Tagged: Age of Learning Reviews

Age of Learning and the 10th Anniversary of ABCmouse

Age of Learning, one of the top educational technology producers of digital and online learning programs for children, celebrated a major milestone this year. Its flagship product, ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy, marked its 10th anniversary.

While the ABCmouse.com website launched publicly in 2010, the Age of Learning team, including leading childhood education professionals, had already spent more than three years planning, developing, and testing ABCmouse before it launched with an early learning curriculum covering preschool through kindergarten and offering more than 2,000 learning activities. Just six months later, ABCmouse received the first of its many awards, the Parents’ Choice Gold Award. In 2014, Age of Learning released ABCmouse Early Learning Academy as an iOS and Android app, making its comprehensive early learning curriculum—now with more than 5,000 learning activities—available on tablets and smartphones. Since then, ABCmouse has regularly ranked as one of the leading children’s learning app in both the kids and learning categories of the App Store. In 2015, ABCmouse hit another major benchmark when the first 1 billion learning activities were completed on the program. This number has grown exponentially, and to date, children have now completed over 7 billion learning activities on ABCmouse.

Age of Learning has also continuously worked to keep the ABCmouse product growing to meet the needs of older children and to make the curriculum even more comprehensive: adding a 1^st grade curriculum to ABCmouse in 2016 and a 2^nd grade curriculum in 2017. The ABCmouse curriculum now offers five times the number of learning activities—more than 10,000—than it did when Age of Learning launched it 10 years ago! There’s even a new My ABCmouse Classroom Live experience within ABCmouse, delivering daily classes with on-demand instruction led by real teachers and independent learning activities, a high-priority feature Age of Learning developed rapidly in 2020 to better meet the growing needs of children affected by pandemic-related school closures who were homeschooling.

Doug Dohring, the founder and Chairman of Age of Learning, first began working on ABCmouse after realizing the potential of creating a children’s website focused on a high-quality early education curriculum. By combining a comprehensive, standards-based curriculum designed by education experts with an engaging entertainment platform that makes learning fun for kids, the Age of Learning team has successfully helped educate millions of children all over the United States. Reflecting Age of Learning’s commitment to help children everywhere build a strong foundation for academic success, the company launched a series of Education Access Initiatives to reach millions of additional children by offering the full, award-winning ABCmouse program at no cost to teachers, libraries, and community centers, including afterschool programs and public housing authorities throughout the U.S.

ABCmouse isn’t just popular—it works! And Age of Learning is committed to funding independent research to evaluate and report on its efficacy. Three large-scale research studies assessed the effectiveness of ABCmouse and concluded that the program helps accelerate children’s learning and helps them advance in phonics, vocabulary, literacy, and numeracy. One study reported that children who frequently used ABCmouse scored more than 50 percent higher than children who had not subscribed to the site on reading and math skills assessments.

The ABCmouse team at Age of Learning has been incredibly proud of its success in the U.S. and has worked to extend the reach of ABCmouse globally. Two years ago, Age of Learning partnered with Tencent to launch the ABCmouse English Learning Academy in China to great success. The program, designed for children ages three to eight, features more than 5,000 different learning activities and includes games, songs, and language books. After the success of ABCmouse in China, Age of Learning forged a partnership the following year with Rakuten to offer the ABCmouse English Learning Academy exclusively Japan. The company expects its global expansion to accelerate in the coming years, with ABCmouse reaching into Europe and South America. In 2020, Age of Learning also launched the Age of Learning Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic organization to extend the company’s education outreach efforts to the children furthest from opportunity worldwide.

At the Age of Learning 10th anniversary company event, founder Doug Dohring spoke to his company about their success over the last decade.

“Through ABCmouse, we’ve made a difference in the lives of millions of children, parents, and teachers. The success of this project is based on the talent within our team. I am incredibly proud of the work our staff have done with ABCmouse over the past decade and am excited to see what we can accomplish with the next.” – Doug Dohring, founder and Chairman of Age of Learning, Inc.

