The 2011 Census states that anyone over the age of 11 who can read and write is ‘literate’. Literacy has been marked as a strong factor in employment, with a study by Bynner, J. and Parsons, S. in 2001, citing, ‘both literacy and numeracy skills have been shown to be crucial in gaining employment and retaining it (…)’. Literacy is the backbone of developing nations like India, and foundational literacy is its base.

Research attributes 80% of brain development to the early childhood period. This fertile period is also when the precursors to language learning are developed. These foundations later become predictors of a child’s reading ability in later grades. Unfortunately, many children (in India and worldwide) are consistently unable to read at their grade level. That is a problem because these children then fall further and further behind with every grade i.e. it becomes tremendously difficult for them to catch up. Not being able to read has grave implications ranging from not getting into college to unemployment.

Why Square Panda Focuses On Developing Foundational Literacy Skills:

The reading skill is crucial to perform well in academics, as well as in regular life. An early reading ability not only influences a future reading habit but also paves the way for future success and quality of life.

The current educational policy has refrained from highlighting any particular mode of instruction as the ‘primary’ mode, choosing instead to leave the decision up to the respective administrations. What is a game-changer for the Indian education system is the addition of ECCE into the new policy. Where once early childhood education was not looked upon as formal education, it is now being given a rightful place in the educational landscape of India. Early education is also at the core of Square Panda’s multisensory platform, with a focus on early literacy.

Square Panda’s mission is to empower all children to reach their full potential by launching their educational journey with the power of literacy and languages and we support that journey through our unique, personalised learning system.

Square Panda wants to drive development and education in India to be on par with our global counterparts, using a platform that enables foundational English language learning, from the grassroots level itself, starting as deep inside the educational system as Anganwadis and Balwadis. With a strong educational team to back the constantly evolving programs developed by Square Panda, we are turning the focus towards training Anganwadi workers to handle early education, work with our systems, and skill themselves, to enable a better learning environment for children at the very heart of India.

The disparity of educational resources across India sees an imbalance in the distribution of basic amenities like teachers, educational materials, and even study books. The gap further widens, due to factors like high pupil to teacher ratios, a lack of appropriate curriculum, infrastructure shortages, poor quality of teaching staff, and declining monetary resources. While there is a facility for free education, especially in the younger years, enforcing this is difficult. Educational technology reaches the places these resources cannot, making edtech companies like ours the perfect collaborators to the government, to enhance foundational literacy across the educational landscape in India. 

“In a country like India, where we find children of different learning levels and capabilities, edtech is a valuable resource to cater to different needs, allowing for a greater personalising and adaptiveness,” opines Mr. Jhalani.

Square Panda’s self-guided adaptive platform allows for an enhanced and holistic early learning experience; the teachers and educators can operate our system with a minimal amount of technical knowledge.

As a future global superpower, we want to see India succeed in its goal to achieve 100% literacy. Square Panda provides an all-round solution to the early literacy problems plaguing the Indian education sector at present, with a blended offering combining digital tools and multisensory physical learning materials.

“The goals Square Panda has is to make education and literacy affordable and reachable to the masses across the world, may it be in China, may it be in India. We want to make sure that every child gets an opportunity to be literate, learn the language of English—which is a primary language across the world—and find better jobs as they grow up.” – Mr. Ashish Jhalani.

Square Panda believes in the need for a robust early education system, along with efficient teacher training programs to enhance quality of education across India, and the globe.

Technology is growing by leaps and bounds, becoming more commonplace in our daily lives as the years go by. In fact, Artificial Intelligence has the potential to add $957 billion, or 15% of current gross value added, to India’s economy by 2035, according to an estimate in a study by a tech giant.

One sector benefiting from technology-the education sector-is yet to see positive results in a country like India. Globally, private investment in educational technology, broadly defined as the use of computers or other technology to enhance teaching, grew 32% annually from 2011 through 2015, rising to $4.5 billion globally.

We’re seeing terms like Artificial Intelligence (or AI) and Machine Learning (or ML) being used very frequently in conjunction with education. We’re decoding these terms, and what changes they can bring to the Indian education landscape, in this article:

What Is ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)’: It’s also called ‘Machine Intelligence’, and describes the artificial simulation of human intelligence, by machines. Examples of AI include Apple’s SIRI, self-driving cars, Presentation Translator for PowerPoint (it creates real-time subtitles for what the teacher is saying), and more.

What Is ‘Machine Learning (ML)’: A branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI), ML helps systems and software analyze and interpret patterns, by experience and exposure to repeated tasks. ML gets computers to perform tasks without being explicitly programmed for them. Apart from Siri, Alexa, and all the others, ML is used in GPS navigation services, social media platforms (Facebook can recognize a photo of your friend the instant you upload it), the spam filter in your email inbox, and even language learning apps like Square Panda and Duolingo, who use the games and exercises played on their system to calibrate and cater learning as per each individual learner’s level of learning.

