ate well designed menus and they know stage, as do simple adventure programs months, children begin noticing that how to swipe and use the home button. with strong lead characters. they can have an effect on the They especially love singing along with Age 3 to 4 milestones include: screen. They can’t use a mouse, but the music, while watching events on ✓ Recognizes most colors. they can use a touch screen. This is an the screen. ✓ Can identify simple shapes (e.g. age where they start understanding square, circle, triangle). that they can drive the actions. Keep in mind that the fine motor skills Understands the concepts of “same” Attributes of this developmental period ✓ needed to use a touch screen or a and “different”. include: mouse develop at different rates. Also ✓ Can play independently for extended remember that technology use is a periods (approximately 20 minutes). ✓ Can recognize pictures of objects. often a very social activity for young ✓ Begins to play cooperatively with Can identify body parts on self or on ✓ children .... they love sitting in a par- peers. a . ent’s lap to experience the activities ✓ Enjoys and remembers a favorite Can place individual shapes on ✓ together, for example. Attributes of song. “form board” type puzzles. this developmental period include: ✓ Can follow two simple directions in Can use a pencil to imitate a vertical ✓ the correct sequence. line. ✓ Can describe the functions of objects ✓ Can complete a 4 piece puzzle. ✓ Can match objects by color. (e.g. “What do you sleep on?”). ✓ Can copy a cross (+). ✓ Can match objects by simple shapes. ✓ Asks “why” and “how” questions. ✓ Can draw a circle. Can understand the concept of ✓ ✓ Can anticipate consequences and Build towers of 10 or more blocks, “here”. ✓ understand the impact his or her and can build simple bridges. Can remember a missing object if it ✓ own actions can have (e.g. under- Can recognize many letters. is presented and then taken away. ✓ stand the relationship between clicks Counts to ten. Begins to categorize objects accord- ✓ ✓ of mouse and actions on the screen). Shows some understanding of one- ing to function (e.g. places all of the ✓ ✓ Can recognize several colors. to-one correspondence (when count- spoons together). ✓ Knows the sounds that animals ing, each number represents an Enjoys and remembers nursery ✓ make. object being counted). rhymes. ✓ Can count to 2. By age 4, can use a pair of child-size Enjoys taking things apart and put- ✓ ✓ ✓ Engages in simple fantasy play (dri- scissors to cut on straight, thick ting them together again. ving vehicles, cooking meals, feeding lines. ✓ Has limited attention span. baby, etc.)

18 I agree. My best stuff came from watching my own two kids.

Can complete puzzles with 8-12 Can color pictures within the These guide- Age 4 to 5 ✓ ✓ lines are no substi- pieces. lines. ✓ Understands the concept tute for time on a ✓ Can copy a square. ✓ Can write numer- of “today”. playground. ✓ Can cut on curved lines. als from 1 to 10. ✓ Makes fine size discrimina- ✓ By age 5 can write own name. ✓ Completes 10 tions (e.g. can order objects ✓ Can recognize numerals from 1 to to 15 piece puz- according to size, can match 10. zles. objects according to ✓ Can choose objects that have a simi- ✓ Can solve sim- length). lar characteristic, and express why ple addition and Makes broad clas- ✓ they are similar. subtraction exer- sifications according cises (If I had 4 apples to type (e.g. animals, and added 1 apple, how many would foods, clothing). 5 to 6 Years I have?). ✓ Understands the Kindergartners and 1st graders can use sequencing of events pull-down menus to launch programs (e.g. First we go to the themselves (some will even install them 7-12 years store to buy a cake mix, then we will for you!). They can also use the com- Upper Elementary age children have bake it, and after dinner we will eat puter for simulations, creativity and the ability to read and write, and they it). even for reference. With some help, are ready to start exploring their world. ✓ Begins to comprehend simple logic they can go onto the Internet to Socializing with friends can be very puzzles (e.g. If I cut an apple in half, research a topic of interest, such as important during this time. Technology how many pieces would I have?) dogs, cats or that special pet lizard. skills -- such as the ability to search or ✓ Independent play is longer (45 min- This is a time when solid computer create and post videos can vary from utes or more). activities can play a valuable role in child to child. ✓ Plays cooperatively with peers for supporting and building school skills. ✓ Can use and benefit from and use a extended periods. By this age, children know where the smart phone. ✓ Abstract thinking is becoming more keys are on the keyboard, and can hunt ✓ Virtual worlds like Club Penguin, advanced. For example, children this and peck their own names. But don't and Virtual Pets like Webkinz can age can often comprehend the con- expect them to be able to type yet... for- be appealing. cept of “opposite”. They can also mal typing skills will come much ✓ Like to collect with games like complete simple analogies (e.g. Birds later. Skylanders or Pokémon. like to fly, fish like to ______). ✓ Understands the concepts of tomor- ✓ Services like YouTube, Google and ✓ Uses some irregular past tense of row and yesterday. Facebook become very interesting. verbs (e.g. ran instead of runned, left ✓ Understands the concepts of morn- instead of leaved, fell instead of fall), ing and night. 12-up but still over generalizes rules of ✓ Knows his or her birthday month. Middle and high school children use grammar. ✓ Can tell time (on hour) around age 6. technology in many forms, in home ✓ Can play simple organized games, ✓ Associates most letters with their and at school. while remembering the rules (e.g. sounds. ✓ Can understand variables, function musical chairs). ✓ Begins to recognize simple words. keys and multi-step processes. ✓ Enjoys pretend play with themes ✓ Knows both upper and lower case Technology can greatly enhance or familiar to child (going to work, tak- letters. ✓ amplify a specific interest (such as ing care of pets or babies, etc.). ✓ Can match simple words with each music). ✓ Can build relatively complex struc- other. ✓ While they may not choose to, a tures with blocks or (houses, ✓ Can answer “why” questions appro- child can learn to use a wide variety etc.). priately. of devices. ✓ Fine motor skills are increasing. For ✓ Waits for turn while playing or while A smart phone is a highly desired example, by age 5 many children can waiting for adult attention. ✓ object, although many families can’t operate difficult wind-up toys, or use ✓ Can follow the rules and directions afford the data plan. a key. of a classroom. ✓ Texting and social media can be ✓ Can follow 3 simple directions in the ✓ Continues to engage in pretend play very important to communicating appropriate sequence. with themes familiar to child. with friends and members of the ✓ Can answer questions about a short Can adeptly use tools such as scis- ✓ opposite gender. story. sors, hammers, screwdrivers, etc. ✓ Can draw a person with 5 parts (e.g. ✓ Can use scissors to cut out magazine head, hair, legs, arms, eyes). pictures. ✓ Can recognize letters and associate ✓ Can use visual details to determine if some letters with their sounds. two pictures are the same or differ- ✓ Demonstrates understanding of one ent. to- one correspondence. ✓ Can copy a triangle.

19 A Taxonomy of Touch "Nothing lowers the age bar or makes interface invisible like touch capability. Hopefully the iPad will represent the best from both our old Touch Window and the Koala Pad, and go forward from there. Remember what was new and amazing about both of those?) Donna Stanger, Former CEO, Edmark, Corp.; March 2010, two months before the release of the iPad.

A perfectly flat, glassy surface is magical all lay your palm over it and pretend to be a by itself. It doesn’t exist in … and baby. Now, layer 786,432 responsive pixels when it's covered with fog or a slippery oleo- just a few millimeters below the surface, and Penelope (7-months) likes the free Pianooohh! app on her mom’s iPad. phobic coating, it gets even more interesting you have a puddle of control unequaled in to your fingers. If you have an iPad nearby, any previous computing experience. As a result, all of the thousands Table 1: A Taxonomy of Multi-Touch Interaction Styles, by Stage of ways you could fail with a mouse and qwerty keyboard Age and Intentional Touch-Related Motion/Voice Examples have dissolved into just a few Stage Behaviors Behaviors dozen with the iPad, and a new pipeline of interactivity has arrived. • Mouth • Jolt Look for apps that deliver high Birth - The Minimum User 24 • Bump/Swat • Shake cause/effect ratios. These are • Kick • Feel the vibration also called “busy box” apps, Competency (MUC) has months • Jab/poke from the iPad’s “interactive play doh” or rat- dropped from around 2 1/2 • Smear speaker tles. These experiences can years (for the mouse) to around • Grasp • Rock empower a child, letting them 12 months (for the iPad). Don’t • Swipe, dig or scoop • Blabber bang on a keyboard take my word for it. Simply go • Swipe directionally (up, down, left • Lean (whole http://bit.ly/bMgr2l, pop bub- to YouTube or right), e.g., to turn pages or body) bles, or make waves in a pond. (www..com) and search change photos. • Sit Show children where the • Single tap/ single touch with coin- • Throw “change app” button is, so they on “baby” and “iPad.” You’ll Sensorimotor sized icons • Single word com- can get out of what they get find the work of hundreds of mands into. proud parents who understand that their baby is doing some- 2 to 5 • Scribble http://bit.ly/aXqFur or fin- • Tilt to steer (like This is the age when a child’s thing rather remarkable. Back ger paint. a steering motor abilities start to catch up in the good ‘ol days, you video- • Touch and use BB-sized icons wheel) with his or her cognitive abili- taped your child’s first steps. • Slide objects (with thumb or finger) • Align camera ties. They can find and touch Today it seems it’s your child’s • Flick and throw (skeet ball, a shoot- viewfinder smaller icons, do dot-to-dot first app. ing gallery) puzzles and control things by I’ve sorted through hundreds of • Trace shaking or tilting the screen. videos and tried to put them all • Cut or slice They start to employ their • Alternate hands (e.g., on a piano emerging temporal and spatial in a single playlist at

