Personalized Learning for Kids
What it means and why it’s so important in kids’ educational media
By Bo Young Lee
Director of Noggin Content Marketing Strategy & Mom of 2
What Is Personalized Learning?
Personalized learning means tailoring an educational plan for every child. After all, different kids are different learners! Each child has a unique set of skills, interests, and ways of learning, which is why personalized learning is so valuable. It helps meet each child where they are on their educational path.
Parents Value Personalization in Their Kids’ Learning
Parents agree that personalization is important in their child’s education. In 2023, when Noggin surveyed 228 parents, without providing any information on personalized learning, 84% of parents had a sense of at least one element of personalized learning in educational apps for kids. And among parents whose kids had a personalized learning app, 65% thought personalization was very or extremely valuable for their child’s interest in and learning from their current app.
As their child’s first teacher, parents know their kids best, including how they learn, what their interests are, and their specific strengths and needs. That’s why an important part of personalized learning includes incorporating input and feedback from parents to help guide their child’s educational journey.
Education Experts Believe Personalized Learning Is Critical
Education experts agree that personalization in a child’s learning experience is key, particularly in digital media. In her paper "Noggin’s Educational Promise: Putting Playful Learning First," Kiersten Zimmerman, M.S.Ed., Noggin’s Senior Director of Learning Design and Impact, writes:
Learning isn’t a linear journey. Kids develop skills in their own way and at their own pace. Each child has strengths and needs that are distinct from other learners and different depending on the learning area. Also, when kids feel like their teacher – or Noggin as a learning platform – knows them individually, they will feel more motivated and inspired to learn and grow.
Kids Have More Fun with Personalized Learning
When children explore their own interests, they stay engaged longer – which means they are spending more time learning! Also, a learning platform that understands what each child needs ensures that the skills they're practicing aren’t too challenging (which can lead to frustration) or too easy (which doesn’t foster building new skills). Delivering content that is just right for them keeps kids coming back for more.
Noggin Delivers a Personalized Learning Experience for Each Family
Ms. Zimmerman writes, “Noggin aims to personalize learning by meeting every child where they are and challenging them to grow. From onboarding onward, the individual child’s Noggin experience is uniquely tailored to their interests and needs.“
Here are some important ways personalized learning is integrated into a family’s Noggin experience!
Learner Profiles
During the onboarding process, parents will have the opportunity to fill out their child’s profile, detailing their interests, skills, and favorite Nick Jr. characters. With that information, we are working on tailoring a child's Noggin experience by suggesting educational games and videos that build specific skills – starring the characters they love most. Parents can also access the Parent Dashboard and track their child’s progress, see which content they love most, and explore the skills they’re building.
Special Delivery
Our new app feature, Special Delivery, launches each child’s personalized learning journey from the moment they visit Noggin. Each day, your child is greeted personally by a favorite Nick Jr. character and receives an exciting Special Delivery box packed with one to three learning games, videos, and/or interactive activities – curated by our educational experts. With all the content grouped together by the same skill or topic, each Special Delivery is designed with a child’s wider learning journey in mind, helping build skills within their tailored learning plan, step by step.
Adaptive Learning
Much of our interactive content is adaptive – meaning it responds to each child’s performance by leveling them up or down. In other words, if a Noggin learner is still having some difficulty with a certain skill, the game will respond by presenting similar challenges so that the child can continue to practice and grow the same skill. When they’re competent and confident, the game will continue with a new challenge that builds upon that and advances them along their learning journey.
Interest-Driven Learning
Ms. Zimmerman writes, “Interest-driven learning reflects children’s ideas and preferences as a means of growth. Leveraging their interests as a foundation for engagement fosters deeper understanding, enjoyment, and motivation to learn.” When we engage with kids’ interests, we create a strong learning opportunity. That’s why we create content that expands across a wide range of topics and subjects to ignite little learners’ natural interest in the world around them. For lovers of all things space, we provide games and videos created in partnership with NASA. Little chefs can learn new family-friendly recipes (while learning about chemistry and practicing math skills) with our original series School of YUM. Noggin Knows takes little travelers on a virtual field trip across the United States, exploring more about different people and cultures. Through the breadth and depth of our content, we can focus on many topics that kids enjoy, helping to grow their interests into passions – and sparking their curiosity and lifelong love of learning.
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Kid-safe & ad-free
Accessible on multiple devices
New content added weekly
Downloadable books & games for offline play
Kid-safe & ad-free
New content added weekly
Accessible on multiple devices
Downloadable books & games for offline play