Living in the age of Information Technology, today there is literally no age bar as far as the use of computers is concerned. There are a number of child prodigies developing software programs and operating systems. If other aspects of life require experience, it seems like the computer is an experience itself. Apart from the young geniuses just out of their nappies and onto the computer seat, there a innumerable other children who have a natural penchant for the computer.
In the good old days, bringing up a child meant manual teaching and learning methods. Flashcards, making drawings, picture books and impatience were dominant ingredients involved in teaching a child. But, in this technological era things have changed. Toddler computers provide an entertaining form of educating a child. There are toddler software programs that teach children to count, the alphabets and all other basics in a in an interactive way. The way the software is packaged brings about more interest in the child to learn than was the case when parents would use flash cards and picture books.
This form of learning through toddler computers has given birth to a new form of learning through entertainment, which has popularly been termed as ‘infotainment’. What does this imply? For instance suppose a child is learning to identify objects beginning with the letter ‘A’, by learning through the specially created software the child has proven to learn better and quicker. What happens in toddler software learning packages there are sounds and visuals that help the child know when they are wrong and so each time the child goes back to revise, the mistakes decrease in number and the child ends up learning the lesson more effectively.
The colors, sounds, buttons, in fact the entire get up of a toddler computer is such that the child is attracted towards learning from it. It becomes a child’s ‘mechanical friend’, lightening parents’ burden of teaching children the basics. After all an early beginning leads to long and consistent progress! . author K Bajaj.
