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SALT LAKE CITY -- When a teacher has a background as involved in technology as Shirley Sharp, it's no surprise she would create an education app for young children.
Sharp, a fourth-grade teacher at Parkview Elementary with a masters in education technology, considers teaching a second career. For years, Sharp was a computer programmer. When she began volunteering in a friend's classroom though, she decided to go to school to become a teacher. Her teaching experience spans over ten years, mostly as a fourth and fifth grade teacher, although she has spent some time teaching computer skills.
The iPod and iPad app, "WordConnex" is targeted to elementary school children and requires them to sort words into categories after seeing and hearing the words. The categories include things like "living vs. nonliving" and "countries vs. states." The app currently has over a thousand words in its memory, but Sharp hopes to make the option available for parents, teachers and kids to add additional words and sorting categories, according to the child's studies. She sees this as a start to that future.
"Over the years I've always felt that we need to get technology more involved in education and I just wasn't sure how to do it," she said. "With this touch technology over the last few years - the iPod and the iPad - I realized it was a really good time to get involved and make an app that was education and not just a time-waster. It's fun and educational. Kids need kinetic education and (to)learn how things are categorized."
In order to avoid ads, and Internet access from the game, Sharp decided to charge 99 cents for the app. It is available in the Apple App Store.