Preoperational keyboard) thinking abilities in their iPad http://bit.ly/9vM6Ui. They • Press and hold (e.g., as a timer fills) interactions. were captured in October of • Double tap 2010. This presents new opportuni- 5 to 12 • Spread out (with thumb and index • Balance (tilt) like By the time they are reading, ties for children's interactive finger, going in different directions) a plate children are ready to fully media developers; nothing • Pinch in (with thumb and index fin- • Jump to hop, explore the iPad’s multitouch short of a new era in comput- ger) while throwing a screen, working in concert with ing, as the user interface • Press soft, press hard ball (with a tap). the microphone and becomes increasingly invisible. • Rotate accelerometers. The implications for design are • Hit the target profound, however it requires • Push a magnet (like herding cats) Prior experience will increase

Concrete Operational • Two or more combination move- confidence. some understanding of how it ments, like tilt and shoot. works. One way to do this is to watch the app-happy kids play, 12 - up • Isometric rotation (both fingers • Children can start through Piaget’s developmental move the same distance, in the to use the com- filter. Using this method, I cre- same or opposite direction). pass, and con- ated a draft taxonomy (Table 1) • Simultaneous rotation, such as with ceptualize the If your goal is to develop of touch-related behaviors. a compass (hold thumb in one accelerometer. a proficient iPad user, Besides watching the videos space, and rotate other finger). provide plenty of (Table 2), I also tested approxi- • Augmented reality camera based exposure to a variety of mately 200 children’s iPad applications such as a virtual plane- tarium http://bit.ly/17w96B apps. apps, noting the required inter- active behaviors. Formal Operational

20 Table 2: YouTube Multi-Touch Examples, by Age A (Rough) Developmental Listing of Multi-Touch Interaction Styles During the First Two Years of Life MONOTOUCH VS. MULTI-TOUCH. Touch http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=26B41EECB4B6D86F screens have been around for many years and have been implemented well in the Leapster and 1 month Nintendo DS. Multi-touch is a very different psy- chology, however. While both require fine-motor dexterity of the variety that has been well-docu- 2 months mented by penmanship researchers, there is a dif- ferent set of rules at play with the iPad screen. 3 months The iPad’s uncanny ability to tell the difference between a child’s palm, mouth or each finger, working in concert with the microphone and the 4 months motion detection accelerometer make it well suit- ed for a detecting a range of otherwise unde- 5 months tectable behaviors.

UNDERSTANDING THE IPAD’S LIMITATIONS 6 months While the iPad is amazing, it isn’t the perfect chil- dren’s computer. Here are some problems we’ve noted: 7 months • Young children move— a lot— and can become confused by features like automatic screen 8 months rotation. It helps to turn the lock button on. • If you have more than a dozen apps, finding a specific one can be frustrating for a child 9 months because the icons look similar. The anticipated folder feature (in the next iOS) can help. It 10 months would also be nice if the default size of the thumbnail could be changed in size. • It is possible for children to get into complex 11 months apps or features such as the keyboard (when searching). There’s also your email, the app 12 months store, YouTube or your browser. You can hide and lock these features in the Settings. Go to 1 year Settings/General/Restrictions and make a pin. 13 months • The iPad can be heavy and slippery. It helps to use a silicon shell (reviews at http://bit.ly/bNcqGt) that fit snuggly around 14 months the iPad, increasing the grip and serving as a cushion, just in case. 15 months • Plugging in the cable for charging could be much easier. It has to be facing up, and find- ing the port (“which end?”) is confusing. 16 months • The volume is hard for children (and adults) to find and understand. 17 months WHAT’S IT ALL MEAN? The key to unlocking the power of the iPad for children is to watch how 18 months they use it. Stay tuned for some pretty amazing children’s apps in the upcoming year as more chil- 19 months dren’s developers figure out how to better tame the full potential of multi-touch screens. These will undoubtedly expand beyond the iPad to the 20 months iPod Touch, Microsoft Surface and Android-based devices. Besides being good for children’s interac- tivity, the iPad effect is important for adults and 21 months busy teachers who don’t have time to fuss around with a mouse and keyboard. All they have to do is 22 months reach out and touch.

23 months

24 months 2 years 21 Raising a Child With Technology: The Tree Metaphor

SUN symbolizes unconditional love. Every child needs to feel like they are the center of the universe at some point— that their ideas are valued and that there is a place for them in this world. Without sun, everything dies.

WATER symbolizes interesting materials to explore. For a young sapling, water is essential for the roots to grow. Boredom, or not enough water, leads to withering roots. Increasingly, developmentally appropriate technology options can get and hold a child’s interest; and resources like YouTube and Google provide an answer to any question.

TRUNK symbolizes a solid founda- tion for the challenging times that lie ahead. In this model, there are three parts to the trunk: spiritual, mental and physical, and each needs plenty of water, sun and time.

TRUNK symbolizes a solid founda- tion for the challenging times that lie ahead. In this model, there are three parts to the trunk: spiritual, mental and physical, and each needs plenty of water, sun and time.

BRANCHES symbolize the knowl- edge domains, of the variety that you can find in Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences or on any school curriculum chart. Branch growth is stimulated by exposure to interesting things over time. The older a child gets, the more devel- oped the branch structure. The wonderful thing about raising a young child is that you have no idea how they will turn out. Some chil- dren may have a strong musical ability while another might have physical or mathematical aptitude. Many parents want a child that is well rounded, with a variety of skills and competencies, while others seem most interested raising a mas- ter athlete or a virtuoso musician.

BUDS symbolize accomplishments, large and small. Each accomplishment, from “I can walk” to “I can play guitar” grows into a LEAF, which gives back to the tree, making a thicker trunk and a more diverse branch system. Leaves need a continual sup- ply of sun (love), and water (new challenges) in order to return each season.

FRUIT symbolizes life accomplishments, large and small. For psychologist Abraham Maslow (Maslow’s hierarchy) the “fruit” might mean reaching a state of self actualization; when an individual accomplishes their life dreams. Fruit is commonly cele- brated, on shows like American Idol (musical fruit), or the NCAA Finals (athletic fruit). Less obvious fruit might include mak- ing a friend, paying taxes or helping a neighbor in need—the small things that can hold a society together.

Where did this come from? I started using a tree metaphor for human development when I was a consultant at the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation; like Stone Soup; many people have contributed ideas to the tree parts. This model has limitations. For example, because it considers a single individual, it doesn’t help us think about the influence of culture (see Vygostky) — that a “tree” is part of a forest. But for a single child, I’ve found it to be useful. I’ve since added Maslow (in the trunk) and Gardner (in the branches). By Warren Buckleitner.

