Symmetry Shuffle By: Carstens Studios: Fun Way to Build Spatial Understanding of Flip, Turns, and Slides

Young children are being exposed to elementary geometric concepts at a younger age than ever before.

Some attribute this to the new push due to "Common Core Standards", while others state the increased pressure for students to build their fundamental math concepts is a result of the United States less than stellar performance on the latest round of PISA testing.

Whatever the actual reason is, there is no disputing the reality, or the need for our nation's students to both competent and competitive members of the global knowledge economy.

Symmetry Shuffle by Carstens Studios does an amazing job of introducing and fine-tuning both a child's skill and their understanding of spatial geometric concepts such as flip, turns, and slides. 

A student can choose between two different play modes "race" or "solve"; along with an option for "easy" or "hard "modes. There are also options for grid size and icons (used in the transformations).

The only downside of the game I encountered  -other than a difficulty in solving some of the actual puzzles- was in using the "arrow controls" whist on my iPad mini. However, once I moved onto a full-size iPad this issue was reduce to only a minor nuisance.

I found the game play to be additive and I could feel the brain buzz as I was challenged with increasing more difficult puzzles.

  

Side note: I consistently suggest this particular app to parents whose children struggle to complete tasks on found on: https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-2/flip-turn-and-slide

I find this "pre-assessment" to be a good indication of a student's generalized understanding of this particular concept.

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Geometric and spatial thinking are important in and of themselves, because they connect mathematics with the physical world (Excerpt from "Progressions for the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics,  June 23, 2012)

In The Forest: Learning to See the Path

Recently, I reviewed an emergent reader title by Alexa Andrews titled, In The Forest, in which I rated the book with 1 out of 5 stars. This was a difficult review for me to write because I try very had not to be negative. And while I stand by my original review and rating I have written this post in an attempt to put a positive spin on this rather dull and otherwise tedious book.

Many of you might be wondering what business a negative book review about an emergent reader has on an blog focused on Educational Technology, so let me begin by answering that question.

This spring, I decided to take on a long time goal of mine to write educational product reviews. My goals was to write reviews that could help guide parents and caregivers in selecting those products that best fit their child's needs.

Sounds simple right...

Well as it turns out reviews aren't as simple as I once thought. However, whilst learning all about how to construct a good review, I have had the pleasure of getting to know a team, of what I consider to be dedicated consumer advocates. Most of these "advocates" don't write product reviews for "educational products" or even any profit, in fact a smile comes to my face when I think of the diversity of this talented group. In just a few short months, I have been treated to an insider's look at what goes on behind the scenes and in the creation those enthusiastic and passionate reviews, which ultimately help guide consumer's choices. Along the way this dedicated group showed me what a powerful force they truly are.

Some of the lessons I have learned thus far include:

• Good reviews are not defined by word count, but by content
• The power of free choice includes the freedom to make "bad" choices
• Press enter a couple times to make it easier on your readers
• To respect different points of views when it comes to "needed information" (aka dog collars)
• Even the most different of opinions can benefit from a little bit of humor (aka Chocolate Teapots)
• Never be afraid of admitting weakness (aka brain clouds in spring)
• And always, always think before you press send 

These lessons do belong in this blog because Padster's is all about the transformative ways in which technology is impacting education and the "impact" made by a devoted product reviewer should never be taken for granted.

So in the spirit of the bringing out the positive in an otherwise negative review here are:

"Three Ideas for Using In the Forest written by Alexa Andrews and illustrated by Candice Keimig"

1. The book could be used as a gateway for introducing young children to the various parts of the forest's delicate ecosystem and as a gateway to introducing Venn diagrams.
2. In The Forest has a very predictable and stable vocabulary. Using Fry's 1st One Hundred Sight Words. students could make a tally sheet and create a bar chart from the results of their tally
3. In the Forest could be used as an example for student's to create a "classroom book" with each child contributing a page to the story. Using services such as lulu classroom books could be sold as a fundraiser.

Combining App Centered learning and Purposeful Play Pedagogy

Since concluding my app creation adventure (noted in a prior post), I have been attempting to document/review some of the educational products (such as books, toy, and other reference materials) which I have encountered 20+ year journey in education.

This is because I believe that, while apps can and have now proven to be very useful in education. I have also seen that without some type of anchor for the newly created knowledge or skill, the gains are usually short lived. In my humble opinion, young learners especially, need a mixture of hand-on  and technology based programs. I also believe that one of the best uses for technology, has yet to be fully realized and that is in the area of formative assessment.

This does not mean that I no longer believe that technology is beneficial for young children, that is simply not so. Technology based learning can and does open the doors to knowledge in ways no other learning tool can.

• What better way is there to show children different cultures and locations, other than maybe traveling the world?
• Technology enables children to practice an experiment over and over in app such as GazziliScience 
• And much more....

Since creating this blog more than five and half years ago, I have seen 1st hand the huge effect  quality research-based technology programs have on a child's educational outcome.

Problem is, I have also seen the harmful effects of technology programs, which are not based on solid research and have been developed more as a recruitment or sale pitch for schools, have on children and young adults. More over the impact these empty, self-serving technology initiatives will have the future of digital citizenship remains to be seen.

Most recently, my views have begun in earnest to combine those strategies which are founded in purposeful play and based on Vygotsky's social learning theories with the nuggets I have gleaned from my experience creating and managing technology programs. I believe this has led me to where I am now and why I have come to understand remarkable possibilities of combining "purposeful play" or  guided play with an a carefully woven and correlated technology program has in improving the educational outcomes of our nation's children.

Lastly, I am exploring some of the possibilities technology has in facilitating data-driven decision making in education and formative assessment strategies.  To clarify, I define formative assessment as a recursive process between a teacher and student; and one which monitors/tracks a student learning. Formative assessments, generally, are incorporated into a student regular lessons learning time and differ from summative assessments such as high stakes testing. Educational data science has become an emerging interest for me and I sincerely hope to explore the effects of connecting a child's learning to visible learning targets.