If we don't want our children to react like
a heroin addict when they've got to get off screen time, we've got
to think about what are some amazing apps that we have that
are out there that are not going to create this crazy adrenaline
cortisol response. Welcome to Neuroeducation, where
we're exploring the neuroscience of how to switch on the brain to
supercharge learning. I'll be sharing with you innovative teaching techniques,
effective parenting strategies, and educational advocacy. I'm
your host, Angie Dee. Together, let's revolutionize children's
learning. Welcome to
Newer Education with Angie Dee. Thanks for
tuning in. Today we're going to talk about educational
apps that make you go snap. Now we all know
that apps and
computer, screen time, iPad time, whatever it
may be, screen time can be absolutely
fabulous. A, to give yourself a break as
a parent or to implement in school teaching
that can obviously help children learn. There are
lots of apps that are absolutely fantastic and
there are lots of apps that I would say are a big no
no no. What is the reason for this? The reason for
this is that some computer games
that we have in this day and age, even if they might be
educational, they wire
our kids for a dopamine hit and The
best way to navigate this is I would say a
computer game that is making children do
something incredibly fast. I don't know if you know
Temple Run but they're like running they've got to run and they've got to jump and
they've got to run they've got to jump and oh my god they're gonna die and they're gonna run and they're gonna jump. If
you're doing something like that you can imagine what's going on inside
the child's brain. the kind of adrenaline cortisol
pumping through their veins, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then when you say, okay,
time to hop off, what's going to happen? Oh, they're
going to crack. Why? Because it's literally like they're on
crack. These kinds of games have been shown to be as
addictive as drugs. So if We
don't want our children to react like a heroin addict
when they've got to get off screen time. You've got to think about what
are some amazing apps that we have that are out there that
are not going to create this crazy adrenaline cortisol response.
So today I have four apps for you that I
highly recommend and there are more if you have more ideas message
me or comment down below with some great app
ideas if you have other suggestions. But here are
my four. Number one, a maths app, Timestable
Rockstar. Why I love Timestable Rockstar is
everybody has their own little character as they get more points
and do more times tables they get to play
their little rock star add some cute little things to their outfits but
the children can see how they improve with
speed of how they write, how
fast they answer the questions of their rounds and
also they see how many they get incorrect. And
I feel like this fits into a growth mindset. We know
that if children have a fixed mindset they think oh I'm
terrible at that and I'm never going to get better and that's just
how it's going to be forever. But with a growth mindset,
children see with more effort, I see that I can
improve. And I think Timestable Rockstar does this in
both of those two ways. A, the children see their
response time and how they're answering response time can get
faster. And obviously as they get more and
more correct out of each round. My daughter
personally didn't love maths. And
after the school assigned Time Sable Rockstar as
some homework, she decided to start doing
five minutes a day. And I was amazed to
see that when she came to me, she was so happy
to say, mom, look, I've improved. I'm like a second
faster and look at this. So she could see that she was improving.
Before this, her attitude towards maths was, You
know, my dad's a math teacher. Both of my boys love
maths. My son Santiago was doing polynomial algebraic
division in grade six, loves it. My
daughter didn't, but I
say times table rock stars flip that around.
And it really showed her that with greater effort and
more time she could improve. So that's
my number one app. suggestion. Number two
is a simple game. It's called crossword journey
word games. And you get to create,
you have usually some words in a circle, and
you can create different words by touching different
letters. But it's a fantastic game for problem solving
different word patterns. And if you
have something like phonograms or phonics that you're trying to
teach your children, this is a great way to build that because
they're trying to find all the words that, oh, there's an O and a U and
an S and a T and it's, oh, it's shh. S,
H, O, U, O, U, T, and then, okay, this is shout,
and then maybe this is some other word that has the
same spelling pattern, shout, and out. So there's C, that O,
U, makes the ow sound every time.
And it really builds that in through repetition in a fun way. So
that's my number two go-to app. Number three.
is Duolingo. Now, Duolingo not
only is for learning languages, but they have Duolingo for maths, Duolingo
for even learning your letters and learning your words.
And what I love about Duolingo is they try to
do a variety of ways. If you take
learning languages for an example, They will
get you to say it. They will get you to write it.
They'll get you to listen to it and then respond to it. And
they'll get you to match it. They're trying to do it in a variety of
different ways that really helps children learn. I've
seen a huge amount of children playing Duolingo
and improving their second or third language skills with
Duolingo. And I've also seen children using Duolingo
for English and for maths. and I think it's
a fantastic app that has a variety of
subjects that you can learn from and they do it in a really good
way. The last one is a nice
art app. Now Because there are
so many computer games and there are so many apps
that are just making our children's brains go
wild, whether they're shooting some fictional person
or when they're trying to escape something that's chasing
after them. It's nice to have an app that
has a creative aspect, but it's also more calming. And
I would say the next app is just that. It's
called Pottery. dot lv and
what it allows you to do is to take
a piece of clay and move the clay with your
fingers. So if you have an ipad even if you have the phone you're moving
the clay you're expanding the clay and with your fingers
you're gently creating this beautiful piece of pottery which
you then can sell for a certain amount of
money, but you can decorate it, you can paint it, you can add different
patterns. So it might be an African little pattern
you put around your pottery, or it could be a little Asian pattern or
a Greek pattern, whatever it may be, but children get
to have this creative experience. obviously
will never beat the real world, but it's a beautiful side
kind of creative app that allows them
to do something that calms them down. I would
say one of the most important things to think about
when it comes to screen time in your child is
everything in moderation. There are some children,
unfortunately, the statistics in Australia, that are
having four to five hours of screen time a day. And when it
goes to high school, the stats are insane. The
stats in high school in Australia are that some children are on
screen times for over seven hours a day, if
not more. When we think about that, we have to
ask ourselves, is that healthy? Is
that healthy for our children? Is it healthy for their emotions?
Is that healthy for their development? And I would have to
say, with many psychologists behind
me, that the resounding answer is no. So
everything in moderation. I average
my children on maybe maximum of one hour screen time a
day. Once the one hour's up, it's capped. And there are some days we don't
have screen time because we're having outdoor days. And for
some children, I know screen time is hard.
It's hard to get children off. And when children are hitting
the roof and screaming when they get off, some parents think, oh,
it's just easy to leave them on it. Forget about it. We're going to leave them there.
However, The sad thing is this
is not setting them up for success in life. It's not setting them up for
holistic education in terms of being a well-rounded individual
emotionally, physically, mentally. And one of my best tips
for getting kids off screen and into the real world in a positive way
is doing positive things with your children. outside of
the home. Whether that's let's go for a nightly walk
around the block, let's go for a walk along the beach if you have
an esplanade near your home or something nice, let's go and bounce the
basketball for half an hour or play tennis or
whatever it is. If you're doing something fun and engaging with
your child, which often they want to do, is engaged
with you in a positive way then you don't have to be trying
to limit their screen time and having fights with them. It's easier to
have a short amount of screen time say okay well we've had an hour or
half an hour for younger children it might be even much smaller
time 20 minutes or once a week but If
you make life more exciting than a screen,
it's easy for children to get off screen time. So that's
when we want to get them off the screen and into the real
world. But for those short times when you do want to
give them a bit of screen time and you want it to be healthy screen time, I hope these
four apps help. And thank you so much for tuning in again
to Neuroeducation with Angie Dee. do
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