22 Imagine your app as a “dinner date.” Some PartCapturing 3. Applicationthe Magic of dates talk way too much, can’t be interrupt- Interactive Media ed, or don’t remember things you’d already If you want to design great interactive prod- discussed. Other dates tune in. ucts for kids, it pays to have a kid. elpoppin.com/kidpix/index.html). Thanks to Ben, Hickman went on to design Kid Pix, a rich, open-ended draw and Many amazing products can be attributed paint program rating high in child control. Since to parenthood. This was the case with Brøderbund’s first publishing of the of the interactive media Shelley Day. Shelley, a new mom, wanted in 1991, Kid Pix has been translated into dozens of languages to find new ways for her son to play with his and used by over ten million children around the globe. By favorite homemade stories about a playing with and observing children— programmers, product little car named “Putt Putt.” Putt-Putt became the “vehicle” managers, CEOs and even reviewers can learn some power- that helped Humongous Entertainment become a $60 mil- ful lessons. To borrow from Bob Hughes’ book on interactive lion dollar company. media, Dust or Magic, (Addison Wesley) some of the stuff is pure magic, while some is nothing but dust. Here are some It’s all about knowing and understanding kids. For Craig of the ingredients of “magic” interactive products. Hickman, who single handedly programmed the first version of Kid Pix, design success was born out of wanting to A “Magic” Product... improve current products for their own children. Is easy to set up. Complex installation and registration routines on Windows have damaged the industry. Mark Schlichting, the head designer of the Living Books Anything more than “Put the CD in the drive” should be out- shared this story of how he became captivated by interactive lawed. Hit Clips (by Tiger) exemplifies “ease of use”. Even technology. “I’m a parent of three boys and I’d bring home the batteries are pre-installed. Just open the package, push what I thought was good educational software title. Then my the button, and it works. sons would play with it once, maybe twice and that was it. Around the same time, one of my older boys and his friends Lets kids “accidentally” succeed. Children, like grown- rented a Nintendo game console. In the course of three ups, want control! Early success in a program is like that hours they were up to the 52nd level of play. I thought to great golf shot— it keeps you coming back for more. The pro- myself ‘Look how motivated these kids are to figure this out. gram must provide the most direct path to what Hickman There’s an incredible amount of critical thinking going on, calls “the prime directive.” Take the typical racing game. You but in an environment with no content. Wouldn’t it be great want to race cars, right? But some racing programs put road- to use this natural draw to technology to deliver real learning blocks in between you and the racetrack, in the form of lay- through play and exploration?’” Schlichting’s Living Books ers of customization menus. Let me race the car. Give me the went on to become a standard-bearer of quality, loved by preferences if I want them. children, parents and teachers alike for their emphasis on good stories and entertaining exploration. (From: A Overdelivers and undersells. Few products build cus- Conversation with Mark Schlichting, CSR March 1999). tomer loyalty faster than interactive media. Parents and teachers can see the difference a well designed program Kid Pix, the classic children’s drawing program, was born out makes for a child, and this builds an emotional bond to the of frustration when programmer/photographer Craig product. Hickman saw his three-year-old son Ben struggling to use MacPaint. “I was surprised at how quickly he got the knack Wants to please. Each program takes a child into its own of using the mouse and how easily he was able to select tools. little world, with its own set of rules, and a distinct emotion- The problem was that he didn't have total control of the al climate. We tell designers to imagine their program as a mouse and would occasionally (like every five minutes or so) “dinner date.” Some “dates” talk way too much, can’t be pull down a menu and bring up a dialog box that he couldn't interrupted, or don’t remember things you’d already dis- dismiss without being able to read. Everything was fine as cussed. long as I was in the room, but if I stepped out for a few min- utes I would come back and find Ben kicking on the floor in Responsive. Author Bob Hughes offers another way to look frustration. This was not what I at an interface, using a good dog as an analogy. Most com- had in mind for his introduction puter interfaces are like “stuffed dogs”-- static, they don’t do to the computer.” (http://pix- anything. Other programs or toys are like hyperactive pup- pies—with so many wriggling, flashing icons, they look like the Las Vegas strip. A “good dog” interface is alert, alive and “ready to help,” but it doesn’t detract from your attention. Developers forget that children are very tuned into subtle messages that they get from the program. Tiny delays in the action, non-intuitive icons, or sluggish reactions to a click can convert feelings of control into irritation.

23 Capturing the Magic, continued.

Consistent. Any experienced teacher can tell you… when children know the rules, they settle down and child management issues Contributors to Dust decrease. A good interface establishes the “rules” early on, and keeps them the same throughout. Want to make a child stop playing? It’s not accurate to classify children’s interactive Make an icon that works only after the narration has stopped. media products into either “dust” or “magic.” It’s just Worse, make the same icon do different things, or put two “exit” not that simple. Few apps, toys or games are actually icons on the same screen. Hughes calls programs that change them- 1 to 2 stars; most actually fall into the 3.5 to 4.2 star selves around “Gestapo Interfaces” and compares the experience of range (per CTR’s scale). Only a dozen or so per year trying to use a poorly designed app or web site (of which there are really stand out as 4.7 to 5 star, “pure magic.” Here no shortage) with talking to a paranoid schizophrenic, where the are some factors commonly related to dust. rules can change at any time. “Do I click, or don’t I click? How do I get back to that screen I was playing a few minutes ago? Where’s the ___ Frustration in the first five seconds. Hard to undo? ARGGGH!” start, download or install. ___ Offers “faux control” mechanisms (things that Helps kids know where they are. Most interactive media uses look like hot spots or triggers don’t do any- some kind of “space” and that space needs to make sense to a child. thing). Sometimes called “phantom icons.” One of the simplest approaches is to keep everything on one screen, ___ Sluggish; less than crisp. like the classic video game Space Invaders. Other tried-and true- ___ Mixes selling with editorial. techniques include an hub and spoke structure, with different activi- ___ No sound control. ties radiating out from a consistent menu screen. Getting back to the ___ Talks too much. Narration “pushes.” hub is as simple as hitting a “home” button. Many think this is the ___ Not personally meaningful. Contains symbols magic of the iPad. Maps are another useful navigational tool. or abstractions are not part of a child’s experi- Programs like School Zone’s On Track series keep a constant naviga- ences. tion strip on the bottom of the screen. In this case, the strip is made ___ Sacrifices ease of use for “cool” design — puts of footprints, each one representing a screen of progress. The longer the frosting over the cake. a child plays, they more footprints are filled in. Once they get to the ___ Talks down to kids (e.g., sugary narration). edge of the screen, they’ve completed the book. They define the ___ Too hard, or too easy. space, define the goal, and have a visible reminder of progress. ___ Lacks interactivity. ___ Poor navigation — not easy to get out of what Doesn’t talk down to kids. A wise Mississippi preschool teacher you got into. once told me that “a young child can’t spell hypocrite, but they know ___ Laggy. what one is.” The same goes for interactive media interfaces. Even ___ Compares poorly with the current state-of-the very young children can sniffing out play value. Media pioneers such art; or comparably priced products. as the late Walt Disney understood that children can be the harshest critics. Contributors to Magic ___ Clear picture menus that with print labels that Looks and sounds good. Kids respond to (and deserve) good art are easy to find and touch. and music and original full-strength storylines. ___ Multiple ways to do the same thing. ___ One layer menus that provide direct access to Follows play patterns. We call it “riding the horse in the direc- activities. tion it’s going.” Why are RPG (role playing games) so successful? ___ Limited wait times Because children love to pretend. RPG games are natural extensions ___ Quick, clear response to keystrokes of what kids are already doing. Programmers and designers should ___ Interruptible routines (e.g., opening sequences) spend some time at the playground. Things you notice there can end ___ The ability to handle “machine-gun” inputs up as important elements in your products. Hickman writes “When without buffer problems. Ben built something out of blocks, he enjoyed knocking his structure ___ Online help via clear speech in the context of down almost as much as he did building it. Getting rid of the picture the problem. should be fun.” Hence Kid Pix’ exploding firecracker eraser, one of ___ Icons that are large, understandable to children the greatest (and most controversial) menu tools ever created. (meaningful) and easy to select. ___ Picture-driven printing and saving routines (not Breaks the rules. A good interactive designer lets a child interact text-driven). with a product in surprising or unexpected ways; another another ___ Parents or teachers should have options for dis- hallmark of good play. Let a child solve a pattern puzzle backwards, abling the printing routines or links to social or pile up thousands of stickers to create some on-screen chaos. media services. These tell children that they have control of this world. ___ Feedback/help that goes beyond simple rein- forcement messages such as “nice job” or “try Offers social experiences. Kids like games they can play together again.” (ask Traveler’s Tales or Nintendo). They also like activities where ___ The program may narrow the options (to they can share their progress on leaderboards or by saving a picture increase the chance of success on a second try) (see Toca Hair Salon). Club Penguin’s success is based on making it or provide a hint to coach the child along. easy for children to type simple constructed messages, or play games with strangers.