“India will have the highest population of young people in the world over the next decade, and our ability to provide high-quality educational opportunities to them will determine the future of our country.” – (NEP, 2020)

We think the new policy by the Ministry of Education perfectly sums up our nation’s future requirements, to create a globally competitive, employable workforce of citizens. For this reason, AI and ML will need to be an intrinsic part of education, right from the early years.

Here’s what we think the future of education will look like, with AI and ML:

Smart Content Will Be Everywhere: Smart learning and smart content include any type of learning that is studied online, including video lessons and recorded classes. Textbooks as we know it will change, with parts or even whole chapters being converted into digital lessons. These new syllabuses will help children of all ages and academic levels, increasing their engagement to a greater extent.

Learning Will Get More Personalized: What we will see as the education landscape changes, is more adaptive learning methods adopted by schools and states as a whole. AI and ML have the unique ability to ‘read’ a child’s data in real-time, and adjust the curriculum to cater to that learner’s particular learning needs. Children coming in the invisible ‘middle strata’ (those who don’t attract attention by being at the top OR the bottom), will not fall through the cracks. Educators will see the benefits of adaptive curriculum, with having to put in extra efforts, which thereby frees up their time for other tasks. Not just learning, but each child’s response and feedback to learning will be personalized too, allowing parents and educators to understand individual children’s performance in detail. Multi-level classrooms, with children of different grades packed into one class with just one teacher, like those seen in rural areas, can make the best use of this personalized approach to learning.

Technology To Support Teachers And Educators: There are multiple instances of AI and ML being used in classrooms across the globe, with varying degrees of success. Not only does the technology get more affordable as time goes by, but it even allows teachers more time to work on lessons and plans, by taking care of all mundane administrative tasks like note making, collating data, etc. that is, for now, a task most Indian teachers have to do manually.
For instance, our early education platform at Square Panda has a ‘Portal’, to help monitor learning in schools and at home, in real-time. Read all about it, here.
All the evidence points towards AI and ML being a strong source of support and aid to educators, and are not to be taken as replacements. After all, education wouldn’t be the same without a ‘human touch’.

An Unbiased Assessment And Tracking System: On account of providing real-time traceability and trackability, AI and ML systems have started to flourish in the edTech segment. Grading and checking will soon be done via a programmed system, removing the possibility of human error and bias with it. Negative feedback will be done away with, increasing a child’s enjoyment of learning, without fear of repercussions.

Increased Reach: India has a vast geography, with multiple remote, hard-to-reach areas; these make equal learning opportunities harder for children in such areas. Technology enables children all over India, especially in the remote areas, to access quality education right from the early years. To make up for the intermittent internet connectivity in such areas, the tech can even be customized to work offline for long periods of time. AI can enable easier access to offline content, and even provide automated tutoring and mentoring programs for different learning styles. The near future could see a greater degree of interlinking and connection between the schools and students, allowing students to take courses and classes that were otherwise out of reach for them. 

Skilling: The performance matrix in AI algorithms helps the machine determine what the child is likely to excel in, while enhancing skills that are applicable in the real world. AI and ML can also help train teachers, skilling them to solve quality issues in the education sector. The enhanced skill set children develop can help them compete on a global level as well.

The education sector in India has predominantly been ruled by human-to-human interaction. With the recent pandemic, this rule is slowly changing, and moving towards a slightly more digital learning landscape. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Intelligence advances are here to stay; educators need to plan for involving digital methods alongside traditional learning, gradually preparing the next generation to leverage the global AI revolution to our country’s advantage.

Interested in adding AI and ML to your teaching? Check out our Square Panda early literacy platform, which uses an adaptive engine to develop early English literacy in young children aged 2-8. As a child plays with our educational games, our software runs in the background, analysing patterns of play, frequency of words played, challenges faced, to suggest letters/words that the child should be focussing on next, inside the games themselves. This data also reflects in our ‘Portal’, allowing educators and parents the ability to monitor progress in real-time.

Stay tuned for our next post, on how we intend to spread early literacy even at the heart of India, and later, another upcoming post where we’ll be talking about how Square Panda is building a safe and kid-friendly ecosystem inside our platform, along with tips to keep every young learner safe while online.

Loved this article? Tell us how much; comment below.

Mahatma Gandhi (full name, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi), who is also known as the Father of the Nation, was born 151 years ago today, October 2nd, in 1869. 

His contribution to India’s freedom struggle is well-known, but did you know he was equally invested in education in India? 

Mahatma Gandhi On Education In India

Seeing more merit in an education system that was free from British influence, Mahatma Gandhi proposed that schools should begin generating their own income via saleable handicrafts, to become more financially stable. He also believed teachers should have freedom in curricula matters, so they could impart originality to students, rather than sticking to a set format and guidelines. He counted the great Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy, as one of his major influences.

Did You Know? 

