Skeptics claim that iPads are bad for
children. They haven’t met my daughter, writes Christopher Breen
In this month’s How To section, I write
about how to configure an old iPad for a child. While I hope most readers will
react positively to that story, I also expect a few will insist that exposing a
child to an iPad will lead to a machine-dependent future devoid of fresh air
and human interaction.
We can all agree that spending 18 hours a day
glued to any one thing – a social network or an online game – is the sign a
problem. But in my daughter’s case at least, I’d argue that iOS devices have
enhanced her life.
Skeptics
claim that iPads are bad for children?
Identification
When we were on holiday in Hawaii, my
daughter and I were sitting outside, looking at the clear night sky. Seeing
three bright objects line up, she asked: 'What are those?'
‘Probably planets, but let’s see,’ I
answered. I pulled out my iPhone, fired up Star Walk (itune.es/ibX2DJ), gave
the app my location, and pointed the phone at the three objects. Its display
mirrored what we saw before us in the night sky. Sure enough, they were Venus,
Mars and Saturn. In the app, we tapped on Saturn to learn about its rings.
On the same trip, we used the iPhone to
identify fish we saw while snorkeling and birds we heard while hiking. We
learned about the goddess Pele and the islands’ origin while visiting a
volcano.
Ask my daughter what she recalls from our
trip, and it’s not sunscreen or chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. It’s the sky,
the fish, the birds and the islands. She cloud have learned some of that
without the iPhone, but having that technology with us in ‘teachable moments’
made the lessons stick.
Exploration
Having taken piano lessons since the age of
four, I wanted to give my daughter more choice about when (or if) she would
begin to explore music. I showed her a few things on the piano and suggested
that she try to pick out some songs. That experiment confirmed she has the knack.
So we signed her up for lessons, and it seems to be going okay.
One day, I heard her picking out the
familiar tune of Beethoven’s Fur Elise. ‘Where did you learn that?’ I
asked.
‘Oh, I was playing it in Magic Piano and I
sounded it out,’ she replied.
Magic Piano (itun.es/ibX2JS) is a free app
that lets you play tunes on a virtual keyboard. It also lets you pick
selections from a songbook and learn to play them as part of a game.
Magic
Piano (itun.es/ibX2JS) is a free app that lets you play tunes on a virtual
keyboard
From Magic Piano, my daughter was able to
get the general topography of the song: its rhythm and the distance between
notes. Because she has a good ear, she could then transfer what she’d learned
to the piano.
Yes, a teacher could have taught her the
piece. But Magic Piano taught her much of what she needed to do without
‘teaching’ her. It helped instill the confidence that she could translate what
she heard from her ears to her head and then to her fingers.
I saw the same thing happen with Draw
Something (itun.es/ibX2Js), which helped her sketch things that someone else
could identify. Thanks to iStopMotion (itun.ex/ibX2xj), we’ve tried our hands
at animation.
Her monthly iTunes allowance has taught her
that free is good, which has led her to download a fair number of classic
books. She may not be up on The Hunger Games, but she’s read Conan Doyle
and Verne.
What hasn’t changed?
Can too much technology spoil a child? Of
course. As can too many sweets, too much discipline or too little sleep.
But the answer isn’t to deny a child
technology. Rather it’s to pay attention and participate. Throwing an iPad full
of games at a child and leaving them to their own devices is no more helpful
than plating them in front of a TV all day. Sit down with your child and use
that iPad as a tool that teaches and entertains, and show some enthusiasm for
what the device can teach you.
