Children spending too long on educational game, MP says
Do you use apps or games in your classroom?
- Published
Some people in government are worried about how long children are spending on educational games.
One game in particular has been raised as a cause for concern - TT Rockstars.
If you haven't used it at your school, it's a popular app used to help teach times tables, and allows children to compete against each other and earn coins, as well as unlocking cool characters.
Some MPs have raised concerns about educational games that could be doing more harm than good
Labour MP Emily Darlington told BBC News that parents have told her they're worried about how much time kids are spending on the app, instead of taking part in activities in real life.
She said the app and others like it could be harming children's development, because it rewards them for "length of time rather than quality of time spent online".
The creator of the app, Bruno Reddy, says that he's working with schools to help manage screen time and changes will be coming to the app later this month.
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What is TT Rockstars?
Do you use anything to help you learn your times tables?
TT stands for times tables, and the game aims to help you learn them.
There are individual and multiplayer games to choose from, and over time an algorithm figures out where a player needs improving, and starts targeting those ares.
As you play you earn coins, which can be spent on outfits for your rockstar character.
There's also a leaderboard, which shows kids in class how they are doing in comparison to their friends.
The company behind TT Rockstars, Maths Circle, says that the app and a similar programme for addition and subtraction, Numbots, is used in 17,000 schools and over 100,000 households.
What are people saying about it?
Milton Keynes MP Emily Darlington told BBC News that while there is some technology that can benefit learning, "when gamification is used, children spend hours online to 'earn' the latest outfit".
She also said parents were concerned about "the pressure to perform against classmates" the game could cause.
Emily Darlington MP has told the BBC parents have raised concerns with her
The company say the game discourages long sessions, adding: "Every game in TTRS is deliberately short, and our characters remind children to take regular breaks.
"The rule of thumb we give schools is: three minutes, four or five times a week. In September, a typical child played on three days, for about six minutes each time."
Bruno Reddy also said that from 24 November "every school will have a curfew and a daily time limit switched on, and leaderboards switched off as default".
He added that he didn't design the game to include features that keep children playing, "such as streaks, random rewards, chat messages, loot boxes or notifications."
TT Rocjstar's creator has said he's working with schools to help limit screen time
This all comes as children's screen time is under a lot of scrutiny from the government.
It's already been announced that social media will be banned for under-16s, but guidelines are also being drawn up for parents and teachers about how long kids should spend on their screens in general.
