Call me a dinosaur if you like (you won't be the first), but I believe the best way for kids to learn is simply to read a book and the best place for them to spend their childhood is outdoors.
Brace yourselves for one more heresy: I also think that, for all of the Internet's wonders, it does a lot more to distract young children than to inform them.
But David Lord, an amiable fellow who does seem to understand these issues, maintains that useful learning can happen online. Of course, it is his business to make that happen.
A Shrewsbury native and 1989 graduate of Northeastern University, Lord is president and CEO of Knowledge Adventure, a California-based firm with a solid history in the field of children's educational software.
The firm now touts itself as providing a blend of learning and entertainment for children as young as 3 through online gaming "adventures" that "inspire kids' minds through immersed play."
Lord, himself the father of three, vigorously contends that when it comes to educational products for kids, the future - and a chunk of the present - belongs to online platforms, which have, in his view, eclipsed the CD-based software that used to be Knowledge Adventure's stock in trade.
"The market has evolved," he said. "This is the way that kids want to consume their content. And parents are perfectly content to let kids do that."
Well, not all parents, I pointed out.
"They want to make sure that what their kids do has some learning value," Lord acknowledged. "And we do start to hear more and more about how much time they spend online or watching TV versus being outdoors. So each of our games has a message behind it: Go out and do this. We're going to start to roll in some more messages about outdoor activities: Go play soccer, that sort of thing."
Knowledge Adventure recently launched what it trumpeted as "the JumpStart Virtual World," which the CEO describes as "an adventure-based learning theme park."
It consists of JumpStart.com, an online game for 3-to-10-year-olds that rewards kids with virtual coins when they complete learning exercises; Adventure Land, an "immersive 3-D virtual world" that allows kids 5 to 8 to explore a mysterious lost island; a racing game called Buggy Racer; Sound Bop, a memory skill game; and Dodge n' Dash, an online version of dodgeball.
The argument is that these interactive games help develop problem-solving ability, logic, and critical-thinking skills.
Most of the games are mission-based: The kids complete a mission, earn points, and move on to the next one. A math-based game enables kids to simulate flying around in a jet pack, to zap the wrong answers with a laser, and then fly through a portal to the right answer.
Lord used to be the head of ToySmart, an online educational toy company launched in 1996. "At the time, the mainstream toy business was really focused on the hits: the Mattels, the Hasbros, the Barbies of the world," he recalled. "It's much more focused now on games and educational products. There has been an interesting evolution of the toy business."
With most toys sold in stores or through catalogs in the mid-1990s, Lord figured that ToySmart could use the Internet both as a distribution channel and as a space for a "community" built around the company's website. Walt Disney Co. thought that sounded like a good idea, and invested enough to hold a controlling stake in ToySmart.
But in 2000, as the dot-com bubble burst and e-tailers went into a tailspin, Disney pulled the plug, and ToySmart collapsed.
Lord clearly does not envision any such scenario for Knowledge Adventure. In fact, he sees the role of educational online games getting bigger. He sketches a picture of a parent, taking a half-hour lunch break at the office, going online to play a game with his or her child at home.
The next addition to the JumpStart Virtual World, fittingly enough, will be called Future World. "This is the next generation of kids' engagement," said Lord.
Well, maybe. But here's hoping kids also leave time to engage with a swingset, a sandbox, or "The Secret Garden" once in a while.
Don Aucoin can be reached at Aucoin@globe.com. 
