Author’s practical guidance
They only want apps that react when tapped
Book title: Touching the screen and what comes back
Source named in the book: research on touchscreens and early learning (Kirkorian)
There is a real difference between a screen a child watches and a screen that answers them.
Say this now
“What happens if you press that one?”
Makes the connection between action and result explicit.
“You made that happen.”
Five words, and it names the thing worth noticing.
Do this
- Check whether the response follows from what the child did, or from any touch at all.
- Prefer the one that waits for them over the one that fires constantly.
- Say what they did out loud sometimes, so the link gets named.
- Skip anything with constant rewards.
- Do not assume touching means learning — the touching is the condition for it, not the proof.
Avoid this
- Treating anything with a touch as interactive. Reacting is not the same as answering.
- Choosing by how much it rewards them. Loud rewards are the part that teaches least.
- "It's fine, it's interactive." Sometimes true. Worth checking rather than assuming.
If it repeats
If the interactive part has become the whole appeal and they will not watch anything that does not respond, that is a preference for immediate feedback rather than a problem. Keep some non-responding material in the mix and watch it with them.
Why the book suggests this
There is a real difference between a screen a child watches and a screen that answers them. When a touch produces a response that follows from what they did, a small child has something to work with, and that is closer to how they learn from everything else.
The effect is not magic and it is not large. It depends on the response actually being contingent on the child rather than on the thing simply reacting to any touch at all. A screen that lights up and sings whatever they press is not answering them. It is rewarding them for touching it.
Related prepared situations
What happened next?
From this collection
Same Words: Every Screen
45 prepared situations in this family area.