Mahatma Gandhi was an avid reader, with a collection amassing more than 11,000 books (a figure he mentions during his interview conducted on July 27, 1933). This collection was later housed at Sabarmati Ashram, as Mahatma Gandhi had relinquished all claim over his books, allowing them to become ashram property.

In 1933, this entire collection was then donated to the municipal library of Ahmedabad, a gesture he made to commiserate with all those satyagrahis whose properties were confiscated by the British Government, as punishment for participating in the salt satyagraha under the leadership of Gandhi.

Gandhi’s eclectic book collection consisted of works from authors like Charles Darwin (Descent of Man), William Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift, to Assyrian satirist Lucian of Samosata (Trips to the Moon), to mathematician James Jeans (Mysterious Universe). Poetry in English, Hindi, and Gujarati also had a space on his bookshelf, including Goethe’s Faust and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. His collection also lists multiple translations in English, Hindi, and his native tongue, Gujarati, of the Bible, Quran, Mahabharata, and Ramayana. Apart from this, Mahatma Gandhi also devoured books that taught him about Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Vedanta, among others.

Not only was reading books a way to enrich his mind and philosophies, he also read to become more independent and self-reliant; he read books on childbirth and obstetrics in order to aid his wife Kasturba, when she was to deliver their son Devdas! Other similar books in the quest to prepare himself for varied situations include a guide titled ‘How to Launder‘ and a book called ‘Finger Impressions‘ written by a police officer.

His lifelong reading habit, his attitude of self-reflection, and his writing (he authored many famous books during his lifetime), is what Mahatma Gandhi credits as helping him along the path of self-growth. 

To Commemorate This Great Thinker’s Birthday, We’ll Leave You With Some Of His Quotes On Education:

What have these thoughts by Mahatma Gandhi taught you? Comment below.

Multiple articles and research show just how important acquisition of reading skills is, particularly for very young learners. Development of these skills turns emerging readers into independent and fluent readers for life, adding to their global competency, future job prospects, and overall quality of life. Every parent/teacher chooses to introduce the reading habit to the child/student in their life. What happens, though, if an otherwise enthusiastic child suddenly shows a definite reluctance to read? How do you entice young children to make an effort to pick up a book?

Take help from the below tried-and-tested steps, to help you inculcate a reading habit in your little learners:

#1: Create The Perfect Reading Spot.

Finding the perfect book for emerging readers will take experimentation and time, but as adults, you can ensure they are prepared for this experience by setting aside a dedicated reading space to call their own, inside homes and classrooms. Add comfortable pillows, blankets, and bright lighting. Fit in a desk full of books at a height they can easily reach, and voilà, you have a junior reader’s paradise!

#2: Teach By Example.

Your kids look to the closest adults to teach them things, which, more often than not, is you. So pick up a book, and show your kids how much fun reading can be. When they see you reading, it will automatically encourage them to try it themselves.

#3: Take Reading To The Next Level.

Forcing your kids to read can make them view the reading habit, which is already hard enough to acquire, as a major chore. Use various tricks and activities to show them that the reading habit is more than just reading, it is exploring new worlds, meeting new characters, and learning new things.
Introduce a new story using life-like images and sound effects (you can get these on the internet; just check the terms of usage).
Encourage more interaction by reading through live-action ‘stage shows’ with your kids acting out their favourite part of a book.
Change up their reading routine slightly; make them read the story aloud to you. Their pronunciation gets a huge boost, along with their confidence level.
Host storytelling competitions amongst the children; the winner gets an extra half hour of playtime with Square Panda, or gets a snack of their choice.

#4: Get A Daily Dose Of Reading In With Square Panda.

Even the most resistant learners will never say no to Square Panda play-learn time! With educational games and an early reading app that is perfect for kids as young as 2 till the age of 8, combined with adaptive technology that personalises according to an individual child’s learning level, you could not ask for more! Additionally, our educational screen time is backed by a curriculum that is completely research-based.

#5: Ease Up On The Pressure.

Children shouldn’t like reading just because the adults in their life do, nor do they have to read the same books you favour. In fact, the more choice they feel they have in choosing how, when, and which books to read, the more likely they are to turn into fluent and confident readers for life.  Let them discover their own likes and dislikes. Children will be more inclined to become lifelong readers if they are not forced into it. Give them as many different reading options as you can, like, different genres of books, special reading apps, kid-friendly podcasts, and more.

#Bonus Point: Discuss What You’ve Read.

Take a minute to chat about what you just read, whether it was the label on a toy box, or a magazine cover, or even a picture book. Have an open conversation with much structure, so it doesn’t resemble a lesson in any way. Open-ended questions like ‘Why do you think Pan sat on the mat?’ can encourage children to reason with you, asking them to recall a certain page can help their memory. This task has the added benefit of helping develop vocabulary skills, further leading down the path to reading success.

Remember that each child learns to read differently. Let them set their own pace. Provide all the support you can so your child/student feels less self-conscious about coming to you for help.

