Digital Copel is an educational app for smartphones and tablets. Under the close guidance and supervision of Copel, FUNX digitises their educational material in a way that allows young children to interact with them in the form of lessons within the app. It is primarily targeted at young children from the ages of 0-6 years, however we have noticed even adults and seniors enjoy the challenges of some of the lessons in the 5+ age group. The lessons are divided into 3 age groups; 0-2, 3-4 and 5+. The concept is for both parent/guardian and child to enjoy and benefit from app together. This is especially the case for the 0-2 years age group due to the difficulty most babies and infants will have in operating smartphones/tablets initially. The app makes Copel's unique curriculum available to those who are unable to enrol in their classrooms. It is also a supplement for Copel Classroom Members to enjoy the lessons outside of the classroom in the comfort of their own home.

Copel is a Japanese company that has been specialising in early childhood education for over 30 years. Primarily, they operate early childhood learning centers throughout Japan providing education to children aged 0 to 6 years old - up until starting elementary school. They have developed their own original curriculum over the years that employs a variety of methods and materials to engage the child's curiosity and increase the connections between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. 70% of these connections are developed by age 3, 90% by age 6 and the remaining 10% by age 12. A child's IQ and basic character is also said to be largely developed by age 6. Studies have shown that geniuses are not specifically "left brained" or "right brained", but in actual fact have a vast network of connections between both hemispheres and utilise this capacity to a degree much more than other people.

They believe that every child has the potential to become a genius but only about 5% of people actually harness this inherent ability. By providing stimulation to all the senses and engaging the children in an fun way, their untapped potential can be nurtured and their genius within brought forward. An IQ test was conducted with some of their students and the result was the average IQ increased from 100 to 130 over the span of a year after attending Copel's classrooms. They do not only focus on intellectual intelligence, they also place importance on education that helps develop social and emotional intelligence.

Many people think that children have a lack of concentration when they're young, but Copel views this as they have too much concentration - they're constantly trying to concentrate on a lot of different things as a result of their natural curiosity and desire to learn. Copel's core concept is realised here - children learn and benefit the most when they are enjoying themselves.

The variety of material and activities presented within a 50 minute lesson are intentionally short and fast-paced in order to keep the children interested and engaged. A child's concentration span for a single activity is said to be their age plus 1 minute. So a 2 year old on average has an attention span for one activity of about 3 minutes. During this time, if the child's eyes are sparkling - i.e. they're enjoying what they are learning - then they are in their so-called "learning mode". It is during these few minutes when their eyes are sparkling with curiosity that they can absorb the most information and the connections between the two hemispheres in the brain develop with amazing speed.

The app is available worldwide in English, Japanese, Spanish, German and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified).

You need to download and install the app from the app store that is provided on your device, for which the process is slightly different depending on which device you are using. Please check the How To Guide > How to get the app for details.