ABC Mouse / Age of Learning

Age of Learning Reviews Ways to Help Your Child Concentrate

For many parents, getting their child to sit still is difficult; let alone getting their child to do their schoolwork. While there are medical or psychological reasons a child could have trouble concentrating, such as ADHD or anxiety, most children have attention issues related to their age, environment, and habits. Luckily, there are things parents can do at home to help their child build their attention span and ability to concentrate. Age of Learning, creator of the popular children’s educational website ABCmouse, understands the difficulties parents and educators face while helping children to focus on activities that require concentration. In their development of ABCmouse, the Age of Learning staff worked closely with various early education experts to design a program that could attract and hold a children’s attention, keep them engaged, and make learning enjoyable. Below, Age of Learning will share multiple ways parents can help build children’s ability to concentrate and focus at home.

Play Focus Games with Your Child

Like most things, attention can be taught. It is a skill that must be practiced, and the best way to do that with kids is to do it with games. Parents can use concentration games that require memory and planning to help build attention. Crossword puzzles, card games that require memory such as ‘Uno’ and strategy games such as checkers are all excellent options to help develop memory. If your child is below the age of 5, sequencing games can be a great alternative to more complex board or card games.

Get Rid of Distractions

It can be difficult for a child to concentrate if a room is filled with objects they would rather play with or if there’s a TV nearby. Creating a space that is rid of distractions will greatly improve a child’s ability to concentrate. Any reachable materials, such as toys, bedtime books, and coloring pencils are best left outside the room; even family members or pets can make concentration difficult for a child. To create a conducive environment, play calming music for your child to help increase attention and keep auditory distractions at bay.

Allow Frequent Breaks

Whether you have asked your child to complete their chores, or they need to finish their homework, having your child take frequent breaks can help with their overall ability to pay attention to a task. While you can help build your child’s attention span, everyone needs breaks, and studies have found that breaks can actually restore motivation and help with the ability to maintain focus.

ABC Mouse / Age of Learning

Age of Learning Reviews the Benefits of Young Children Learning a Second Language

In 2016, a study reported that 22% of children in the United States speak a language other than English at home, and the percentage of U.S. children speaking multiple languages is expected to grow. Many early education leaders are now pushing for language class requirements throughout American elementary schools. One California educator predicted that by the year 2040, 75% of Californian children would be proficient in more than one language. Age of Learning, one of the leading education technology producers and creators of the award-winning program ABCmouse Early Learning Academy, understands the academic advantages a second language can give to young children and has begun to expand globally by offering an ABCmouse English language learning app.

China was the first foreign market Age of Learning entered with its 2018 partnership with Tencent, the Chinese internet conglomerate. The companies worked closely together to launch a new ABCmouse English learning program in China, an expert-designed immersive language learning product that provides Chinese children with an essential foundation for English conversational fluency and literacy. The companies made the app available on all major platforms, including iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, and computers. It can be accessed at abcmouse.qq.com and from all major app stores in China.

In 2109, Age of Learning partnered with internet services giant Rakuten to bring its ABCmouse English learning program to families in Japan, and recently announced the release of a new Rakuten ABCmouse English learning app, which makes learning English as a second language even easier.

Recent research is validating Age of Learning’s approach language learning generally, and specifically the teaching of English with its ABCmouse English learning apps. A randomized control trial in China found that the ABCmouse English learning app was highly effective in helping young Chinese children learn English.

Age of Learning has plans to continue expanding its digital language learning products to numerous countries to better enable children around the globe to learn English as a second language and benefit from speaking multiple languages. Below, Age of Learning will discuss the various educational benefits learning a second language can have.

Help Build a Foundation

There are numerous benefits to learning a second language. However, perhaps the most important is the foundation a second language gives to children. Studies have shown that children who learn another language before the age of five are more inquisitive when learning and more likely to be receptive to classroom activities. Furthermore, knowing multiple languages makes learning a new language easier. Children who are learning their second language, on average, find it more difficult than bilingual children learning a third language.

Appreciation for Different Cultures

Children who have learned two or more languages have shown a greater amount of empathy to their classmates and respect for other cultures. Bilingual children frequently have positive associations with foreign cultures, specifically cultures that speak the child’s second language. The unique experience of learning a second language helps children engage with the world in ways they may not have been able to otherwise.

Academic Improvement

There are many cognitive benefits to learning a second language that can directly affect a child’s academic performance. Various studies have shown that bilingual children will outperform their classmates in most tests, including reading, writing, and math. Additionally, bilingual children also tend to score higher on standardized tests. This is credited to a second language’s ability to help improve problem-solving, listening skills, memory, critical thinking, and overall concentration.