The children will use iPad minis during the study
We believe that high quality, local language, educational apps on tablet technology can be life-changing.
London (PRWEB UK) 12 August 2013
The study will take place in September 2013 at Biwi Primary School, Lilongwe, which was selected for the project by the Malawi Ministry of Education. It will involve 300 children aged 5-6 and will be led by Dr Nicola Pitchford, from the School of Psychology at The University of Nottingham, UK.
Construction is currently underway of the ‘Unlocking Talent’ Learning Centre at the school, funded by London-based EuroTalk, where the children will use the company’s Masamu maths apps in their local language of Chichewa.
Each child will be tested at the start of the evaluation, in pattern processing, motor co-ordination and simple maths skills. Some of the children will then spend 30 minutes each day in the Learning Centre, using the Masamu apps on iPad mini tablets. Six weeks later, they will be tested again to examine what learning has taken place among these children compared to other students.
If the results show significant educational gains, EuroTalk plan to scale up the project in Malawi. “In a country like Malawi, where class sizes often exceed 100 pupils, many children don’t get the learning opportunities they so desperately need,” says Andrew Ashe, EuroTalk’s managing director. “We believe that high quality, local language, educational apps on tablet technology can be life-changing, and we look forward to seeing what the study reveals.”
EuroTalk’s goal is to bring the best possible education to one billion children, and the team sees the forthcoming evaluation as a vital step. Using Malawi as a model, the company then plans to expand to other countries across the world, producing the apps in each child’s local language.
EuroTalk is a publisher of educational software based in South West London. Established in 1991, the company is best known for its range of language learning software in over 130 languages, which has been used by more than 20 million people worldwide.