Want more educational tips and articles just like this? Watch this space for more…
Until then, grab a SquareBox (our very own multisensory educational kit for kindergarten), which not only has the Square Panda phonics early literacy playset, it also boasts loads of additional fun learning materials to make schooling at home a breeze during the lockdown.



Written by Sanjana Shukla (Content Writer, Square Panda India)

Each time you crack open that book and read to your child, they are getting better and better at building essential reading skills. In fact, children actually acquire their reading skills through repeated exposure and practice.

*For a more in-depth look at how a child’s brain works as they try to develop their reading skill, check out this blog post.

With this in mind, Square Panda is introducing SquareTales, a unique set of digital and printable PDF books, to help develop an early reading habit in children, and promote independent reading. Additionally, each set also contains additional learning materials (rhymes, songs, and fun learning activities), absolutely free of cost, available to download from our Kids’ Library.

The SquareTales curriculum follows Square Panda‘s custom-made, research-based curriculum, introducing letters in small groups (around 4-8 new letters are introduced with each book). SquareTales engages students through endearing Square Panda characters–like Panda and Cameo, a friendly pair consisting of a little panda and an enthusiastic chameleon–and compelling storylines.

Additionally, the books are divided into groups or sets, where each book focuses only on a particular area of study (For example, Set 1, which is available for a FREE preview , focuses on word families).

Word families are groups of words that share a common pattern, such as “hat“, “mat“, and “cat“. In SquareTales, this is how we classify words into word families, making it easy for children to learn and understand them, and identify these common patterns. This gives young learners a strong grasp of the rules that make the English language.

SquareTales For Parents:
We know you are very invested in your child’s future. Which is why SquareTales has a ‘Parent Portal’, to help you monitor your child’s progress as they start reading. A ‘Parent Guide’ to help you navigate your way through our early reading app, complete with expected learning milestones, can also be found on our website.

How SquareTales Works:
Step 1: Students learn letter-sounds.
Step 2: Then they learn to blend these letter-sounds to form words (e.g. c-a-t).
Step 3: They practice each word and letter for as long as they want.
Step 4: They start reading connected text, and later, full sentences.
Step 5: They can now read a whole book!
Step 6: They practice what they learnt through instructional activities.
Step 7: They learn to read the printable PDF book corresponding to the ebook.

This is a systematic, easy-to-grasp, and effective way to learn English in a fun and engaging manner, beginning with easy letters and simple words, and graduating to the ‘book-reading’ stage very quickly!

What Children Learn With SquareTales:

• Knowledge of letter sounds and how to blend them, with guided practice.

• Learners learn to use the knowledge of letter-sound relationships to correctly pronounce written words.
• Builds vocabulary, comprehension skills, and knowledge about written conventions.
• Learners will be exposed to various CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) words from each word family, for example, ‘tap’, ‘nap’, ‘sap’, from the word family ‘ap’. This teaches them to not only sound out, read, and spell these words, but also identify the phonetic pattern that marks them as a part of a specific word family.
• Learners will also be introduced to common sight words (i.e. words that don’t follow the rules of blending) like ‘the’, ‘is’, and more.

Additional Skills Developed By SquareTale’s Instructional Activities:
– Vocabulary building
– Sight word identification
– Story sequencing

The Benefits Of Teaching With Square Tales

• To make reading and learning easier, all the books (of initial sets) are arranged in terms of word families. The learning level gradually increases, book by book, to help learners stay challenged and engaged. 
• Similarly, in terms of a roadmap, each book series deals with a different, slightly more challenging theme, for example, the first series deals with word families, the next one deals with a more challenging theme, and so on. 
• SquareTales builds the essential components of reading we focus on— phonemic awareness, phonics, listening comprehension, and vocabulary.

With the first set of learning books (5 in-app digital books) completely FREE, what are you waiting for? Download the app today!

*Subscribe to SquareTales…

Monthly: At just 199/month (including GST)
Yearly: At just 1799/year (including GST)

…once your FREE digital books are done, and unlock all the new reading kits (which include digital books, printable PDF books, and activities) monthly. As the curriculum advances, so does your child’s learning and reading!

Found this article helpful? Comment below; like and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

– By Sanjana Shukla, Content Writer, Square Panda India

Learning comes naturally to kids, but when it comes to reading, the process slows down. Reading is an important element for early learners with a structured process which needs to be taught. It gradually seeps inside a young mind. Mostly, Educators have extensive concern for the achievement in initial reading experiences in kids. Today’s educators need the ingredients of effective educational programs to teach kids to read.

Yes, the teachers’ require to place reading instruction on solid footing. Reading is subsumed by early literacy. Here, a few substantial approaches have shed light on the reading acquisition processes and effective instructional approaches.

WHAT IS READING READINESS?

Reading readiness is the first step a child takes towards understanding early reading skills. It is the stage in development when, through the learning experience and maturation, they learn to read effectively.

According to the Ontario Government (2003), the acquisition of language is natural, but the process of learning to read is not—reading must be taught.