24 Engagement as a Variable: AKA “Warren’s Dissertation” A Study on the Effects of Praise and Reinforcements on Engagement www.childrenssoftware.com/dis/dis.menu.htm here is an established body of research that has examined the Question: Are there observable differences in child behaviors in two interaction style between humans versions of the same software sorting activity, one with a high level of Tand children. Some studies measured instruction and reinforcement (high computer control), the other with behavioral outcomes, such as various relatively few instructions and reinforcements (high child control)? aspects of the educational effectiveness of the interaction. In the famous "wait- Answer: Designers and evaluators of interactive media prod- time" study, Mary Budd Rowe (1974) ucts for children should pay careful attention to the degree observed that the average time teachers to which the implementation of control mechanisms such as waited between asking a question and taking further action to elicit a reinforcements can have substantial effects on children's response is about one second. When a interaction with the software. student responds to the question, teachers wait, on the average, less than the experience. As a result, the child ting, there were more clicks per task one second before reacting to the had less control over the flow of events, (mean = 4.07 vs. 2.09; p < .05), and response. Rowe called these two time making the experience less responsive. children had a higher accuracy level periods-- the period between asking the The second style, called "high child (mean = 85% vs. 68% respectively). question and acting further, and the control" presented the identical sorting period between the student's response experience with the instructions, praise MORE CORRECT ANSWERS Children and the teacher's reaction-- wait time. and encouragement turned off. As a attempted over three times more prob- By asking teachers to increase their result, a child experienced more control lems (64 vs. 20) and more than twice wait time to between three and five sec- over the events, resulting in a more as many correct answers (41 vs. 16) in onds, she observed a 300% increase in responsive overall experience. Control the high child control condition. While the length of students' explanations was varied by changing the quantity of no significant differences were found (Rowe, 1974). Teacher/child interac- instructions and reinforcements. The by gender or session administration, tions have been documented in intrin- engagement of the child was measured the age of the children did matter in sic motivation literature (see Ames, by counting observable child behaviors. terms of the amount of time spent with 1990; Brophy, 1981; Lepper, 1985; These included 1) the number of tasks the task. Smilanski, 1968; Stipek, 1988 to name completed, 2) the number of clicks, or a few). Directly related to the study attempts to influence the instruction MORE CLICKS: Children clicked more described in this dissertation is the lit- flow, and 3) the length of time the child in the HICHILD setting, but had fewer erature that considers the quality and chose to spend with each condition. wasted clicks than in the HICOMP set- quantity of a child's engagement with a The study population was 38 pre- ting. For the purposes of this study, a given task, as influenced by an school-aged children. The Results in click is defined as the two part motion adult/child interaction style. This rela- Brief The measures revealed some (and up and down stroke) when chil- tionship has been documented by interesting, statistically significant (p < dren choose to interact with the inter- Gerald Mahoney and James .05) relationships. active media interface. The click was MacDonald (2003) with a population easily counted due to the distinctive of young children with and/or at-risk MORE ACTIVITY: Children in the high sound associated with stroke, as well as for developmental problems. When child control treatment were more the visual clues provided by screen children and parents or caregivers par- active, completing more tasks (mean = events. In the high child control set- ticipated in two types of interactions 64 vs. 20; p < .05), clicking the mouse ting, children clicked more (mean = (didactic and responsive), a positive more times (mean = 129 vs. 73; p < 129.08 vs. 73.68 respectively; p < .05) relationship was identified between a .05), and getting more tasks correct over the same amount of time as the responsive interaction style and chil- (mean = 41 vs. 16; p < .05). Children high computer control setting. This dren's social and linguistic develop- rated both experiences highly, and outcome has more meaning when ment (Mahoney & MacDonald, 2003; spent about the same amount of time interpreted in the context of the num- Wolock, 1990; McWilliam et al., 2003). with each condition. Children in the ber of problems completed in each set- I was interested in looking at these high child control setting performed ting. In the HICHILD setting, children relationships in an interactive media more mouse clicks (129 vs. 73) and had attempted more than three times context. A computer classification lower accuracy rate for problems (68% (320%) the number of tasks (63.8 vs. activity was created that was modified vs. 85%), in about the same amount of 20.4; p < .05), resulting in a click per to simulate two contrasting teaching time. In the high computer control set- task ratio nearly two times (194%) that styles, similar to the Mahoney & of the HICOMP setting (4.07 vs. 2.095; MacDonald technique. The first style, HCI Bibliography : Human- p < .05). To conclude, when responsivi- called "high computer control" Computer Interaction Resources ty was increased, children were much attempted to simulate a teaching style http://www.hcibib.org/kids more active, clicking more frequently; where the teacher carefully introduced The HCI Bibliography is for designers, producers, researchers, and practitioners of interactive media for and more of those clicks were related in each problem, and provided frequent children and adolescents. some way to an intended outcome praise and encouragement throughout

25 Engagement as a variable, continued. (from the perspective of the interactive structured and controlled interface with whereas the HICOMP setting was 573 media designer). In the HICOMP treat- a high level of narration and direction, vs. 567 seconds). 5. Children rated both ment, the added narration and rein- they showed a decrease in activity, as experiences highly, but anecdotal forcement statements seemed to create measured by number of problems observations seemed to indicate that a barrier to child's activity and problem attempted. Anecdotal observations sup- children generally preferred the solving effort. ported this observation, with more fidg- HICHILD treatment over the HICOMP eting, yawning, and placing head on the treatment. A formal measure of the YOUNGER CHILDREN STAYED table during the HICHILD situation. child's feelings about each treatment THAN THE STRUCTURED ACTIVITY Another observation relevant to this was attempted using a Likert-type LONGER THAN THE OLDER CHIL- topic was that the HICOMP treatment scale. There were no significant differ- DREN work was more accurate, with a higher ences between the two groups (4.65 for The ANOVA revealed some notable percentage of correct answers (84.95% HICHILD, 4.58 for HICOMP; p > .05). findings when the entire group of chil- vs. 67.97% respectively; p < .05). When When children were asked "how did dren was divided by younger and older there was increased activity, there was you like it?" immediately after a treat- age groups. The 14 younger children, a decrease in accuracy. When the sum ment, they would say either nothing or aged < 50 months on average chose to of correct answers, however, was com- that they liked it, by touching one of the stay with the experience longer than pared between the two conditions, dur- smiles faces. It was hypothesized that the 22 older children (p < .05) regard- ing the HICHILD condition children children would rate the HICOMP expe less of the experimental condition. An ended up with 393% more correct rience lower than the HICHILD setting. explanation for this may be the chal- answers -- 41.0 vs. 16.1 (p < .05). This was not supported by the survey lenge level, which started with three Interpreting the significance of this ratings. Additional information was objects to sort, based on one attribute, finding is dependent upon the theoreti- gathered less systematically, by observ- and increased to five objects and three cal framework and associated instruc- ing children's reactions when their turn attributes. Because most of the prob- tional objectives of the interactive came up to play the second trial. In lems were geared toward the middle of media designer. If the end goal is for general, they would respond enthusias- the age group (46 to 52 months), the the learner to solve a higher number of tically to the idea of coming back to the older, more competent children more correct answers and increase the room to play the game some more, quickly exhausted the novelty and chal- amount of experimentation, the regardless of the first condition they lenge available in the experience than HICHILD setting is the preferable experienced; high or high computer the younger group, resulting in a loss of design. If higher accuracy regardless of control. Nine of the children, generally interest, and less time on task. For the number of problems is the only older, were able to verbally compare designers, this helps illustrate the goal, the HICOMP setting is the prefer- the HICHILD and HICOMP treatments importance of having a fluid challenge able option. 4. The older group of chil- after the second session. From these level that either automatically adapts to dren chose to spend less time in the videotaped conversations, it was possi- the child's ability level, or that lets the HICHILD setting than the younger ble to determine that these children child have some control over the chal- group of children. When the population had more positive things to say about lenge setting. was grouped into two parts by age (over the HICHILD experience. In order to 50 months and under 50 months), more accurately understand children's CHILDREN TRIED MORE PROBLEMS there was a significant and interesting reactions to each treatment, additional IN ONE CONDITION. In the HICHILD difference in the amount of time the exposures to both the HICHILD and condition, the children were 317% two groups choose to stay with the HICOMP treatments would be neces- busier, attempting 63 problems in activity. Regardless of the experimental sary, over a longer period of time. It is approximately the same amount of time condition, the younger group stayed likely that children would have a more spent in the HICOMP condition with longer than the older children (p < .05) discriminating attitude toward between only 20 problems solved (p < .05). although the HICHILD setting held the two treatments after the novelty of When children experienced a more them longer. (610 vs. 442 seconds, the experience is reduced.

CONCLUSION This study helps con- nect the established principles of human/child interaction to computer/child interaction, including the role of external reinforcements and the level of responsivity of the interac- tion. The results of this study suggest that designers and evaluators of inter- active media products for children should pay careful attention to the degree to which the implementation of control mechanisms such as reinforce- ments can have substantial effects on children's interaction with the interac- tive media.

