Children’s Day is celebrated around the world on June 1st. South Ural State University pays special attention to developing modern technologies, which facilitate intellectual and physical development of people of various ages. Innovations for Kids Company (StandUp Innovations LLC) is a successful SUSU’s small innovative enterprise, which jointly with the university employees is working on creating unique programs for interactive complexes. The company’s Director Dmitry Andreev shares on their developments which do not have analogues either in Russia, or abroad.
.jpg)
– Please tell us about your small innovative enterprise. How did it come into being?
– We, Innovations for Kids Company, are a small innovative enterprise at South Ural State University. The company was established 5 years ago, when my child started attending a kindergarten, and I felt an urgent need to make gadgets useful in terms of kids’ education. Back then our main goal was to turn a computer from a means of entertainment into a means of development; we had to make gadgets beneficial for kids. Our first interactive complex was a Play and Progress mobile games block. It comprises educational training where kids can control interface by moving their body, arms and legs. Thanks to this technology kids no liger sit in front of their monitors, but learn while participating in a fascinating game.
– How many employees do you have? What unites them?
– Currently about 20 people are working in our company, including specialists from various fields: programmers, managers, designers, specialists in teaching methods, and many others. Each one of them has his/her own special talent, but they are all united by one common goal – we want to make this world a better place, and are doing our best for the benefit of children. Moreover, while creating our complexes, we consult with practicing teachers.
– What exactly does your company produce?
– We are producing interactive complexes, such as: interactive sandbox, interactive climbing wall, Play and Progress mobile games block, and lessons for interactive whiteboards.
– What do you pay special attention to in your work?
– All complexes shall comply with the Federal State Educational Standard and help progress in one’s development. The materials, which we use for their production, shall be safe, and structures – reliable and stable. Our products must be beneficial for kids and facilitate their development. The must make kids and adults happy. Moreover, among our priorities is simple interface for teachers so that they could figure out how to use our complexes on their own.
.jpg)
– What innovative technologies are used in the production?
– Our complexes are based on the technology of augmented reality. The projector displays an image on the surface, and kids suddenly find themselves in a magical sand kingdom or a climbing wall space. The Kinect sensor reads movements, what helps adjust the modes to every child.
– How exactly do interactive sandbox and climbing wall work?
– A special sensor reads the interaction with the complex and reacts accordingly. Initially various reactions to correct and incorrect answers are programmed, and based on that a kid gets a praise, or a suggestion to try again.
– What skills and qualities do interactive complexes created by your company help develop?
– Our interactive complexes develop crucial psychical qualities: speech, thinking, memory, and attention. Creative imagination and logic. They help form mathematical skills and basic predicting. The strengthen muscles, develop dexterity and coordination. Using interactive complexes it is easy to study safety precautions, solidify knowledge about shapes, colours and sizes. Also, the relax modes allow to relieve emotional tension and relax. Moreover, our interactive complexes are actively used in special education work.
– And how do children react to such unusual learning games?
– Kids are crazy about them since with our interactive complexes studying becomes a fascinating game. It is work and pleasure all in one. They seem mesmerized by the modes in the interactive sandbox, happy to move from planet to planet on the interactive climbing wall, and carefully follow the rules of the Play and Progress mobile games. What they like the most is that they can see the results of what they do in each game, and if they fail to do something, they can try again.
– Do they really feel like “creators” when playing? What effect does such game format have on a child’s psychology?
– They do! For instance, they can make a pile of sand in the sandbox and it will turn into a mountain; and if the mountain is high enough, a volcano eruption will begin. This an opportunity not just to create, but also observe both natural phenomena and the results of your actions. Moreover, you can study geography and geology this way. When you are on the interactive climbing wall, during one of the modes you will have to do sums, and this develops mathematical skills. And if you get the answer right, an apple falls from a tree, and you can feed a little pig.
– At what age children can make use of these games?
– Our interactive complexes are actively used for working already with 2-3-year old kids. The modern generation is called “information children”, they adapt to new technologies way quicker than adults. Our complexes use natural interface, which is intuitively understandable.
.jpg)
.jpg)
– Where such complexes may be used?
– Interactive complexes by Innovations for Kids Company are actively used in kindergartens and schools, early childhood development centers and centers of supplementary education, in wall-climbing centers, and in shopping and entertainment malls.
– What companies do you collaborate with?
– We are collaborating with centers of development from all over our country, with the universities of Chelyabinsk and the IT Park.
– What feedback are you getting about these products from those who are using them?
– We are getting positive feedback on our products all the time. Both from teachers who have been working with our interactive complexes for a long time now, and from those who are only making the first steps in this way. Joy in the eyes of kids and their happy smiles speak for themselves; and when their parents become witnesses of the “magic” happening in the space of an interactive complex, they can’t help but join their kids. Here we also see the family-uniting factor in action, when a mother, a father and their child create something, a volcano for example, together. They not only work as a team, but can also see real results.
– What products are you working on at the moment?
– We are constantly perfecting the already existing interactive complexes. We upgrade them, add new modes, expand functions – all of it so that it was more convenient for teachers to work with them, and more comfortable for children to develop with their help. You will very soon hear about our newest products, so just follow our news!
– What are your future plans? Are you planning on expanding?
– We are planning to keep working on improving the existing interactive complexes, creating new ones, and adding innovative technologies. We are constantly expanding and improving our work, since the progress does not stand still, and we very much want to give only the very best to our children!