Did you know, that there are multiple methods and skills to determine when trying to build reading readiness capabilities in kids? Let us help you identify that the child is reading ready.

Learn Early Reading Readiness Skills

YOUNG MIND NEEDS TO LEARN THESE READING READINESS SKILLS:

Kids should be well-versed with these six critical skills before they attempt to master formal reading.

Improve Print Awareness Concepts: Kids know that the text represents spoken words. They become aware of the directions, left or right. Do kids know, how to hold a book or pen? Foster their fascination with book reading, developing a sense of rhythm and rhyme, analyse patterns. Their reading skills are emerging and they learn to predict word patterns.

Understand using Phonological Awareness: It is sensitivity to the sound structure of language. Phonological awareness has an ability to listen and identify special sounds (syllables, onsets and rimes, and phonemes) and letters in spoken words. Kids understand letters, vowels, constants, and two letters words to make new sounds. Phonological awareness increases their skills by playing with words; changing sounds or syllables. Little learners will eventually stump us with their literacy achievement.

Explore with Phonemic Awareness: Having phonemic awareness helps to create reading readiness skills in early learners. It is the first thread in the tapestry of reading. Here, the child’s ability evolves, as they listen and know how to manipulate the smallest mental units of sound—phonemes in the spoken language.
For example: When a child plays Lagoon Game, in its exploratory mode; they identify familiar sounds across a group of words, like color, cake, candy. Even can create a new word, recognise all individual phonemes in a single word, like a dog -> d,o,g.

How Does Phonics Instructions Improve Reading?

Reading fluency will foster confidence in the students. The main focus of phonics is to make children aware of the relationship between the letters of written language (graphemes) and the individual sounds of spoken language (phonemes). These instructions can be given systematically or incidentally. Children will learn to recognise words accurately and decode new words.

Discover the Alphabetic Principle (Letter Knowledge): It is an abstract concept where students receives clarity about the symbols i.e. letters and combinations of letters to represent the speech sounds in their elemental forms. The sounds are anchored to letters or strings of letters is known as the ‘Alphabetic Principle.’ In the reading development, children learn to use the alphabetic principle fluently. Using explicit phonics instruction—they understand the primary purpose of reading. The students’ grows and gains knowledge using the phonogram techniques further, they are shown, how to blend phonograms into words. After that, they’re trained to create blending practice using one-syllable consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. Systematically, they learn how to read by recognition and naming of letter names and letter sounds.
For instance, Little learners can touch, feel and lay the ‘Smart Letters’ in the Square Panda Playset. It even engages kids in an ergonomically important ‘look-away’ time-span. Kid’s are placed in the optimally learning zone, to challenge their potential.

Motivation is the Key: There are various signs which reflects the kids are more interested in reading. If they frequently request for more read-aloud time and show enthusiasm for books or worksheets. Teachers and Parents can include various activities in kids daily routine to develop their interest in reading. Make reading an interactive and fun learning experience, which sparks their attention. Kids have short attention span- so read short story books with illustrative elements like bright colors, flags or different textures are good for keeping them engaged and motivated.

Display Listening Comprehension: Kid’s should be able to retell the story, answer the simple questions and ask more questions during the read-aloud.
For instance: In the mid-story section, a Child asked the Teacher; Why did the Panda laugh? It gives us an insight that child was paying attention and listening to the story.

Learn Reading Readiness Skills With Square Panda

After following the quick analyses, determine how the child is moving from learning to read and slowly towards the goal of reading to learn. Be sure your students are getting comfortable with these concepts before beginning the actual reading instructions. Reading readiness isn’t just about early literacy skills. It covers a set of four major competencies such as social, emotional, cognitive and physical development of the child. Build a culture at school and home, which evokes their interest in effective reading. Focus on making enjoyable reading activities rather than it being only academic centric.

QUICK TIPS TO RAISE STRONG READERS:

Prepare your students well, make them aware of the sounds of the phonograms, letter names, etc. They should be able to:

• Recite the alphabets, rhymes, etc.
• Recognise the alphabetic letters
• Re-tell a story
• Make them familiar with blends
• Place the letters
• Read there name
• Practice reading words aloud
• Use correct sounds when speaking the letters
• Understand the progression of text is placed left to right and top to bottom

Young minds are going through major development changes, in such a situation grasping reading skills quickly might seem impossible. Understanding reading readiness will enable you to teach more calmly and successfully turn your reluctant learners into avid readers for life. Most kid’s don’t develop the basic foundation of reading skills by themselves, Square Panda’s multisensory reading platform strikes a good balance here. With our tailor-made curriculum, now every child can learn to read well.

Phonics Instructions For Early Learners

Learn more about how to augment reading readiness into your child’s play. Square Panda can help you access using the multisensory techniques. Take a look at our library of games to engage early learners.

If we’ve hit your nerve and you require more insight about how to develop reading skills in your kids, leave us a comment below. Connect with us on our Facebook and LinkedIn to know more.