26 Eight Lessons for Structured (Didactive) Activities

he following elements of the to take the next transaction in the 4. Use humor carefully and intermittently. Cookie Critters experience interaction played a key role in a child's Children seemed to respond well to appeared to make a difference in initial reaction to the Cookie Critters events such as when the critter burped Tthe quality of the child’s time with the activity. In both the HICHILD or after eating a correct match, and Cookie Critter’s activity. These non-sys- HICOMP treatment, a short, one sen- "bonk" sounds when cookie did not tematic observations were taken as tence phrase such as "click a cookie" match. These small events worked very notes during the each administration that is spoken as the clickable cookie is well to support children's engagement. session and while coding the tapes. highlighted on the screen, advertised what was needed to do in order to get 5. Opt for context sensitive "roadside assis- 1. Include a brief, ten second "launching started. When the launching instruc- tance" in place of lengthy segments of spo- experience." The importance of provid- tions were toggled off, or when they ken instructions. Ideally, interactive ing a launching event, or an "anticipa- were set on the maximum setting, the media products designed for young tory set" (Hunter, 1982) that could get younger children seemed more likely to children could be able to sense outlier a child's attention (Gagné, 1977) and become lost or distracted. behaviors, such as series of errors, and then provide a clear path for the child respond appropriately. This assistance 2. Insure quick success for every child, cannot disrupt the current activity; for Classification of Mouse regardless of developmental level. example, by launching a new path with Clicks Listed by Frequency Approximately five of the 41 children a help sequence. It needs to happen out During the Cookie Critters were resistant to participation. This of the way, while respecting the child's Activity may have been due to some past unsuc- current problem solving space. This is an attempt to classify the types of mouse cessful experience with a computer use observed in this study. activity, but it is important to note that 6. Put children in the role of being in control. approximately 12% of this particular In this case, it was being able to be in 1. Double Stroke, Intentional Clicks. This click consist- ed of one complete down and up stroke while on sample seemed to feel strongly that charge of feeding the cookies, deter- the intended target. For example, the child sees a computer activities were not something mining which cookie was able to eat, cookie, moves the cursor to it, and clicks. This for them. When the first few screens and which wasn’t. type of click was more common in the older group and the introductory sequence were of children (>50 months) who were more likely to have prior mouse experience. This type of click short, clear and easily bypassed, chil- 7. Capitalize on a children's initial motiva- was common in both HICOMP and HICHILD set- dren seemed more likely to experience tion. Each child started both HICHILD tings. some degree of "accidental success." and HICOMP experiences with some 2. Single Stroke, Intentional Clicks. Approximately 1 There was one flaw that was identified level of motivation. It is up to the in 5 children used "drag and drop" or "hold and in the Cookie Critter’s activity that designer to determine how this motiva- go" (Strommen) single stroke clicks in both the affected ease of use for several children. tion will be spent. This study illustrated HICHILD and HICOMP settings, even though the activity used a "sticky mouse" making this tech- The first screen starts with an inch- that this motivation can be either used nique unnecessary. A child using this type of click wide round target with the printed for more accurate responses and less would first position the cursor over the target word "start" on it (Figure 10). In order activity, or more activity with more cor- cookie, and then make one downstroke, holding down the mouse button, and not letting it come to unlock the activity screen, children rect answers and more mistakes, back up until it was over the target critter. This are required to hit this target, which depending on quantity of the reinforce- type of click requires the coordination of both fine implies that they will know that the ments and instructions. In the case of motor and gross motor movements simultaneous- ly. It was interesting that some children switched button means start. While this is logical an activity like Cookie Critters, it is a to this strategy in the HICOMP setting, from to an adult who can read, a preschool question of the instructional design pri- intentional clicks, after they learned that they child can’t, so there is no indication orities. could not speed the events along. Perhaps this was out of frustration. what to do. One way around this bottle- neck would be to make the screen so 8. Provide a meaningful context, from the 3. "Hurry Up!" Unintentional Clicks. This click resulted that any click, regardless of where the perspective of the child, not an adult. The when a child attempts to influence the temporal sequence of events on the screen by clicking the cursor is, advances the program to the first administration session used a ver- mouse. Commercial early childhood software next screen. sion of Cookie Critters with a visual activities that allow children to "click through" progress tracking feature turned on. introductions or screen events may reinforce this behavior. This clicking behavior was observed 3. Incorporate dynamic, or "living" features This made it possible for children to see only in the HICOMP setting. that are driven by, or respond directly to the how many problems they had solved, child’s actions. In the starting screen in and how many more they had to do 4. "Rapid Fire" or "Machine Gun" Unintentional Clicks. This technique refers to when child sends a con- Figure 10, for example, children would before the next challenge level. This tinuous stream of clicks, sometimes in a short be more likely to become engaged early technique has been used successfully in burst and other times for longer sequences. The on if the eyes in word "Cookie" followed apps like Math Park and Tap Zoo. child's thinking seems to be along the line of "I’ll just keep clicking until the computer hears me." It the cursor around the screen. Dynamic was also a way to keep busy, perhaps creating a animation properties such as these, simulated feeling of control in the HICOMP set- that follow the initiation of the child, ting. This was rare in HICHILD settings, much more common in the HICOMP setting when chil- seem to be effective for increasing ini- dren did not have as much control. tial engagement.

27 Select Articles on Design by Warren Buckleitner Here are some articles on design that appeared as columns in KidScreen or Children’s Technology Review. Instructions on Giving Instructions

When it comes to designing children's interactive media, for- mer US President Harry Truman might have been on to something when he said, "I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it." Unfortunately, too many of the prod- ucts I review were designed by people who've forgotten this free advice. • Don't incorporate directions. In countless kids apps, the first few screens are filled with • If you do, keep them Twitter-sized, and remember that chil- introductions, non-descript login icons, or other control-sap- dren have limited buffers. "Click to start" is better than a ping hoops. Instructions aren't inherently bad things. On the mini- lecture on the QWERTY keyboard. contrary, when it comes to assembling a bicycle or baking a • Do embed the instructions in the activity, but get children cake, they can be lifesavers. But when it comes to interactive busy doing something like popping balloons or spinning a products for young children, excessive instructions can just steering wheel first. If nothing is happening, then provide gunk up the works. an "over the shoulder" instruction, such as "Try the arrow keys to move." If you front-load kids, they just tune out. In fact, interactive product designers should take their cues • Don't parrot. In a sorting game, it's okay to state "Sort the from decidedly non-digital but skilled instruction givers - the shapes" the first few times. But after the third prompt, people who design children's rides for amusement parks. The disable the feature. Big Rigs ride, found at the Waldameer Amusement Park in • Don't assume ignorance as the default condition of the end Erie, Pennsylvania, is a good example. While standing in line user. The world's most successful interface, Google, has at a nearby roller coaster, I noticed a chorus of goose-like no instructions, yet it is used successfully by millions of honks pealing through the park at five-minute intervals. children every day, including preschoolers who aren't sup- Curious about the noise, I wandered over and watched a posed to know how to type or read. Google replaces batch of eager kids climbing into a train of double-decker prompts with white space. truck cabs. • Make every first level a tutorial, but don't call it a tutorial. • Support the traditional "I read the instructions" type of per- Each truck was equipped with two steering wheels and two son by including a complete set of text-based instructions horns with rubber squeeze bulbs. (e.g., the user's manual) in the help icon on the first There were no instructions or helpful early childhood educa- screen - it's fine to lecture here. tors waiting with a mini-orientation. However, instantly, the • Kid test. The younger the children, the more they differ children started busily exploring the controls with wide eyes from one another. If your interface works consistently for and busy hands. Most tested the steering wheel first. Kids 20 kids, you're likely to get similar outcomes with over age four seemed to know it wasn't functional, but quick- 200,000. ly learned the air horn was no fake. A squeeze made the sharp goose-like honk. Better yet, if you squeezed harder, you got a Finally, remember that all of us, no matter how old we are, louder sound. And if you squeezed it several times, several want to honk the horn. honks followed. And nobody said stop! Soon, another chorus of honks filled the air, as each child signified their under- By Warren Buckleitner, from the Jul 27, 2009 issue of KidScreen Magazine. standing of the task: "I'm an active learner, I'm alive, this is my space, and I'm in control." Contrast this with the WordGirl maze game (http://pbskids.org/wordgirl/index.html#/games/game_4/). The activity would be better if it just showed a maze and did- n't assume children need to be told to use the arrow keys - something they probably picked up from Webkinz long ago. Besides, if they can read that much text, they probably don't need practice matching words, right? To make matters worse, the same instructions are parroted at each level.

The dos and don'ts There are many types of interactive media, so there's no one way to give instructions. That said, here are some general dos and don'ts for incorporating directions into a children's inter- active media product:

28 makes a big honking noise, and the wipers seem glued to Five Ingredients of Active Learning your fingertip when you slide over them. The first approach assumes toddlers are too young to understand these rela- Julia Child understood the magic of butter - a substance that tionships, but nothing could be further from the truth. can pull together diverse ingredients to create a delightful culinary sensation. And if there's a butter-like equivalent in • Choice In approach #1, children are given no choice in the the creation of children's interactive media, it's active learn- pace or version of the song or the ability to stop and start ing. While active learning may be harder to taste than but- over. In the second game, children get to choose the song ter, it can have an equally transformative effect on multi- version or language, and complete silence is also an option. media ingredients. And if you have an iPhone, it's possible to record personal vocals in the dialect of your choosing. Years ago, early childhood curriculum designers at the High Scope Educational Research Foundation, where I trained • Words As recognized by cognitive scientists like Robert teachers, distilled active learning into five components - Gangé and Jerome Bruner, for a young developing child, materials, manipulation, choice, language and support. language facilitates cognition. In other words, if you want to While we had teachers in mind, these key points work nicely get a child thinking, get them talking. The Sesame app talks with kid's interactive experiences. To illustrate, let's examine at children, while the Duck Duck Moose one gives children two similar, but differently designed activities. One is made the option to talk as they listen to different forms of lan- with active learning in mind, the other without. Can can tell guage. which is which? (Warning: this will require some active learning on your part.) • Support Both activities make it impossible to fail. However, the second one does a better job of supporting a First, watch this three-minute video child's natural instinct to poke, slide and touch - minus the (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0wcBcPc4xE) OK. lecture. As such, a child is better-supported from a develop- Now we're ready. mental perspective. Approach #1: Wheels on the Bus from Sesame The lesson here? In the quest to craft the perfect interactive Workshop (available at Sesamestreet.org/game). beef bourguignon, good ingredients like popular licensed The activity opens with Elmo saying, "Let's play silly songs. characters, funny writers and famous narrators certainly Elmo the bus driver is ready to play. This song is, `The can't hurt. But when they're bathed in active learning, a Wheels on the Bus.' When you hear the music, press the child is much more likely to come back for seconds. key." But which key? And if Elmo is ready to play, you're Buckleitner, Five Ingredients of Active Learning, The probably asking why can't I just push the keys? Did you KidScreen, Oct 1, 2009 notice how you can't control the pace of the song, and how the actions on the bus are pre-scripted? It makes this a fla- vorless experience. Digital Play-Doh and the Principle of This activity suffers from "TV writer's disease," according to veteran digital designer Erik Strommen. "The dialogue was Accidental Success written as if for TV, not for interactive media, so it's long- Can you recall peeling the lid off a fresh container of Play- winded and not very focused or directive," he says. Doh? Remember that distinct smell and feel of the fresh stuff squeezing through your fingers? Once you started, it Approach #2: Wheels on the Bus from Duck Duck Moose was hard to stop - it's even rumored that some kids may Design (available in the US at the iTunes app store). The have had a taste or two. only instructions for this iPod Touch/iPhone app involve a silent finger, suggesting where you might touch the screen to If ever there was a material that delivers on the promise of open the doors or move the wipers. This activity exemplifies an immediate no-fail experience, Play-Doh is it. You can roll the ingredients of active learning much better than the first. it, squish it and poke it full of holes. Mistakes are easily reversed by rolling it back into a ball, and your ideas can be Now let's examine both games through the active-learning can be saved forever when you put your project on a shelf to lens. It'll help to run each experience through the following dry overnight. It is the ultimate interactive play substance, checklist to find out just how tasty it is. and failure is not an option. • Materials How much content is there to explore? In the Now consider the first screen kids encounter on their first experience, there is just one version of the song and few favorite website, toy or app. Besides Play-Doh's strange salty surprises from page to page. The bus always does the exact flavor, do they have similar attributes? Do they have what's same thing. Contrast that with the second approach, where, become known around our office as the "accidental success" along with a variety of versions of the song, there are multi- factor that mirrors that of the famous molding compound? ple things to click on each page - there's just much more to It's what we look for in every interactive children's product actively manipulate. we review. Here's our checklist. • Manipulation You have the content, but what can you do with it? Manipulation encompasses both little things, like Accidental success defined rolling over an icon to see what's highlighted, and big things, A good product has to meet many requirements, but few are like the ability to change the background graphic, record as essential as accidental success - especially when it comes your own song, or start a giant bus rolling. The slightest tap to interactive devices and software designed for kids. 29 • Is it responsive? If you jab it, do you get something? sustain and pitch mapping. If you're looking for an excuse to • Can you operate it with your elbow? Try this. Close your purchase an iPad, Magic Piano just might bend your arm. eyes and start touching things. Can you do something (Available at www.smule.com, US$0.99.) right, or more accurately, non-wrong? • Is it smart? Can it tell if you are simply guessing and pro- To be fair, it is not entirely accurate to compare such differ- vide help as needed? ently designed experiences, especially when one has the • Does it require reading? Could a non-reader succeed with- advantage of featuring a popular licensed character. in the first few screens? However, it is fun to think about how to redesign Go, Diego, • Is it reversible? Can you get out of anything you get into? Go Musical Missions, mixing in a dash of accidental success. • Does the first level ensure success for even the youngest And if you need reminding what I'm talking about, go out child? and pick up a fresh eight pack - of Play-Doh, peel back the • Could your cat make it work? lid and enjoy a sniff. Buckleitner, From the Oct 2010 issue of Kidscreen With checklist in hand, it's now time to look at two exam- ples. Both apps are designed to give children a musical expe- rience. One exceeds the criteria for accidental success, while The Waterline Principle: What it the other is cluttered with Means for Children's Interactive instructions. Design When I was doing teacher training for ECE classrooms, I Go, Diego, came up with the "waterline principle" to help teachers visu- Go Musical alize material access. This means that you set up an environ- Missions ment for children where everything they can reach is "on The music and limits" rather than “off limits.” You create an imaginary line the main menu that represents the tallest child's reach. All toys and are certainly materials that are above that line should be out of site, and nice, but the out of mind, as to not tease a child with choices they can't activities are have. Everything below the line should be fair game for use. frustratingly didactic in this What does this mean for children's interactive designers? iPhone/iPad app designed for Nickelodeon by Chewy Software. There are First, designers need to take a global look at their experi- six songs, including "Jingle Bells" and "Mary Had a Little ence, starting with the packaging and installation and end- Lamb" each set in a different environment (i.e. the Savannah ing with the exit routines. Most trouble happens when start- or the Arctic). The instructions are excessive and Diego talks ing or ending an interactive experience. too much. Also, the notes on the flute don't line up with the notes on the musical staff, which is confusing. One child in Typing in a registration code or reading an acceptable use our review group even noticed that you can get through a policy is above the complexity waterline. Preferences such as level faster by randomly pressing notes instead of acting on network settings or your computer's clock are the equivalent Diego's clues. (Available at www.nick.com, US$1.99.) of your classroom's supply closet. You don't want children to be playing in there. So they need to be out of site, and Magic Piano beyond a child's line of site. If you have preferences, say for Ideal for children, adults or cats (according to YouTube), changing players or for adjusting the sound, you need to Magic Piano turns the iPad's multi-touch screen into a make sure they are usable by the intended audience. twistable, turnable, resizable piano keyboard. In default Otherwise, you open the possibility for frustration. mode, it starts with the press of a key and emits a clear note. At any time, you can switch to a different keyboard layout, Instead of the tallest child, think about the most bored and or squeeze stretch the keyboard to add or subtract keys. You curious child. They're the ones that are likely to test the lim- can also play chords, just like on a real piano. An interesting its of your interface. and somewhat spooky feature of the program is the duet mode. If your iPad is online, you can play a tune with some- one else who is How to Build Feelings of Ownership also connected in an Interactive Space to the net. In Everyone wants to attract kids to a website, or keep them the "world" interested in a new video game. The secret? You just need to mode, you can employ the FOO factor. Instilling FOO (a.k.a. Feelings of see where the Ownership) in children within their first few minutes of songs are being using a game, website or interactive application may be one played on a of the most important keys to digital success. It works like map of the magic. Just ask game designers Shigeru Miyamoto of globe. A control Nintendo or Will Wright from Emeryville, California-based panel lets you Maxis. Neither are strangers to the concept of FOO - or control such money. Not sure where to start? Keep the following in mind. things as auto-

30 • Can you turn up, or turn down the music or sounds, or is there an obvious "mute" button? Pondering Pokémagic OK class, it's time to learn about effective interactive design. • Can you pause the game at any point? Today's case study? Pokémon. • Does the program ask for your name upfront, and then use it at various points in the game (e.g., on a bill board in a I was reminded of the power of the Pokémon brand recently racing game, or hidden in an I SPY puzzle?) when I spotted three style-conscious high school boys, each • Let kids choose the gender and ethnicity of their individual with a red-and-white Pokéwalker pedometer hanging off digital characters. their belts. These guys are supposed to be too old for • Give the child a variety of "skins" or customizable elements Pokémon, but apparently they didn't get the memo. to choose from. For example, if the game or environment The gadgets, which are included with the recently released provides users with a room, give the kids the ability to Pokémon SoulSilver and Pokémon HeartGold video game click on the walls and toggle between different wallpaper titles (US$40 apiece for Nintendo DS and DSi), are part of designs. Also, make sure one is white, in case they don't the property's interesting recipe for creating interactive feel like having any designs pushed at them. design that works. • On-the-fly control. If there's music playing in the back- And adhering to the recipe is ground provide a radio icon so kids can choose the chan- what's helped the Pokémon fran- nel, just like Grand Theft Auto does in the adult digital chise hold up so well against the space. continual ebb and flow of video • A space of one's own. One of the most compelling things game technology. It also helps us about Club Penguin is that it lets kids have their own understand why there's a igloo, where they can store their stuff. Kids come to Pokémon store in Rockefeller depend on having a place to sock away meaningful items, Center in New York City. so it's worth building that into an application, even if it isn't the focus. Note that if you let them collect stuff, make Of course, the best way to under- sure you don't use it as blackmail to get their parent's to stand why Pokémon works so well subscribe. See the Code of Ethics. is to cough up 40 bucks and play it yourself. But if you don't have the Kids aren't always good at articulating what they need to time or money, start by watching adults, so let me try to translate for them. TVs, books and the first 12 minutes of one of the movies are your (the producers) space. Interactive media, on new Pokémon demo spots filmed the other hand, is as much MY space as YOUR space. Please in real time give me some. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ2YWmdHzQ8). Miyamoto's Mii avatars populate the millions of Now consider these eight ingredients. installed in houses across the globe and represent the under- lying philosophy of the revolutionary console-every player is 1. Success, right up front: All DS Pokémon games start the instilled right off the bat with FOO on every game. Instead of same familiar way. The MUC (Minimum User filling the grandstands with animated characters in Mario Competency), in this case reading, is well-matched with Kart, for example, kids get to see their best friend's Mii the task at hand. All introductory videos can be skipped, avatar cheering them on. They feel part of the game. and it is possible to experience success in the first few seconds of the game. Wright has famously applied FOO to SimCity and the best- 2. Hooks to a child's life (a.k.a. meaningfulness): Pokémon selling social game The Sims, which includes a powerful set games let players explore towns, talk to mentors, have of face and body editors. And Maxis is looking for lighting to friends and take care of pets, which start out weak and strike again with Spore. This month, the company started become stronger with the player's help. And the fight giving people a sneak-peek with the Spore Creature Creator, against bad guys could be pulled right out of Carl Jung's a 300MB mini-application available as a free download from archetypal playbook. www.spore.com. 3. Free exploration: Pokémon takes place in maze-like sets of connected villages, and players can go where they Maxis is also giving would-be users some free server space to please, using a map for help. So Pokémon provides share their creatures with others. Wright has ensured that structure, within which players can exercise creativity - people will fall in love with Spore by entrusting them with they can always get out of whatever they get into and the tools they need to create a creature at the very start of there's no single way to play the game. the relationship. But the best part of FOO is it's royalty-free. 4. Feelings of ownership: The Pokémon players I inter- No one entity owns the concept. And it's not new. Remember viewed while reviewing this title described their Mr. Potato Head, Play-Doh, Lego and sandboxes? All are Pokémon experience as "mine." This sensibility is high in FOO. engendered right at the outset. Children enter their names at the start and they're then embedded into the Buckleitner, W., FOO fighters instilling feelings of owner- game's dialogue. This tried-and-true technique is ship yields big returns. KidsScreen Magazine, August 2008, applied with mastery here. Kids can also customize their p. 28) persona, play as a male or female and give their Pokémon creatures silly (or serious) nicknames.

