President Obama, Kids, Screens and Education
Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010
by Robert Budlow
http://www.mobistories.com
Not five words you'd typically associate within the same sentence. It'd usually be something along the lines of Schools, Kids, Screens and Education, and how too much TV will rot the brains of our young children. But actually, our good President Barack Obama is very pro-education and pro-reading for children. He knows we can do better as a country in educating our youth and using technology is just one way to do so.
In 2005, 2007, and 2008 President Obama was named by Times magazine as one of the 100 most influential folks in the world. You don't get there by neglecting your education and disregarding the importance of the written word.
He currently holds a B.A. in international relations from Columbia University and was also the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review at Harvard Law School. Well known for his stance on education, some of his most memorable quotes are "You can't have No Child Left Behind if you leave the money behind" and " as parents, we need to find the time and the energy to step in and find ways to help our kids love reading we need to think outside the box here".
To use a clich, "Think outside the box" when it comes to reading and educating our children. It's a solid fact that technology today isn't going away. It's only going to become more and more prevalent. That's why learning to adapt technology in positive ways, to help kids learn and grow as people is hugely important.
There have been several reports, such as the one from the Cooney center that asks the question, "How can emerging media help children read." Products such as MobiStories, digital books for children www.mobistories.com and Brain Pop www.brainpop.com are two examples of media products that encourage reading. The amount of time kids, now commonly referred to as "digital natives," spend in front of a screen will continue to increase as devices such as an iPhone, iTouch and Smart Boards make their way into the school system. If you've seen movies such as The Surrogates' and Gamers' it's almost like a glimpse into the future of technology and where it's headed. Right now we're in the Mobile' stage, with things like the iPhone and Kindle. 20 years from now we could be well beyond the mobile stage and walking in the land of virtual reality.
But until that time, it's not difficult to find digital picture books, graphic novels and other story books developed for a mobile screen. This is a terrific way of putting a positive twist on something that some parents view as detrimental to children and learning. Mobile devices aren't going away. Screen time is only gaining popularity.
Even 4 year olds are getting in on the action, playing with their Mom's iPhone while waiting in line or at the Dr.'s office, or when sitting in the back seat of the car. There are 140,000 apps for the iPhone. Want guilt free screen time? Search for apps that encourage reading, are interactive and engaging. There's even an app that fits this criteria about the President for young children. Put your mind at ease when it comes to allowing your child screen time and knowing that the time they ARE spending on it is educational all while having fun, reading, and learning. Think our best selling President would approve?
This Article has been viewed 178 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.