–Nidhi Parikh, SEO Content Writer, Square Panda India

Managing children’s progress is tiresome. It requires a considerable time and effort to track and analyse growth. In today’s times, early literacy matters, multiple educators and parents are seeking methods for more productive child experience.

In the quest for good school records, often parents and teachers neglect and ignore their children early educational needs. Scorning the child’s requirement will not help in any manner. Every child wants a special treatment or learning tool to support them. Using interactive early learning games promotes’ self-learning and motivates the kids’ to learn to read.

Square Panda’s Playground is a digital foundation for successful early literacy and language management. It has multisensory instructions, which triggers the young brains to process information; it gains deeper cognition and strengthens the little learner’s levels.

A blend of tactile letters combined with a multisensory experience uses different senses; enhances learning through play. It aids the curriculum milestones and goals in each of the classic legacy games. These mini-games adapt to the learner’s level and make them well-versed of phonological awareness, phonics, spelling, builds vocabulary and much more. Here the students achieve endless engagement, reiteration and exposure to early literacy.

Square Panda has a backbone of a deep neuroscience-based researched approach. The Teachers and Parents’ Evaluation Portal is an innovative and adaptive platform syncronised with current learning levels. Learn how to turn your average learners into smarter thinkers using Square Panda Games. Discover the ‘Playground’ and bring forward the key to successful learning.

AMAZING THINGS YOU’LL FIND IN THE SQUARE PANDA PLAYGROUND:

• • Teachers can explore the players i.e. students, customise their account, add more players, discover the badges and suggest words.
  • Square Panda’s Word Bank gives an opportunity to expand children’s vocabulary.
  • The average volume of the words in the bank:
    -Real word dictionary: 58k+ real words.
    -Phonemic dictionary: 85k+ real/nonsense or silly words pronunciations.
  • Teaching aids like flashcards, storybooks and workbooks will quicken the learning process.
  • Give them access to our open-ended exploratory play.
  • Add customise words and pictures into a child’s personalised, and private database.
  • New Classroom playset comes with a built-in ‘QR Code’, which allows quick scan.
  • Badges: Easily track the children’s accomplishments across each Square Panda’s game level and watch the badges fill with color as they enter words in different milestones.
    • Big Badges: It consists of detailed progress mapping for each curriculum milestone.
    • Mini Badges: The child earns mini badges when they spell- name, numbers and words correctly.
  • View words list and letter history. Discover every word your students have spelt the most across Square Panda learning games.
  • The word list consists of:
    • Real words played
    • Nonsense words played
    • Letters that the child played
    • Letter orientation
    • Letter mixups and areas of confusion
  • Use easy-to-read reports to track and trace students’ milestones progress.
  • Administrators can check their students time spent, the fidelity of implementation and give a real-time assessment in the form of feedback.
  • Lost Letter: Missing a few letters? Simply report them here, and the games will react intelligently, so the children can continue to learn to play.
  • Access the NewsFeed: It helps to stay plugged to all the latest updates in early education and literacy.

LISTEN TO SQUARE PANDA’S CO-FOUNDER- ANDY BUTLER AS HE UNCOVERS THE SECRETS OF OUR ‘PORTAL’.

GIVE THEM POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT:

Square Panda has a distinct administrators’ portal where they can control over the deployment within the classroom. Educators can measure their students progress with a multivariable grid of phonics skills. The reports provide a window into the students progress. It helps in boosting a positive screen time with educational elements.

HERE ARE SOME QUICK STEPS TO LOGIN THE PORTAL:

THE PARENTS PORTAL VIDEO:

THE TEACHERS PORTAL VIDEO:

Parents and Teachers can take full charge of the playground via a portal. Using their login id and password they can access every element to make early learning fun. The playground has coupled language learning with a sequence program to nurture and polish the children skills. Learning through play gives children the ability to experience the best of both worlds.

Now convert your kids’ reading time into fun time with Square Panda’s Playset and keep unproductivity at bay.

Want to become a Square Panda-Powered School? Connect with us via LinkedIn.

–Nidhi Parikh, SEO Content Writer, Square Panda India

Boredom teaches everyone that life isn’t a themed amusement park. Even young brains get easily stuck in the whirlpool of boredom, and it fills the teachers and parents’ mind with a cascade of guilt and accountability. The problem with the current education scenario is that it has somewhat submerged under the heavy load of papers with no fun elements. Learning should have a high ratio of fun quotient.

Children’s brains can easily drift into an elaborate fantasy realm which captures their attention. But, there’s a hope to channel learning equation for kids, all thanks to a new breed of early educational games apps. These apps are popularly known as ‘gamification’ in which educational and game elements are added together to generate a child’s productivity level. Gamification is the new trend in recent times, and multiple brain games for kids have changed the learning environment.

NOW EXACTLY WHAT IS GAMIFICATION?

Understand Gamification And Game-Based Learning.