31 5. Surprises: You never know what is going to spring out of al penguins are noisy, social creatures - just like the real the grass, or when it will happen. This element of sur- animals and kids themselves, for that matter. SeaPals prise is enhanced by the knowledge that there's a special World (www.seapalsworld.com) is based on a line of Pokémon creature waiting for the player at the end of plush sea creatures who come to life in a virtual fish the game. tank that can be decorated in a multitude of ways. And 6. Collectibility: A big part of the Pokémon experience is they never die! accumulating items that represent the game experiences. Rule 3 - Load quickly. At 3 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon, I Critics might call it consumerism (see a child's collection launched Club Penguin in four seconds. Webkinz loaded of Pokémon swag at http://bit.ly/94m89Q) or digital in five. Compare that with the 25 seconds I waited for trick-or-treating, but the idea of collecting pulls kids in - BarbieGirls.com to get up and running. Kids simply like magic. don't have that kind of patience. 7. Emotional attachment: As players progress, they bond Rule 4 - Make it social. What's the point of going online if with their little critters, which travel from screen-to- you can't toss a snowball at a friend? Future collabora- screen and continually get stronger. They also get mes- tive options could include pair vs. pair or teams vs. team sages like "You're really good" and "You treat your play, cooperative modes, and webcam or microphone Pokémon with such kindness." There's a lot of positive connections à la Nintendo's Animal Crossing for the energy in Pokémon. It makes players feel like family. Wii. Also smart are virtual versions of existing games 8. Real-world skills: Any teacher knows a child becomes a with perceived educational value, like checkers, hang- better reader by reading, and Pokémon's game script is man and story-creation templates. presented via myriad bite-sized sentences that must be Rule 5 - Make a great first impression. Getting started on read in sequence to participate fully in the game. There the right foot doesn't include posting a "coming soon" are also graphs to read and interpret, plus numerical sign. Our kid testers were disappointed with Russ quantities - up into the thousands - to compare and con- Berrie's Shining Stars (www.shiningstars.com), for trast. Spatial memory is exercised while reading the example, because they were expecting a Webkinz experi- maze-like maps. Socially, Pokémon competence can earn ence. Instead, there was little to do other than register a bus-stop credibility and give children an excuse to trade, star. While the US$15 plush toys are well-made, my negotiate and gossip. Finally, the Pokéwalker counters research found the web companion isn't. criticisms that video games can't promote the pursuit of Rule 6 - Don't paint yourself into a hardware corner. fresh air and sunshine. Remember the Barbie Girl device? It was a Barbie- shaped MP3 player that Mattel hoped would sell like Webkinz since it similarly doubled as a key to premium Seven Rules for Making a Solid features at www.barbiegirls.com. It didn't work. Today Web/Toy Connection the site has fallen back to the tried-and-true velvet rope The meteoric rise of Webkinz and its related virtual world subscription model. Anyone knows that plugging a USB should remove any doubt that younger children spend a lot device into a Windows computer can be like spinning a of time online and that parents are willing to pay for their roulette wheel - it might work, or it might require a 40- kids to have these experiences. A bumper crop of Flash- minute call to tech support. based virtual playgrounds have come to market in the 18 Rule 7 - Get them busy right away. When I was a preschool months since Webkinz started attracting attention, but the teacher, I'd start a group activity by giving every child an novelty window has closed on those looking to enter the impossible-to-fail activity like squeezing a ball of clay. space. The electronic equivalent might be finding hidden items on the first screen, or turning the cursor movement into Kids have become much more discriminating when it comes a micro-game. At Moshi Monsters (www.moshimon- to online content, especially when it involves a cash transac- sters.com) the monsters' eyes follow your cursor. A bit tion. After all, there's always a free option just a click away. If creepy for us grown-ups, sure. But it's a very effective you're looking to build a virtual world and attract loyal pay- way to tell a young child "you're in charge." ing visitors, it helps to understand the rules of this game and From Kidscreen, October 1, 2008 avoid others' mistakes. It just so happens that I've dipped into my reviewer's notebook and pulled out seven rules to follow that can make for a solid toy/web .

Rule 1 - Think outside the box. Does the world really need another version of Bejeweled or a frustratingly safety- conscious chat system? What's in demand today are sites that let kids explore and do things they could only dream of doing, like owning a horse (www.bellasara.com), steering a pirate ship (www.piratesonline.com) or building amazing structures Rule 2 - Make a bridge to the online world that makes sense. Online play spaces are symbolic representations of the toys. Children must make the object/symbol connection in a flash. Club Penguin works for me because the virtu-

32 A Code of Ethics for the Publishers of Children's A Code of Ethics for the Publishers of Interactive Interactive Media Media for Children Make interactive products that you’d want your own children or grandchildren to use. • I will not sell development, If you care about young children, a look at the ten random hours of young children (ages e.g., “smarter, brainy kids,” without specific references to 3-8) using online content would make you livid. Some sites behave like a manipulative valid studies. salesman working an angle. Of course not all sites children’s sites are like this. But the • I won’t hold a child’s past reality is that in the unregulated wild west environment of online content, hits = money, work or experience hostage, as an incentive to renew a and webstats don’t care about age. When this thinking drifts into preoperational and con- subscription or purchase an crete operational thinking, trouble can begin. additional product. • I’ll understand the difference When we started collecting video footage for the report the Consumer Reports WebWatch between informing and selling, especially when embedding study “Like Taking Candy From a Baby: How Young Children Interact with Online brand names and/or including Environments” (Buckleitner, 2008) we didn’t have a title, and we didn’t know what we’d in-app sales techniques. find. Once we watched the footage, collected by parents in ten homes, the hard-edged title • I won’t exploit a tired, flus- tered parent for my own prof- was necessary and accurate. The study confirmed that the digital world offers a wealth of it. opportunity for young children to play and learn. But even in this small sample of 10 fam- • I will identify (with name and ilies there were repeated examples of attempts to manipulate children for the sake of com- affiliation) the authors, writers merce. Some sites such as Millsberry.com, EverythingGirl.com, M&Ms.com and Hasbro and developers who created my product. MonkeyBar TV, for instance, appear to exist solely to extend a brand name, or to influence • I will disclose costs in clear the purchasing decisions of busy parents. language at the start of the consumer/publisher relation- ship. Publishers of children’s Internet content need to be reminded they are deal- • I’ll read and abide by the ing with an audience that “thinks different.” Consumer Reports WebWatch guidelines. Considering how easily millions of adults are regularly fooled by offers of “free credit • If I sponsor a contest that will involve the public school sys- reports,” deceptive advertising, and “order before midnight” commercials, it is unreason- tem (e.g., students, teachers, able and irresponsible to subject children to the same hardsell tactics. Publishers of chil- classroom time that is funded dren’s Web sites need to understand there’s more at stake than simply making money. by public money) I will not use products with indirect costs (a) require an additional sub- Publishers of interactive media need to better consider the developmental level of their scription or (b) tease or tempt audience. In addition, they should disclose the publisher, author and studio information. children with add-on content It’s hard to imagine buying a children’s book without being able to find out who’s the pub- that costs money after the school year ends. I will also lisher, author or illustrator. Yet many children’s Web sites bury this information or don’t make sure that every child has list it. Prices for services should be displayed at the start of a transaction, not the end. equal access to the same set The time remaining in a game should be displayed on all main screens in a way that of tools and content. • I will not confuse marketing makes sense to a young child. In addition: with educating. · Keep free trials free. Publishers shouldn’t require a credit card for a free trial. If there • My product or service will are “hidden” fees, don’t hide them. Disclose them clearly. treat every child the way I’d · Don’t use free trials to entice children into buying subscriptions. Club Penguin regularly treat my own child or grand- child. displays subscription only items to children playing on free accounts. Our observations demonstrated an instance in which a child clicked on a common object in the game Technology changes quickly. If environment which led to the following message: “Oops, you’re not a member, but we’d you want to add a suggestion, send me an email or edit the love to have you become one.” Sites should only display “free” options in free trials. page directly, and please identify · Don’t try to cover up or play sleight of hand with junk food ads. Our observations noted your contributions. pictures or graphics proclaiming healthy themes like “get exercise,” or “eat healthy foods,” juxtaposed with junk food ads. This tactic, probably designed to neutralize con- Citation: Buckleitner, W. (2011), A Code of Ethics for the cerns of parents, is confusing and misleading. Child obesity is a serious health concern Publishers of Interactive Media in the United States and other countries. Be open about these kinds of ads, avoid for Children, online at manipulation and disclose nutritional value of advertised foods. Don’t dress them up http://bit.ly/eo9cui with pictures of broccoli stalks. See the complete study at: http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/dynamic/families-reports-kidsonline.cfm

See the Moms With Apps Banner Program, at http://momswithapps.com/privacy-icon/as one way to clearly mark apps with

33 A pretend* letter from Why Tap Zoo is a Daniel Terry and Harlan Crystal, who published Tap Zoo, currently one of Morality Fail the top Grossing Apps.

