APD Play and Sound

Theme: Play and Sound

Context

This week we explored the theme of Sound, and I thought about how children pay more attention to sounds than adults, and how sound is such an important part of learning for them.

Studies show that infants prefer sounds almost exclusively. Older children tested at 4 years of age generally preferred sounds over visuals, with the exception of familiar objects – they paid more attention to a familiar visual when it is paired with an unknown sound.

Overall, research shows that children seem to be able to process only one type of stimuli at a time – usually sounds, but sometimes visuals. Adults, on the other hand, can process both sounds and visuals together, but prefer visual information. (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041219142212.htm). This is probably why kids learn letter sounds first before learning to read them.

For children stuck in apartments now because of Covid and unable to interact with nature, I thought it would be interesting to create a game for them in which they can learn animal sounds while seeing them in their natural habitat

Method

As I am not well versed with coding, I created a simple game on an online gamemaker called Scratch, which has built in codes and templates. This allowed me to focus more on the execution of the idea without spending too much time learning a new software, though I would have liked to do that had I more time.

Response

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/586005129

My outcome is a simple 2D game that has some animals in a farm setting as well as a jungle setting. The Player gets to click on the animal to hear its sound, and there is also some basic movement. It is a good way to associate the sound to the animal while learning what their natural environment looks like.

Reflection

I am happy that i was able to execute this idea. However since it is made on an online game maker, it is far too simplistic where I would have liked to develop a game that is more complex and interactive, with more options for the player to engage with the animal. I do however think that it is a good starting point to developing a prototype, and I can probably use this as a starting point to a bigger project idea on sound learning among children. The research that I found on the subject is extremely fascinating to me and something that I would like to explore in the future.

References

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041219142212.htm

https://www.splashlearn.com/s/ela/practice-letter-a-and-its-sound