For starters, gamification of learning is an educational approach which is inspiring students’ to learn using the elements of the game.  A young brain gets motivated using the lessons blended with gaming elements. This makes education more fun-filled. Often, gamification and game-based learning are used interchangeably, but it does not mean they are similar.
In the gamifying standard psychological tasks, the research has highlighted game elements can improve the task accessibility, build engagement using a system, and inspiring long-term participation. Yes, gamification is already spreading its roots in a variety of settings; there are game-based early educational platforms, multisensory systems for early learners, and as they level-up chances of winning increases. A slew of research studies have verified the connection between improvement in the engagement and better learning experience to kids. The core idea is to boost the child’s productivity using the concepts of gamified and game-based learning platform.

The gaming elements in game-based learning:

Gaming Elements In Learning

BLOOM OF GAMIFICATION IN EDUCATION

Nick Pelling (a British computer programmer, and entrepreneur) coined the word ‘gamification’ in 2002. He stated, gamification as ‘applying game-like accelerated user interface design to make electronic transactions both enjoyable and fast.’ Thus, games started to begin developed as a learning machine. Now, the gamification concept is implemented in the cultures of education, and it provides maximum value to the students.

HOW DO CLASSROOMS TAKE ADVANTAGES OF GAMIFYING EDUCATION?

The biggest challenge for the teachers is to gain their student’s interest to interact and engage them. For doing so, the teacher’s needs to redefine the course materials or the teaching techniques which will fuel efficient learners. Gamification would chalk out the right direction to encourage students by easily involving them in the classroom activities and learn well.

GAMIFY TO IMPROVE GRADES

Games are gradually turning into verified educative tools which delivers the best to raise the kid’s interest. Following a standard set of the curriculum will improve the transformation of involving preschoolers. Gamification reinforces the context which will profoundly impact classroom management. Students will develop an interest to attend regular classes. The educational games will keep the class actively hooked, engage preschoolers cognitively, emotionally and socially.

For example: If we develop a game that transforms the base of education by adding rewards or bonus points for every correct answer, then children will gain more interest to participate in each of the activities conducted.

Teachers needs to integrate educational games into the curriculum to enhance the involvement of the students. Grades will be surely rising. Moreover, a gamified classroom is a dynamic approach to teach kids.

If you want to know, how to boost a child’s productivity; here’s the lay low of how teachers can seamlessly use the gamification in early education to increase a child’s productivity level.

– GAMIFY TO RAISE ENTHUSIASM: Gamification brings in the fun element in learning any subject, even the uninspired or struggling children can be motivated to reach the next level. Early learners enjoy themselves to participate in games and without realising the fact that they are actually practicing learning. These kids begin to focus on improving schoolwork and improving skills in the class.

– Square Panda’s multisensory learning games, like Letter Lab, Lagoon, Bowling, and Space Cows, inspires kids to explore their potential while they learn to read.

– AIDS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Numerous studies have reflected that cognitive development turns young brains into more profound learners. Neuroscience theorists believe adding gamified teaching content will stimulate cognitive skills. These skills will help to solve problems, perform strategic planning, thinking and processing the material.

It will produce a stimulating environment for the brain to find answers to questions. Gamification will create a positive effect on their cognitive functions, and achieve autonomy.

– GAMIFICATION GENERATES TEAMWORK: Preschoolers will learn to collaborate with their classmates by working together as a team. They are constantly learning something new.

-GAMIFICATION INCREASES ATTENTION SPAN: It is the cold truth: a game will capture students’ attention more than anything else. Games offers unique experiences to the participants. They will like to spend more time learning.

WHAT DOES GAMIFICATION BRING TO EDUCATION?

Let’s listen to our experts’ advice.

KNOW THE SQUARE PANDA WAY OF LEARNING

The future of learning is in the child’s early development. Kill their boredom with curiosity and advance their interest in fun learning games!

Square Panda’s neuroscience research-based multisensory learning platform to absorb the elements of phonemes, phonological awareness, vocabulary, rhymes, etc. Each lesson guides early learners with personalised gameplay.

If you are searching for the best practices for gamifying the delivery of education, then drop down your comments and we’ll help you attain your goals.

Learn how to teach your kids the multisensory way, watch the video here.

You can also connect with us on Facebook and Linkedin for more information.

–Nidhi Parikh, SEO Content Writer, Square Panda India

Ever imagined the preschoolers surpassing all the milestones and reaching their ultimate potential? Young brains requires milestones to develop their base foundation skills. 
Teachers, Parents, and Caregivers, always wonder about how to encourage the child by directing them in the right path. Now you can trigger the accurate emotions, set them on course for effective and engaging learning. Evolve their cognition’s easily.

“Cognitive Development pertains improving the skills in terms of understanding the concepts, perception, learning, thinking and processing information in the brain.”

