t-learning Case Studies - Teaching Science to Young Children, Asia

Another of interactive games have been developed that help teach young children about science. The games, whose subjects range from the principles of flight to the behaviour of various species of fish, are featured in the Crayola Kids Club, an interactive television service on the Hallmark Channel currently being test marketed in Asia. The service enables children to use their television sets to participate in interactive learning, arts and craft activities.

One game uses paper airplanes to teach kids about the principles of flight, showing how folding a paper airplane in various ways affects how it moves through the air. Children are asked to apply what they have learned by matching paper airplanes with real aircraft that have similar aerodynamic characteristics.

Another game teaches kids about the interactions of various species of fish and shows them how to construct a marine diorama out of a shoebox. Kids who lack the materials to construct the diorama at home can take part by building an interactive aquarium on their television screens. They are prompted to go to an area of the service, by pressing a button on the remote control, where they are guided through the construction of a virtual aquarium. They can choose from various backgrounds, fish species and decorations. Once they have assembled all of the elements, the aquarium plays for as long as they leave the TV on.

A third game challenges kids to navigate a computer-animated house by using a periscope. The game goes on to show kids how to make a periscope using a milk carton and mirrors.