Psssst. Hey you. Wanna make some ca$h? A LOT of cash (like $mil- lions?). Here’s what you do, and we promise, no laws or bones will be broken. First, find yourself an innocent slightly bored 5 to 7 year old kid with an iPad or iPod touch. Now come up with an item that kids can’t resist. We’ve had good luck with cute looking animals— stuff that makes a kid say “awwww!” Now make a free app with an icon that has kid appeal. That’s your lure; design it carefully. It needs to shout “come play with me!” You can copy a game (we used the Zoo Tycoon and FarmVille) and offer up a pair of free gorillas. Make it a snap to download and get started. You need to get the little kids invested and feeling like they own the zoo at the beginning. This is very important. If you want ideas for roping in a child, visit a casino and watch some compulsive gamblers. You can learn how to trick a little kid into wanting to keep playing. For example, every four minutes or so, we deliver a little bit of pretend money, making them think they can buy more animals if they stay with their zoo. It’s like a digital M&M, and those little suckers fall for it! After they are lovey dovey with their gorillas, it’s time for the big tease. Show them other peoples zoos, teaming with tigers, penguins, sea turtles, monkeys -- or perhaps even “the Big Castle!” It’s mean but it works. You can’t have supply unless you have demand, right? Associate the cool stuff with an order form, so those penguin-loving kids start getting on their parents. You see, a six or seven year old kid is too young to understand abstract things like passwords and credit cards. To them, its just part of the “get mom to give me stuff” game that every child is born with. And stop thinking of this kid as a person. She’s your mule to get to mommy’s bank account. The best part of this whole robbery is that you’re going to have Apple driving your getaway car! They keep a cut, but they also cut the checks. Apple is like is your Swiss bank account. Make sure you use a currency system that sounds fake and harmless. Don’t call it “dollars” because that could tip off mom or dad. We use “stars” and one of our competitors, CapCom’s The Smurfs’ Village, uses “Smurfberries.” Another thing you don’t want to do is to tell the parents that a simple, functional zoo might cost well over $400, about the cost of a dish washer. Keep these dirty little secrets as hidden and cryptic as possible. Also, sell a lot of starter items for just $.99, to numb them up, so a parent will think, “well, that isn’t much, OK, squirt, here’s my iTunes password, now keep quiet.” Believe me, kids are great at getting that password. We’ve seen four year olds do it. The buying part needs to be really thought out carefully. Make it so that when the kid touches the “Buy Stars” you tease ‘em with a model zoo, teaming with animals and then deliver them to iTunes as quickly and as frequently as possible. Sure, they’ll see the “Do you want to buy one Vial of Stars for $0.99?”warning, and they might hit “cancel” but non-readers have fair chance of hitting “OK.” Here’s another great trick. Sell stars by the barrel for $99.99! To a kid, a barrel sounds like more fun. Finally, make sure all sales are final. No refunds. How much money can you make? We’re over a $million bucks A MONTH! Dude, it’s so easy, it’s like stealing candy from a baby!

Sincerely, Daniel Terry and Harlan Crystal, Co-Founders of Pocket Gems (www.pocketgems.com)

34 A Generic Evaluation Form Title ______Price ______Publisher ______Platform ______Copyright Date ______Ages ______Publisher’s Phone/URL______Teaches ______Instructions: Spend a few hours testing all aspects of the interactive product, preferably with a child, making note of key strengths and weaknesses. Then use this instrument, and calculate your rating. I. Ease of Use (Can my child use it with minimal help?) V. Design Features (How smart is this program?) Always SE Never NA Always SE Never NA 1. ______Skills needed to operate the program are in range of the 1.______The program has speech capacity child 2.______Has printing capacity 2. ______Children can use the program independently after the first 3.______Keeps records of child’s work use 4.______"Branches" automatically: challenge level is fluid 3. ______Accessing key menus is straightforward 5.______A child’s ideas can be incorporated into the program 4. ______Reading ability is not prerequisite to using the program 6.______Sound can be toggled or adjusted 5. ______Graphics make sense to the intended user 7.______Feedback is customized in some way to the individual child 6.______Printing routines are simple 8.______Program keeps a history of the child’s use over a period of 7.______It is easy to get in or out of any activity at any point time 8.______Getting to the first menu is quick and easy 9.______Teacher/parent options are easy to find and use 9.______Controls are responsive to the touch ______TOTAL DESIGN FEATURES 10.______Written materials are helpful 11.______Instructions can be reviewed on the screen, if necessary 12.______Children know if they make a mistake VI. Value (How much does it cost vs. what it does? Is it 13.______Icons are large and easy to select with a moving cursor worth it?) 14.______Installation procedure is straightforward and easy to do Considering the factors rated above, and the average retail price of ______TOTAL EASE OF USE software, rate this program’s relative value.

Poor...... Good II. Childproof (Is it designed with child-reality in mind?) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Always SE Never NA ___ TOTAL VALUE 1.______Survives the "pound on the keyboard" test 2.______Offers quick, clear, obvious response to a child’s action 3.______The child has control over the rate of display 4.______The child has control over exiting at any time 5.______The child has control over the order of the display 6.______Title screen sequence is brief or can be bypassed 7.______When a child holds a key down, only one input is sent to the computer Adding Up the Scores 8.______Files not intended for children are safe 9.______Children know when they’ve made a mistake Step 1: Count the totals under each column. 10.______This program would operate smoothly in a home or class- Step 2: Assign point values, as follows: room setting Always = 1 point each ______TOTAL CHILDPROOF Some Extent = 1/2 point each Never = 0 points each NA = Not counted III. Educational (What can my child learn from this pro- gram?) You can use this formula Always SE Never NA (X + (Y/2)) x 100 = S 1.______Offers a good presentation of one or more content areas n - Z 2.______Graphics do not detract from the program’s educational intentions Where 3.______Feedback employs meaningful graphic and sound capabili- X = Total of checks in the “always” column ties Y = Total of checks in the “some extent” column 4.______Speech is used Z = Total of checks in the “NA” column 5.______The presentation is novel with each use n = Number of items in a category (such as Childproof) 6.______Good challenge range (this program will grow with the S = Score for a component of the program (as a percent) child) 7.______Feedback reinforces content (embedded reinforcements are Step 3: Get each Component Score, or S, add them up, and use the formula used) below to calculate the overall star rating. 8.______Program elements match direct experiences ______Ease of Use 9.______Content is free from gender bias ______Childproof 10.______Content is free from ethnic bias ______Educational Value 11.______A child’s ideas can be incorporated into the program ______Entertainment Value 12______The program comes with strategies to extend the learning ______Design Features 13______There is a sufficient amount of content ______Overall Value ______TOTAL EDUCATIONAL VALUE ______÷ 6 = (______x 5) ÷ 100 = ______stars

IV. Entertaining (Is this program fun to use?) Comments: Always SE Never NA 1.______The program is enjoyable to use 2.______Graphics are meaningful and enjoyed by children 3.______This program is appealing to a wide audience 4.______Children return to this program time after time 5.______Random generation techniques are employed in the design 6.______Speech and sounds are meaningful to children 7.______Challenge is fluid, or a child can select own level Please note. Permission is granted to use this instrument for educational use, e.g., 8.______The program is responsive to a child’s actions teacher training. All other uses or adaptations must be done with permission only. 9.______The theme of the program is meaningful to children Please contact CSR at 908-284-0404. © 2002 Children’s Technology Review ______TOTAL ENTERTAINMENT VALUE 35 To Help You Remember

Five Elements of a 5 Star Product Easy to use

Educational

Entertaining

Features

Overall Value

36 iPad Mini

Kindle Fire HD Nice Touch: Making a Menu Do Double Duty as a Progress Reporting Mechanism

How can you work progress reporting and navigation into the same icon?

Consider Room on the Broom, and app by Stormcloud Games. In this case, I’ve just completed the easy level of the frog game, and I’ve earned a small star. (Small = easier). The size/difficulty relationship is also interesting.

This technique fosters self reflection and self evaluation. It also gives a child an “at a glance” idea about how much content is left in the activity.

I propose that this might foster feelings of control, which has been show to increase engagement. One of the menu items from Room on the Broom (and App for iPad) by Stormcloud Games Nice Touch: Unveiling There’s nothing better than a hidden surprise. Rather than giving children the full richness of a page all at once, let them uncover it. The Monster at the End of this Book is the best example. Another is Alphabeasties Amazing Activities (shown below).

38 iPad 1

39 iPod Touch 5, iPhone 5

40