Back to School: Tech Tool to Help Kids Develop Emotional Intelligence

— -- Getting students to apply themselves in school isn’t always easy. As the summer ends and thoughts turn to a return to school and classes, some parents may be wondering how to help their children fall in love with learning from a young age.

It turns out that there may be an app for that.

Q Wunder, an app launching in September, uses games, fun, songs and celebrity interviews to try to teach the critical skills children need.

“There are decades of research show that social and emotional skills are a stronger correlate to school readiness and to life success,” said Sofia Dickens, the founder of EQtainment/Q Wunder.

Dickens said the app teaches children discipline, grit, resilience, focus, problem-solving skills as well as how to make eye contact and cope with everyday social situations.

Liz Kolb, an preschool.htm" id="ramplink_education_" target="_blank">education technology specialist and professor at the University of Michigan School of Business, explained the significance of learning those skills early on.

“In kindergarten ... preschool, they focus on social needs, emotional needs of children. In particular, they focus a lot on things like cooperative play and working together,” she said.

And as the educational environment is changing for children, parents need to keep up.

Bibb Hubbard, the founder of Learning Heroes, which helps parents’ understanding of their children’s education, explained why, saying: “It’s really critical that parents are connected to what’s happening in their child’s classroom and know what they can do to help support their children at home.”

Data from "The Nation's Report Card," issued by the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress, shows that 33 percent of eighth-graders are proficient in math, and 34 percent in reading. But Hubbard’s organization says 90 percent of parents believe their child is at or above grade level.