An Attempt for Critical Categorization of Android Applications Available for the Greek Kindergarten

摘要

Nowadays, children are becoming familiarized with mobile devices from very young ages, having their first contact with them even under their 2nd year of age. Also, a lot of discussion is being made regarding the integration of mobile applications in educational settings, formal and informal. A very common concern of both the educators and the parents of children aged 4-6 years old is "what is out there for my children to use?". Although this is being dealt with for several years for older ages, there is not much work regarding this age-group. Based upon this fundamental question, this paper attempts to examine the availability of mobile applications which can be exploited by teachers in Early Childhood Education. Specifically, the focus of the paper is the Greek Kindergarten which is attended by children aged 4-6 six years old and Android based mobile devices. A thorough survey in Google Play was carried out in order to record all the corresponding results which were then categorized and discussed upon. Furthermore, the paper tries to shed light to the perspective of an inexperienced teacher who has the means and the will to integrate mobile devices in his/her classroom, by identifying the challenges that he/she will face during such an attempt. Thus, this paper aims at serving as a reference point for those who wish to initiate their trip in the mobile learning world by discussing all the aspects and the difficulties of such an attempt.