Tag: Apps

Can learning apps at home enhance children’s school readiness?

By Winnie Tam, Centre for University and School Partnership, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

A study by Niklas and colleagues investigated the impact of Learning4Kids, an app-based family intervention approach, on enhancing kindergarten children’s literacy and mathematics skills before they enter school. The study included 500 German children (mean age 5 years), randomly assigned to one of four groups: literacy apps, math apps, control apps, or no tablet.

Children in the intervention groups used specially designed, research-based educational apps at home over six months. The literacy apps focused on letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and language development; the math apps targeted number knowledge, counting, and measurement. Designed to promote active learning without distractions, the apps adjusted difficulty levels as children progressed. Control apps focused on general cognitive skills, not literacy or math.

Results showed that children in the intervention groups significantly outperformed those in the control groups in their respective domains. The literacy intervention was particularly effective for letter knowledge and phonological awareness, and the mathematics intervention for number knowledge and backwards counting. Importantly, longer app usage correlated with greater skill improvements, with an average of 4.5 minutes of daily use producing a +0.10 SD gain in mathematical competence and 2.5 min a +0.10 SD gain in literary competence.

These findings demonstrate that high-quality educational apps can be a cost-effective, accessible way to support kindergarten children’s school readiness. However, the researchers emphasized that most commercially available educational apps lack empirical validation and may not deliver similar benefits.

A web tool to interpret the impact of programs on student social and behavioral outcomes

By Marta Pellegrini, University of Cagliari, Italy

A recent study described the use of an online application to show the results of a meta-analysis of psychological and educational programs in K–12 on student social and behavioral outcomes. The researchers highlighted the huge variability of the effects based on filtering the types of programs, contexts, and students, and proposed a way to better interpret the meta-analysis results and make use of them in future research.

Data come from a meta-analysis of 323 experiments conducted in the U.S. in K–12 on student antisocial behaviors, self-regulation, social and interpersonal adjustment, and personal adjustment. Several characteristics were extracted to describe the study setting, such as the region of study, the type of program, its duration, grade level, ethnicity, and socio-economic status–all characteristics that may play a role in explaining the variability of the program effect.

ES Contextualizer (https://ebcontextualizer.shinyapps.io/EmpBench/) is a web tool that makes it possible for users to select characteristics of a context to produce targeted estimates of the impact of programs on student outcomes. ES Contextualizer can be used by researchers to plan a new study or to facilitate effect size interpretation.The authors described several examples of how to use the web tool. In one of them, a researcher conducted an experiment on the effects of an intervention on middle school students’ social problem-solving skills based on teacher reports and obtained an average effect size of +0.15. Using ES Contextualizer, this estimate can be compared to similar interventions conducted in similar contexts and grade levels. If the effect size is compared to the correct benchmark of +0.05 for middle school students from the ES Contextualizer tool, the researchers can conclude that what they found is a meaningful impact. If the grade level is not selected, the tool shows a benchmark of +0.26 instead, possibly leading the researcher to draw a different conclusion.

The authors recommended using the web tool’s filters to generate more nuanced effect size interpretations and more accurate estimates for use in power analysis.

Comparing the cost-effectiveness of algebraic technological apps for seventh graders

By Nathan Storey, Johns Hopkins University

Despite increasing distance from the main brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, students in the United States have continued to struggle academically, particularly in mathematics. As educators and school leaders seek to address these challenges, they are confronted with the dual considerations of assessing the academic impact and managing the financial costs associated with implementing new programs. Consequently, studies on the cost-effectiveness of educational interventions have become invaluable resources for decision-making

In a recent study, Finster and colleagues build on existing research of the impact of game-based algebraic technology applications, as originally described in the work of Decker-Woodrow and colleagues. Specifically, Finster and colleagues examined the cost-effectiveness of three algebraic technological applications for seventh grade students: From Here to There (FH2T), Dragon Box 12+ (DragonBox, previously reviewed in BEiB here), and Immediate Feedback. FH2T engages students with math concepts through a discovery-based approach, emphasizing puzzles over procedural steps, with the aim of enhancing engagement, efficacy, and interest. DragonBox is designed to teach algebraic concepts also through a discovery puzzle-based approach, as well as offering different challenge levels and adaptability. Lastly, Immediate Feedback is a free, online tutoring system, and features formative assessment and timely feedback rather than game-based learning.

The study compared these three applications to an active control group that replicated traditional homework assignments using technology. The final sample included data from nine schools, 34 teachers, 127 classes, and a total of 1,850 students (comprising 753 for FH2T, 350 for DragonBox, 381 for Immediate Feedback, and 366 for the Active Control group). The researchers employed hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to assess the effects of the interventions, while the ingredients method was utilized to estimate their costs.

The analysis identified both FH2T and DragonBox as low-cost interventions that can efficiently improve algebraic performance for students. Cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated by dividing the average cost per participant by the average effectiveness for each application. In this case, DragonBox was found to cost $55 per student, with a +0.26 average ES (cost-effectiveness ratio of $206), while FH2T cost $39 per student, with an +0.14 average ES (cost-effectiveness ratio of $291). These ratios are representative of implementing interventions in person, as designed and practiced in this study.

Effects of apps on early math and reading

By Zeyu Huang, Johns Hopkins University

While thousands of educational apps are available to students, teachers, and parents, relevant research studies on their effectiveness are still limited. A meta-analysis by James and colleagues reviewed findings of 6 intervention studies and 285 effect sizes to figure out the effectiveness of educational apps for children in preschool to Grade 3. Results yielded a mean effect size of +0.31 in both math and literacy. Although outcomes varied across studies, results from this meta-analysis summarized the overall impact of educational apps and examined potential moderator effects.