The problem with modern technology…

February 2, 2016 Alice Louise EagleLeave a comment

Modern technology has the control to be very passive and therefore doesn’t always provide children with the quality and quantity of crucial emotional, social, cognitive and/or physical experiences they require when they are young. The developing child requires that right combination of these experiences as the right times during development in order to develop optimally. This cannot happen if a child is sitting for hours passively using and interacting with modern technology, like television for example.

Sitting young children in front of television for hours also prevents that child from having hours of other developmental experiences. Children need real-time social interactions; technology such as television can prevent that from happening. However, one can argue that it isn’t just technology that has this effect on children and before jumping to any particular conclusion, one must define what ‘technology’ really is.

“The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes” – Oxford Dictionaries

So, with this definition in place, can you argue that children continuously reading books is also denying them of a thorough development? Through this definition, I believe technology doesn’t only incorporate machinery and having access to reading materials, on a user-interface or not, is in fact also, interacting with technology.

Technology doesn’t have a particularly good reputation when involved in the class room of young children, however there are many positive qualities to modern technology. The technologies that benefit young children the greatest are those that are interactive and allow the child to develop their curiosity, problem solving and independent thinking skills. – Kimberly Moore Kneas, Ph.D.

First Logo Design

February 1, 2016 Alice Louise EagleLeave a comment

I am not completely settled on this name for my project this semester, however I decided to have a play with some potential design ideas. I really like how simple this is and how it reflects the aim of the game, quite obviously. I love the font as it is easy to read and can start creating a branding element for my project, if I continue to use this specific style. The use of the ‘O’ in ‘Inventors’ allowed me to focus on a planet style theme, which is maybe a little cliche, however it works with the target audience I have researched thus far. I will continue drawing up different logo designs for this project, to show I have explored my options and worked with different tools/software. This was created in Indesign. Next stop, photoshop.

Alien Invasion

February 1, 2016 Alice Louise EagleLeave a comment

I have drawn up a couple of avatar examples for my potential game. I decided to try and reflect different age groups, through the drawings, so from right to left, you see the age progression and how this impacts creativity. My initial idea was to use these as options for the players, instead of being given one set character. This will also encourage users to begin using their imagination from the beginning, through making the choice of what colour/design alien they would like to represent.

Originally, I wanted to incorporate the element of designing your own character and giving it your own name, however after some research, I think this may require quite a high skill set. I won’t write it off completely and will continue to consider it, as it plays an important role in the ‘Art’ aspect, of the STEAM curriculum that I want the game to embrace.

These drawings are just a couple of quick ideas and I will continue to draw up some more, using my own creativity, whilst comparing it to research carried out on child development and young children, learn in the classroom.

The Basic Stages of Early Childhood

January 26, 2016 Alice Louise Eagle2 Comments

In order to form my target audience, I needed to research what particular age demographic would be best suited to my idea (which is not yet fully developed and could potentially change). From reading through scholarly articles written by psychologists and researching published studies, I noticed that children tend to develop their creativity between the ages of 4-7. The creative side of a child’s brain is constantly developing, however it is at this particular time in their life, that they are introduced to using it more frequently. However, due to wanting to create an interactive game, that will not only teach elements of the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) curriculum, but encourage a basic understanding of all these specific areas, I will need to target children, slightly older.

“Since creative behaviour is not viewed as an expression of a creative faculty but instead, as the behaviour of an individual in relation to specific environmental events, all references to this problem-solving ability must be in specific terms. Thus, it is not meaningful to speak of a child as being creative; we must specify the area of creative behavior – in music, painting, social affairs, science, mechanical technology and, so on. According to this analysis, creative behaviour can be taught.” – Sidney W. Bijou (1976)

In primary school, Art classes occur just as often, if not more so, than ICT lessons, therefore children are constantly, fully immersed in a creative environment. This is encouraging in itself, however I want to be able to include technological advances, in these art classes. Art and creativity, doesn’t always need to rely on painting and drawing, but instead using one’s imagination to invent something original.

Ultimately, I have decided to focus on targeting children in years 4-5, so aged 8-10. This will enable me to explore my idea in more detail and include more educational aspects that won’t potentially result in confusion. Therefore, I need to continue my research into how a child of that age interacts with technology and art, in order to develop my idea further.