In this episode of Neuroeducation with Angie Dee, the focus is on educational apps that are beneficial for children without triggering addictive responses. Angie discusses the importance of choosing apps that do not lead to excessive adrenaline and cortisol responses in kids. She emphasizes the need for apps that promote learning without overstimulating the brain with dopamine hits. Angie warns against apps that encourage fast-paced activities like Temple Run, highlighting the potential negative impact on children's well-being. Tune in to learn about selecting apps that support healthy screen time habits and enhance learning experiences for children.

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Introduction to Educational Apps

00:02:54 - Timestable Rockstar: A Math App for Growth Mindset

00:05:02 - Crossword Journey Word Games: Problem Solving and Phonics

00:06:05 - Duolingo: Learning Languages and More

00:07:09 - Pottery.lv: Creative and Calming Art App

00:08:34 - Importance of Moderation in Screen Time

00:09:48 - Encouraging Real-World Activities for Children

If we don't want our children to react like

a heroin addict when they've got to get off screen time, we've got

to think about what are some amazing apps that we have that

are out there that are not going to create this crazy adrenaline

cortisol response. Welcome to Neuroeducation, where

we're exploring the neuroscience of how to switch on the brain to

supercharge learning. I'll be sharing with you innovative teaching techniques,

effective parenting strategies, and educational advocacy. I'm

your host, Angie Dee. Together, let's revolutionize children's

learning. Welcome to

Newer Education with Angie Dee. Thanks for

tuning in. Today we're going to talk about educational

apps that make you go snap. Now we all know

that apps and

computer, screen time, iPad time, whatever it

may be, screen time can be absolutely

fabulous. A, to give yourself a break as

a parent or to implement in school teaching

that can obviously help children learn. There are

lots of apps that are absolutely fantastic and

there are lots of apps that I would say are a big no

no no. What is the reason for this? The reason for

this is that some computer games

that we have in this day and age, even if they might be

educational, they wire

our kids for a dopamine hit and The

best way to navigate this is I would say a

computer game that is making children do

something incredibly fast. I don't know if you know

Temple Run but they're like running they've got to run and they've got to jump and

they've got to run they've got to jump and oh my god they're gonna die and they're gonna run and they're gonna jump. If

you're doing something like that you can imagine what's going on inside

the child's brain. the kind of adrenaline cortisol

pumping through their veins, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then when you say, okay,

time to hop off, what's going to happen? Oh, they're

going to crack. Why? Because it's literally like they're on

crack. These kinds of games have been shown to be as

addictive as drugs. So if We

don't want our children to react like a heroin addict

when they've got to get off screen time. You've got to think about what

are some amazing apps that we have that are out there that

are not going to create this crazy adrenaline cortisol response.

So today I have four apps for you that I

highly recommend and there are more if you have more ideas message

me or comment down below with some great app

ideas if you have other suggestions. But here are

my four. Number one, a maths app, Timestable

Rockstar. Why I love Timestable Rockstar is

everybody has their own little character as they get more points

and do more times tables they get to play

their little rock star add some cute little things to their outfits but

the children can see how they improve with

speed of how they write, how

fast they answer the questions of their rounds and

also they see how many they get incorrect. And

I feel like this fits into a growth mindset. We know

that if children have a fixed mindset they think oh I'm

terrible at that and I'm never going to get better and that's just

how it's going to be forever. But with a growth mindset,

children see with more effort, I see that I can

improve. And I think Timestable Rockstar does this in

both of those two ways. A, the children see their

response time and how they're answering response time can get

faster. And obviously as they get more and

more correct out of each round. My daughter

personally didn't love maths. And

after the school assigned Time Sable Rockstar as

some homework, she decided to start doing

five minutes a day. And I was amazed to

see that when she came to me, she was so happy

to say, mom, look, I've improved. I'm like a second

faster and look at this. So she could see that she was improving.

Before this, her attitude towards maths was, You

know, my dad's a math teacher. Both of my boys love

maths. My son Santiago was doing polynomial algebraic

division in grade six, loves it. My

daughter didn't, but I

say times table rock stars flip that around.

