Criteria for selecting apps: Debating the perceptions of young children, parents and industry stakeholders

Mobile device use among preschool-aged children in Greece

“…The reason is that many parents may overestimate their engagement in regulating their children’s digital experiences (Livingstone et al, 2015 ). Like other studies (Dias & Brito, 2021 ), the present study found that parents have adopted the reduction of screen time, an average of some minutes per day, as the most common restrictive policy. Also, this study’s results coincide with those of other authors (Gözüm & Kandır, 2021 ) that found that only a tiny percentage of parents (below 10%) provide conscious guidance to their children in digital edutainment.…”

“…The study results revealed that touchscreen technologies dominate in these three different countries. Based on our study, we can conclude that most children in western countries, including Greece, live in homes that are “digitally fluent” environments (Dias & Brito, 2021 ). Especially European children grow up in technology-rich homes (Chaudron et al, 2015 ), and printed books and educational television programs rapidly give way to digital content, shifting the learning environment at home for very young children (Furenes et al, 2021 ).…”

“…In this study, similar to other studies (Chaudron et al, 2018a , b ), parents select and download apps and games that they consider educational and appropriate for their children. Nevertheless, parents often perceive what is being taught as educational value, similar to early childhood curricula (quizzes, puzzles, and games), dismissing other aspects of context and skills (Dias & Brito, 2021 ). Furthermore, in this study, the inadequate and often misleading information that parents receive from the media and other unofficial sources such as peers about digital content appears to be a significant factor in their decisions on children’s touchscreen use (Dardanou et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Like other studies in the present study, most parents, despite their willingness, mentioned a lack of scientific literacy to find educational apps in the digital stores (Gözüm & Kandır, 2020 ; Lupton & Williamson, 2017 ). In addition, they are also being unaware of classifying young children learning needs and how they can use apps to scaffold children learning, such as encouraging engagement in meaningful activities (Hirsh-Pasek et al, 2015 ) or higher-order skills such as problem-solving (Dias & Brito, 2021 ). Although digital learning can be used in diverse ways to enhance learning, parents still voiced uncertainty about whether to adopt and how best to implement these digital resources (Livingstone et al, 2015 ).…”

Teaching mathematics with mobile devices and the Realistic Mathematical Education (RME) approach in kindergarten

“…Nowadays, digital media are a part of day-to-day life for children of all ages, and several researchers have proposed smart mobile devices for learning (Dias & Brito, 2021;Dorouka et al, 2021;Kalogiannakis et al, 2018). As these technologies play an increasingly prominent role in the lives of children worldwide, national ministries, organizations, and stakeholders are experimenting with the use of these devices for a wide range of alternative methods of teaching and learning aims.…”