Academics' Choice(TM) Reveals Top Educational Toys and Media for Spring 2014

May 13, 2014 (MMD Newswire) — Academics’ Choice today announced the winners of the Spring 2014 Academics’ Choice Awards, a prestigious seal of educational quality, reserved only for the best mind-building media and toys.The independent Academics’ Choice Awards program and its seal of excellence are recognized worldwide by consumers and educational institutions as a mark of genuinely effective learning tools that stimulate the mind, and provide potential for the student to fully develop higher order thinking skills. A total of 56 products earned the highly sought-after award. The full list of winners is posted online at www.academicschoice.com/2014.

The Academics’ Choice Advisory Board consists of leading thinkers and graduates from Princeton, Harvard, George Washington University, and other reputable educational institutions. Product-appropriate volunteer reviewers, combined with the brainpower of the Board, determine the coveted winners. Entries are judged by category (i.e. mobile app, toy, book, website, magazine, etc.), subject area, and grade level, and evaluated based on standardized criteria rooted in constructivist learning theory.

“Receiving the Academics’ Choice Smart Media Award is a huge honor for our whole team. Cells and Ancient Greece continue to be two of our most popular apps. We’ve worked hard to create an immersive, multi-modal reading experience for kids, and so far the feedback has been tremendous.” -Ted Levine, KIDS DISCOVER

“Kidaptive is thrilled to have received this award recognizing quality learning tools for children. Scientific research has always been our touchstone in building Leo’s Pad to provide the the most engaging and educational experiences possible for early learners; we’re honored that Academics’ Choice has validated that research focus with this notable recognition.” – Dylan Arena, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Learning Scientist, Kidaptive, Inc.

“The Academics’ Choice awards program recognizes products and services that enhance cognitive abilities, so winning awards for our Music Together® Singalong Storybook series are important to us since our books inspire pre-literacy learning and are based on research that shows that music learning supports all learning®.” – Jill Bronson, Market Research and Retail Manager, Music Together LLC

“The Academics’ Choice Award is a valuable indicator of the quality of the play and learning in our games. It is an important validation provided by credentialed reviewers of our success in providing products that help children learn while they play.” – Patty Pearcy, SimplyFun, CEO

The hundreds of submitted products that are not chosen by the Academics’ Choice Awards team (and many that are chosen) are donated to a variety of worthy charities and other organizations across the globe.

About Academics’ Choice:

Academics’ Choice helps consumers find exceptional brain-boosting material. Academics’ Choice is the only international awards program designed to bring increased recognition to publishers, manufacturers, independent authors and developers that aim to stimulate cognitive development. A volunteer panel of product-appropriate judges, including parents, educators, scientists, artists, doctors, nurses, librarians, students and children, evaluate submissions based on educational benefits such as higher-order thinking skills, character building, creative play, durability and originality. Only the genuine “mind-builders” are recognized with the coveted Academics’ Choice Awards.