Educational apps can be considered a dominant medium for providing educational content to children. Parents are major stakeholders and mediators in the selection of apps (Dias & Brito, 2021). It is critical to know how they choose apps for their children and understand what indicates a quality educational app, as well-designed apps can support…

Educational applications (apps) are ubiquitous within children's learning environments and emerging evidence has demonstrated their efficacy. However, it remains unclear what the active ingredients (ie, mechanisms), or combination of ingredients, of successful maths apps are. The current study developed a new, open-access, three-step framework for…

Constructionism, long before it had a name, was intimately tied to the field of Artificial Intelligence. Soon after the birth of Logo at BBN, Seymour Papert set up the Logo Group as part of the MIT AI Lab. Logo was based upon Lisp, the first prominent AI programming language. Many early Logo activities involved natural language processing,…

Guiding hints and challenge can help scaffold learners to progress beyond what they would achieve independently. The interactive and adaptive capabilities of mobile devices allow educational applications (apps) to support learning through scaffolding designs. However, little research has tested the effects of scaffolding features in apps on young…

Interactive apps are commonly used to support the acquisition of foundational skills. Yet little is known about how pedagogical features of such apps affect learning outcomes, attainment and motivation--particularly when deployed in lower-income contexts, where educational gains are most needed. In this study, we analyse which app features are…

This study is the first to systematically investigate the extent to which apps for children aged 0-5 foster play and creativity. There is growing evidence of children's use of tablets, but limited knowledge of the use of apps by children of children of this age. This ESRC-funded study undertook research that identified how UK children aged from 0…

This study reports on the development of two Messenger bots, designed to facilitate the learning of introductory and intermediate accounting. The Messenger bots were developed using a visual development environment that requires no coding knowledge. A thick description of the development of the Messenger bots is provided to encourage replication.…

When available in multiple languages, educational apps can deliver the same mathematics instruction in the child's first language or different language of instruction. This pilot study examined the feasibility of a maths app intervention compared to standard mathematical practice with 61 children aged 5-6 years attending a bilingual immersion…

Traditional methods of learning solfeggio (music theory) generally do not take advantage of computer-based support, meaning that, when learning individually, students cannot receive instantaneous feedback on their activities. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of an interactive mobile application, mySolfeggio, for learning…

From the lens of Self-Determination Theory, this study investigated the effects of a mobile application tool for identifying species on biology students' achievement and well-being. It was hypothesized that the mobile application, compared to a textbook, would enhance feelings of competence and autonomy and, in turn, intrinsic motivation, positive…

Despite the surging prominence of literature that explores mobile instant messaging's (MIM) capacity to leverage transformative pedagogical practices in higher education, studies that unravel the appropriation of MIM to leverage postgraduate supervision in authentic learning contexts are less frequent. Consequently, a gap persists on the nature of…

Screen media occupy an increasing role in young children's play and learning environments. This paper advances the current discussion of the changing digital lives of children, with new insights of media use in the homes of Australian families (N = 406). Parents reported their child's technology ownership, engagement with traditional and new…

There is increasing recognition of digital childhoods [Danby, S., Fleer, M., Davidson, C., & Hatzigianni, M. (Eds.). (2018). "Digital childhood." Amsterdam: Springer] and a corresponding body of research into young child's engagement with digital devices across a broad range of contexts [Marsh, J. A., Plowman, L., Yamada-Rice, D.,…

A popular activity among young children is the use of mobile devices and apps. Yet, the impact of mobile devices on learning and development is rather underexplored. The limited studies identified explore effects on literacy development and communication and report on mixed findings. A considerable gap is observed as to how the use of mobile apps…

The last 5 years have been marked by an explosion of tablet and smartphone applications designed for young children and several calls to encourage educational researchers to engage in children's app research. This paper presents a novel prospect for educational researchers: to collaboratively research, implement and produce iPad apps for…