Peer-reviewed article
Learning apps at home prepare children for school
Frank Niklas, Efsun Birtwistle, Anna Mues, Astrid Wirth ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study tested whether learning apps used at home can help prepare children for school by improving their math and literacy skills. Kindergarten-aged children in German families who received tablets with specially designed learning apps showed significantly better performance in the skills the apps targeted compared to children without apps. The more children used the apps, the greater their improvement, suggesting that app-based learning at home can effectively support early childhood development.
Key points
- 302 intervention children across two German cohorts used learning apps at home for half a kindergarten year
- Children using apps significantly improved specific competencies in mathematics or literacy compared to two control groups
- Effect sizes ranged from η² = .03–.10
- Higher app usage was associated with greater learning gains (ΔR² = .01–.02)
- The intervention was described as easy-to-apply
Limitations
The document does not provide details about the quality or duration of follow-up, whether gains were sustained after intervention ended, or how results might differ across socioeconomic backgrounds. The effect sizes, while significant, are modest.
Abstract
Abstract The usage of high-quality learning applications (apps) at home may increase children's mathematical and literacy competencies. This approach was tested in a family intervention study. Intervention families (n = 302) in two German cohorts (N = 500; M (SD)age = 61.0 (4.6) months; n ♀ = 302) received tablets with newly developed learning apps focusing either on mathematical or literacy learning for every-day usage at home across half a kindergarten year. Compared with two control groups with and without tablets, children in the intervention groups significantly enhanced their specific competencies (η2 = .03–.10). Higher app usage was associated with greater gains (ΔR2 = .01–.02). Consequently, an easy-to-apply app-based intervention supports children's development of cognitive competencies and helps prepare them for school.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Provision of tablets with high-quality learning apps focused on mathematics or literacy for home use across half a kindergarten year
- Population
- Kindergarten-aged children (mean age 61.0 months) in two German cohorts (n = 302 intervention families from N = 500 total)
Key finding
Children in intervention groups significantly enhanced their specific competencies (mathematics or literacy) compared to both control groups (η² = .03–.10)