And it really showed her that with greater effort and

more time she could improve. So that's

my number one app. suggestion. Number two

is a simple game. It's called crossword journey

word games. And you get to create,

you have usually some words in a circle, and

you can create different words by touching different

letters. But it's a fantastic game for problem solving

different word patterns. And if you

have something like phonograms or phonics that you're trying to

teach your children, this is a great way to build that because

they're trying to find all the words that, oh, there's an O and a U and

an S and a T and it's, oh, it's shh. S,

H, O, U, O, U, T, and then, okay, this is shout,

and then maybe this is some other word that has the

same spelling pattern, shout, and out. So there's C, that O,

U, makes the ow sound every time.

And it really builds that in through repetition in a fun way. So

that's my number two go-to app. Number three.

is Duolingo. Now, Duolingo not

only is for learning languages, but they have Duolingo for maths, Duolingo

for even learning your letters and learning your words.

And what I love about Duolingo is they try to

do a variety of ways. If you take

learning languages for an example, They will

get you to say it. They will get you to write it.

They'll get you to listen to it and then respond to it. And

they'll get you to match it. They're trying to do it in a variety of

different ways that really helps children learn. I've

seen a huge amount of children playing Duolingo

and improving their second or third language skills with

Duolingo. And I've also seen children using Duolingo

for English and for maths. and I think it's

a fantastic app that has a variety of

subjects that you can learn from and they do it in a really good

way. The last one is a nice

art app. Now Because there are

so many computer games and there are so many apps

that are just making our children's brains go

wild, whether they're shooting some fictional person

or when they're trying to escape something that's chasing

after them. It's nice to have an app that

has a creative aspect, but it's also more calming. And

I would say the next app is just that. It's

called Pottery. dot lv and

what it allows you to do is to take

a piece of clay and move the clay with your

fingers. So if you have an ipad even if you have the phone you're moving

the clay you're expanding the clay and with your fingers

you're gently creating this beautiful piece of pottery which

you then can sell for a certain amount of

money, but you can decorate it, you can paint it, you can add different

patterns. So it might be an African little pattern

you put around your pottery, or it could be a little Asian pattern or

a Greek pattern, whatever it may be, but children get

to have this creative experience. obviously

will never beat the real world, but it's a beautiful side

kind of creative app that allows them

to do something that calms them down. I would

say one of the most important things to think about

when it comes to screen time in your child is

everything in moderation. There are some children,

unfortunately, the statistics in Australia, that are

having four to five hours of screen time a day. And when it

goes to high school, the stats are insane. The

stats in high school in Australia are that some children are on

screen times for over seven hours a day, if

not more. When we think about that, we have to

ask ourselves, is that healthy? Is

that healthy for our children? Is it healthy for their emotions?

Is that healthy for their development? And I would have to

say, with many psychologists behind

me, that the resounding answer is no. So

everything in moderation. I average

my children on maybe maximum of one hour screen time a

day. Once the one hour's up, it's capped. And there are some days we don't

have screen time because we're having outdoor days. And for

some children, I know screen time is hard.

It's hard to get children off. And when children are hitting

the roof and screaming when they get off, some parents think, oh,

it's just easy to leave them on it. Forget about it. We're going to leave them there.

However, The sad thing is this

is not setting them up for success in life. It's not setting them up for

holistic education in terms of being a well-rounded individual

emotionally, physically, mentally. And one of my best tips

for getting kids off screen and into the real world in a positive way

is doing positive things with your children. outside of

the home. Whether that's let's go for a nightly walk

around the block, let's go for a walk along the beach if you have

an esplanade near your home or something nice, let's go and bounce the

basketball for half an hour or play tennis or

whatever it is. If you're doing something fun and engaging with

your child, which often they want to do, is engaged

with you in a positive way then you don't have to be trying

to limit their screen time and having fights with them. It's easier to

have a short amount of screen time say okay well we've had an hour or

half an hour for younger children it might be even much smaller

time 20 minutes or once a week but If

you make life more exciting than a screen,

it's easy for children to get off screen time. So that's

when we want to get them off the screen and into the real

world. But for those short times when you do want to

give them a bit of screen time and you want it to be healthy screen time, I hope these

four apps help. And thank you so much for tuning in again

to Neuroeducation with Angie Dee. do

us a big favor and jump on to Apple

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