Dust or Magic

Annotated Bibliography
In Child Development for the Developers of Interactive Media, the authors outline the specific learning levels of children and the basic learning theories. He outlines behaviorism, constructivism social learning theory and social constructivism, giving examples of software models that draw upon each theory, such as linear scripted software with external rewards for the behaviorist perspective that assumes a basic stimuli and response framework. The article also specifies the abilities of children in each age range so that designers know what to expect children to be able to do. Finally the article provides an outline of aspects that can be used to evaluate software and it’s effectiveness for use with children.

My Thoughts
The article says that a designer should ensure “initial success within the first 10 to 20 seconds of play” do they mean just the ability to log-in or do something right? I would disagree with the idea of success coming too easily. Kids are well aware of false encouragement, so if success is to be rewarded, especially for older children, it should be a real accomplishment, otherwise it will seem fake or superficial.
They discuss young children using the mouse. It's certainly true that for children 3 and under, using the keyboard is much easier. I haven't seen any web navigation that uses the keyboard. But that could be a good thing to build in. I've seen games that use the keyboard and they're very effective for preschoolers.