Image courtesy: Scholastic
Screen time refers to the use of
any electronic screen such as television, laptops or desktops, DVDs, tablets,
smartphones or electronic games of any sort. With kids preferring to spend
their time glued to screens for long hours rather than playing games with their
peers outdoors, screen time is becoming a big problem for parents in the present
day and age.
A group of researchers at Grand
Valley State University in the US has come up with a novel educational approach
to help such parents – an app called ‘Test
4 Time!’ that tests kids with age-appropriate math questions. One question
correctly answered on the app translates to one minute of screen time for the
kids. The greater the number of correct answers to math problems, the more time
a child gets to spend online.
Tim Smock residing in Forest Hills
is to be credited for this idea in the first place. “I would write down 20 math
questions and tell my son that if he answered them, he could have one hour on
the Wii. I wondered if this process could be automated and came up with the
idea for Test 4 Time!”
A wonderfully innovative idea –
learn math and you get to earn screen time!
