As parents, many of you will gravitate towards less screen time for your children, having had many fractious moments trying to lure them away from Fortnite and Minecraft, let alone the hours they spend scrolling through videos on YouTube.
However, not all screen time is bad because not all screen time is created equal, especially when it comes to learning. Yes, it is true that excessive screen time is detrimental to your children’s physical and mental health. There is a crucial distinction, however, between passive and active screen time.
When children simply lie back and consume media, their learning and wellbeing come under threat. But well-regulated use of technology has shown to improve learning outcomes as well as children’s social and emotional wellbeing. And how proud would you be when your children excel at maths and develop lasting friendships.
Our virtual tutoring programme has been designed to deliver maximum teaching and learning for children without them having to spend hours and hours a week looking at a screen. In fact, children who spend one hour a week on the Maths-Whizz virtual tutor acquire eighteen months’ worth of knowledge, on average. That leaves plenty of time in the week for other learning experiences (and a bit of playtime), which can build on the foundations secured by the Maths-Whizz Tutor. That’s less than ten minutes a day!
You could always negotiate with your children; something that you are probably adept at doing – if you eat your vegetables, ok, if you can eat three mouthfuls of them and so it goes so why not trade them 20 minutes of Minecraft (or their preferred game of choice) for every 20 minutes of Maths-Whizz? It only takes 60 minutes in total of Maths-Whizz quality learning each week to supercharge your children’s maths skills.
Screens should not be feared, but nor must they be used without checks and balances. As with most things in life, they are best used in moderation.