In simpler terms, Cognition refers to thinking and memory processes while cognitive development refers to long-term changes in these processes. Here’s a better explanation by Piaget in his popular Psychological theory.
According to Jean Piaget’s (a renowned Swiss Psychologist) Theory of Cognitive Development, the children move through four different stages of brain development. The theory focuses on understanding, how young brains acquire knowledge and the nature of intelligence. As children take an active role in the learning process, make constant observations, and perform experiments their skills grows. Infact, interacting with other people adds more knowledge. He believed, cognitive development is a process which happens due to biological maturation.

Piaget’s Period Of Cognitive Development

Everyone knows, the preschool years are the most exciting and enthusiastic as a child is immersed in a highly social world. These social and cultural influences are providing the context and building the cognitive growth foundation. So, how can kids’ keep every detail in mind and solve problems? When they read a book, speak and watch a video, their young brains hold onto everything as processed info. The psychologists calls it the working memory. It underpins the child’s ability to learn. Working memory generates proper guidance to enhance the child’s decision-making process and behavior.

Yes, children’s thinking ability is tremendously developing by leaps and bounds. Especially at the age of three-five, every child’s brain begins to grow cognitively, and they require teachers to provide support and guidelines. Mentoring them with educational tools will engage the preschoolers’ thinking abilities and give a boundless exposure to their potentials.  

Square Panda inspires early learning by triggering the correct cognitive cords. There are various hallmarks in the pedagogy, which teachers must use to encourage and educate the early learners.

Here are some hallmarks on how to train the preschoolers through the lens of cognitive development.

1.Simple Reasoning and Problem-solving-

Young brains have thousands of questions and need explanations on how things work around. Teachers should pose and read aloud some thought-provoking questions for preschoolers to understand the natural causes of any phenomena, this will stimulate their cognitive abilities. Reasoning and problem solving is a technique which teachers can use to help students understand how and why things work.
For instance, Teachers can evolve their students curiosity levels by reading the different “how to” children books or guides. 

2.Growth of Social and Emotional Cognition-

Social Cognition refers to thinking about social situations and keeping emotions in control. Your child is a social being and in the pre-school years, children begin to expand their cognitive skills, and knows, how the social world works. Using the method of learning to play, they are able to grasp other people’s behaviors, displays their theory of mind and gain greater perspectives on the working of the world. Throughout their preschool years, their young brains learns to increase communication abilities and advances their cognitive workings.

3. Recollection and Boosting Memory-

Improving the capacity for memory and recollection is vital for young brains. Going hand in hand with metacognition, the children will recall their previous knowledge of different concepts. Metacognitive skills allow children to learn how to solve problems and generate thinking of their own. Using the mnemonic strategies is rudimentary in young children. Preschoolers should be able to exhibit their abilities to recall things, people, story, Etc. They should be able to address their family members.

Let’s use an example- A teacher can involve the students in book-reading or drawing activities which stimulate their ability to reflect on their own thinking. Then the teachers should ask them what they have learned from the book. It will aid the teachers to evaluate individual students learning capacity and the students will learn to recall, the teacher does the repetition of significant concepts in the story. 

4. Encourage Symbolic Play-

Symbolic representation is one of the major hallmarks of influencing the preschoolers. Their young brains begin to understand and decode the difference between things whether they are real or not. Children mostly recognises the characters in books or stories. Teachers should engage them in a symbolic play, it will inspire the children to participate in the make-believe/ pretend play. They learn the significance of real and fantasy.

For example- 

Children must be involved in the pretend to play as if they are the characters in the storybooks being read to them. Just like how in the Lagoon game, the Cameo- the chameleon’s character uses intonation, shows emotion and expression to indulge the child’s mind.

Conclusion-

Pedagogy could always nourish the child’s cognitive capabilities by optimally using all of the above hallmarks and approaches. Shape their actions, judgment, and build stronger motor skills using the learning theories and advanced phonics system.

Square Panda has some powerful findings on early childhood learning and program effectiveness.  We are helping kids ages 2 to 8 to learn to develop their Multisensory reading abilities i.e. reading using touch, sight, and sound.

Do you have the readiness to implement a cognitively rich experience for preschool children? Express your views and write to us in the comment section below.

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– Nidhi Parikh, SEO Content Writer, Square Panda India

We are extremely proud to tell you that we’ve won the ‘Parent And Teacher Choice Award‘ for 2019! Bestowed on us by a website that has been active longer than Google (!)–the website, HowToLearn.com, was started in 1996, while Google began in 1998–we were unanimously selected as the best early education system because of our “unique multisensory methods of teaching reading, as well as a library of games that truly engage the learners”.

About HowToLearn.com: This website went live two years before Google did, and is still kicking, successfully connecting parents, teachers, educators, and even resellers, with the best educational resources to enhance learning. Companies interested in boosting their online profile can throw their hat in the ring and enter their names. The best of the lot (like us!) will be chosen as the winner by a jury of parents and teachers, who base their decision on proven results, creativity, innovation, and the brain-building abilities of said company.