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A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

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Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#91

Post by viraptor »

thomasreggi wrote: post #54
potatolicious wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more "higher level" thought processes required just to operate the basics of your device (e.g., basic navigation, app launching, scrolling, etc) the more mental effort (and thus, frustration and cognitive load) it takes from the user. As an extension to this, the less brain power you have to devote to basic, fundamental interactions with the machine, the more bandwidth you have to dedicate towards other things (e…

I really like the calculator example. Imagine a buttonless calculator that just took dictation in plain english and gave the result for really complex equations.

Not sure I would want one. ".... over two plus three. No move the plus three out of the fraction. The other one. Don't put the fraction plus three in parentheses. Ah... just let me use the keyboard!" Non-trivial math expressions are very hard to dictate.

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#92

Post by adriand »

stuff4ben wrote: post #87
adriand wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really can't be overemphasized. I have a child about the same age (two-and-a-half) and he's been playing with my iPod Touch since I got it December 2008. He's proficient with it, just like her - able to easily navigate between the different pages of apps, launch new apps, use the navigation within apps, etc. But obviously, it wasn't like that when he first used it. It took time. For example, it took forever to t…

It's weird, my twins are almost 3 and they have yet to play with a computer except the couple of times I had some Elmo episodes up on Youtube. Most of their play comes with the old fashioned puzzles and dolls and other assorted toys. I figured they wouldn't know what to do with a computer, but clearly I need to revisit that. What kind of things can a 3 year old do with a computer? I admit I haven't the foggiest idea…

Well, for starters, it needs to be a computer you're okay with a kid being on. Mine doesn't get near the Macbook Pro, but I've got a desktop set up in such a way that only the monitor, keyboard and mouse are accessible, so I'm okay with that.

Secondly, there's probably all sorts of great educational stuff for them to check out but all I've really done is put him on some simple Flash games. Examples:

http://www.kongregate.com/games/Teagames/tg-motocross-2

http://www.kongregate.com/games/light_bringer777/learn-to-fl...

http://www.kongregate.com/games/arawkins/dolphin-olympics

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#93

Post by ghotli »

stuff4ben wrote: post #87
adriand wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really can't be overemphasized. I have a child about the same age (two-and-a-half) and he's been playing with my iPod Touch since I got it December 2008. He's proficient with it, just like her - able to easily navigate between the different pages of apps, launch new apps, use the navigation within apps, etc. But obviously, it wasn't like that when he first used it. It took time. For example, it took forever to t…

It's weird, my twins are almost 3 and they have yet to play with a computer except the couple of times I had some Elmo episodes up on Youtube. Most of their play comes with the old fashioned puzzles and dolls and other assorted toys. I figured they wouldn't know what to do with a computer, but clearly I need to revisit that. What kind of things can a 3 year old do with a computer? I admit I haven't the foggiest idea…

My two year olds cant get enough of this game:

Open up notepad. Maximize the window. Change the font to 72. Turn on caps lock. Let them have free reign on the keyboard and tell them what letter they are holding down. After about two months of this they are pretty proficient at the keyboard and at their letters.

For mouse skills fullscreen Microsoft Paint. Same results.

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#94

Post by viraptor »

skywalker wrote: post #69

Isn't the radiation dangerous for small children? EDIT: whoa! I have been downvotted after asking if it is safe for children. So, here are some references. "Children have much thinner skull bones and their brains have a lot more fluid, so their brain tissues would likely absorb twice more radiation compared to an adult’s brain. But cellphone radiation standards set by the government remains the same for both groups."…

Children are going to take your mobile phone, put their head near the microwave, suck antennas of your wifi router and do lots and lots of crazy things that will expose them to different kinds of radiation. (while you're not looking / least expecting of course) Can anyone really protect children from EM waves of various nature these days? There are probably more dangerous items in your environment than an iPad.

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#96

Post by ghshephard »

leviathant wrote: post #28
swombat wrote: post #15

Now try giving that 2.5 year old a Netbook with Windows on it and see how well that works.

Now try giving that 2.5 year old a violin and see how well that works. Now try giving that 2.5 year old a graphing calculator and see how well that works. Now try giving that 2.5 year old a drum kit and see how well that works. Now try giving that 2.5 year old canvas with a palette of oil paints and see how well that works.

Yes. You are absolutely correct.

Every one of those things you've listed have a _horrible_ user interface. My ability to make music, calculate complex equations, play the drums, and create art is seriously hampered by my inability to use those devices.

As a result, I am neither a musician, complex-equation-calculator, drummer, or painter.

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#97

Post by sumeeta »

adriand wrote: post #81
ssn wrote: post #17

Clearly her previous iPhone experience was paramount.

This really can't be overemphasized. I have a child about the same age (two-and-a-half) and he's been playing with my iPod Touch since I got it December 2008. He's proficient with it, just like her - able to easily navigate between the different pages of apps, launch new apps, use the navigation within apps, etc. But obviously, it wasn't like that when he first used it. It took time. For example, it took forever to t…

How about a similar experiment about 20 years ago? Has anyone watched a young child try to navigate a command prompt? I mean changing directories, and maybe eventually learning a basic understanding of the filesystem and what files are.

I always tell people I learned how to navigate MS-DOS when I was five from watching my cousin do it. I wanted to get on the computer and play games, and I just remembered what he’d typed. I actually have no idea how true this memory is. But I wonder if CLI can feel just as natural to young children.

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#98

Post by buchin »

fragmede wrote: post #79
gizmo wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The glib answer is this: You have a problem. You solve it with heuristics. Now you have two problems. If I had to guess why Apple designed it this way? Here goes: Apple can't determine what a resting hand is as an abstraction, because sometimes a resting hand should do something (e.g. the pinch gesture; one static touch + one moving finger). So app developers would each have to implement their own heuristics to decid…

A good number of laptops I've tried have palm detection on their touch pads, if the contact patch too big to be a finger, then it it is not a finger and it is not a touch. Probably wouldn't help in the case of a toddler's hands, but, as mentioned, the hand-on-edge is something many have trouble with.

yeah

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#99

Post by sumeeta »

jonah wrote: post #80
tremendo wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That 2.5 yr old can spell already which many kinder-gardeners twice the age can't, and same toddler is _clearly_ already familiar with the interface as in swiping to scroll and hitting the home button to go back to the app menu. It was not a "new" toy, just a bigger version of a toy (s)he's already very familiar with

Spell, not so sure. Matching letter shapes - she's got that down pat.

I kept thinking to myself, ”I’m not sure I see the scholastic value in that game; it’s so easy to cheat!”

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#100

Post by greendestiny »

stuff4ben wrote: post #87
adriand wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really can't be overemphasized. I have a child about the same age (two-and-a-half) and he's been playing with my iPod Touch since I got it December 2008. He's proficient with it, just like her - able to easily navigate between the different pages of apps, launch new apps, use the navigation within apps, etc. But obviously, it wasn't like that when he first used it. It took time. For example, it took forever to t…

It's weird, my twins are almost 3 and they have yet to play with a computer except the couple of times I had some Elmo episodes up on Youtube. Most of their play comes with the old fashioned puzzles and dolls and other assorted toys. I figured they wouldn't know what to do with a computer, but clearly I need to revisit that. What kind of things can a 3 year old do with a computer? I admit I haven't the foggiest idea…

My 2 year old loves my ipod touch. The best thing I have for it is a drawing program called doodle buddy. She loves to scribble with it or do stamps. On the PC there is a great opensource paint program called tux paint - but she can't work the mouse so its a more of a ask Daddy what stamps she wants type thing.
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