How educational are “educational” apps for young children? App store content analysis using the Four Pillars of Learning framework
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17482798.2021.1882516
This study aimed to operationalize Hirsh-Pasek, Zosh, and colleagues’ Four Pillars of Learning (2015) into a reliable coding scheme
- Pillar 1: Active Learning,
- Pillar 2: Engagement in the Learning Process,
- Pillar 3: Meaningful Learning,
- Pillar 4: Social Interaction),
describe the educational quality of commercially available apps, and examine differences in educational quality between free and paid apps.
We analyzed 100 children’s educational apps with the highest downloads from Google Play and Apple app stores, as well as 24 apps most frequently played by preschool-age children in a longitudinal cohort study. We developed a coding scheme in which each app earned a value of 0–3 for each Pillar, defining lower-quality apps as those scoring ≤4, summed across the Four Pillars.
Overall scores were low across all Pillars. Free apps had significantly lower Pillar 2 (Engagement in Learning Process) scores (t-test, p < .0001) and overall scores (t-test, p < .0047) when compared to paid apps, due to the presence of distracting enhancements. These results highlight the need for improved design of educational apps guided by developmental science.
Putting Education in “Educational” Apps: Lessons From the Science of Learning (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2015)
We build upon decades of work on the Science of Learning, which has examined how children learn best. From this work, we abstract a set of principles for two ultimate goals.
- First, we aim to guide researchers, educators, and designers in evidence-based app development.
- Second, by creating an evidence-based guide, we hope to set a new standard for evaluating and selecting the most effective existing children’s apps.
In short, we will show how the design and use of educational apps aligns with known processes of children’s learning and development and offer a framework that can be used by parents and designers alike.
Apps designed to promote active, engaged, meaningful, and socially interactive learning—four “pillars” of learning—within the context of a supported learning goal are considered educational.