This is to certify that I am responsible for the work submitted in this project, that the original work is my own, except as specified in the references and acknowledgments, and that the original work contained herein is not undertaken by unspecified sources or persons or not done. . The development of FunNature Android application is to provide an interactive learning tool for the preschool children to learn about the environment focusing on flora and fauna. In addition, the approach proposed by the author is mainly to assist the children during the learning process of environment by using the concept of play in an application.
The author believes that using reading materials fails to attract children's attention, which later becomes a problem for the kindergarten teacher. In order to develop such an application, the author had conducted research in the following areas: (1) the preschool curriculum from the Ministry of Education to ensure that the content of the game adheres to the curriculum and (2) the environmental domain focusing on flora and fauna in Malaysia context. For research methodology, this study focuses on qualitative research obtained from children's feedback on their experience using the existing system and their opinions on the new interactive application.
First of all the highest gratitude to Almighty Allah S.W.T. for the gift of health, strength and ability to complete the final year project I and II within the allotted time period. To complete this project, the author conducted a survey, interviews and system testing with a representative kindergarten in Bandar Seri Iskandar.
INTRODUCTION
- Objectives
- Scopes of Study
- Relevancy of Project
- Feasibility
According to the curriculum for preschool children approved by the Ministry of Education, there are several modules for learning about the environment. Therefore, every kindergarten in Malaysia must teach children about it. 9 Since the current method is not interactive, it is difficult for preschool teachers to attract children's attention during the learning process.
Another game module is to use the sound of the animal for the children to identify the "missing" animal. This allows children to learn about the flora and fauna that is available in Malaysia. The implementation of this application is important for children because it can help them during class or field trip.
Interactive learning medium is necessary to ensure that the children focus on the learning subject and this application helps the teacher to achieve an enjoyable learning process. Sufficient description together with correct pronunciation and animal's sound will certainly make the learning process easier for the children.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Malaysia 2010 National Standard Curriculum for Preschool........17-18
- Website...............................................................................18-19
- FunNature Android Application for Learning Environment
Overview on Mobile Application..................................................22-23
Software program that runs on portable devices such as personal digital assistant or mobile phone is called mobile application. According to a report by mobiThinking (2011), there are currently two types of applications available in the market. The first type is the native application that is installed on the device and is developed specifically for one type of mobile phone to maximize the phone's functionalities.
On the other hand, mobiThinking (2011) also justifies that the second type of application is accessible through the Internet, which is located on a server and is known as the web application. In Figure 8, Newark-French (2011) compares the average number of minutes spent per day on mobile native applications with the time consumers spend on the website. Users spend more time on the mobile application than on the internet and this is higher than 9 percent.
On the other hand, time spent on the Internet grew at a slower rate of 16%. Newark-French (2011) argued that the drastic change in the use of mobile applications is mainly caused by more sessions that each user makes per day and not because of the longer average time spent for each session. According to a report by BBC News, Apple is now the world's largest seller of smartphones, overtaking Nokia and Samsung in the second quarter of 2011.
Referring to Figure 4, even though Apple tops the list of smartphone bestsellers, its market share is only 6%, making Apple the fourth largest mobile phone seller in the world after Nokia, Samsung and LG. On the contrary, the biggest seller is Nokia, with a total number of handsets sold in the second quarter of 88.5 million. In terms of smartphone rankings, Samsung overtakes Nokia with only a 4% difference, as shown in Figure 9.
Another Korean company ranked among the top five brands is LG, with a total of 24.8 million units of mobile phones shipped to other countries. The top four mobile operating systems (OS) in the world from Q1 2011 to Q1 2012 are Android OS, iOS, Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry RIM. Android is the best platform to use in the development of this study because Google offers an open source development kit for the OS.
METHODOLOGY
The author has finished the design of the Android app and games are the main part of the app. The system framework of the FunNature Android application consists of four components; web server, mobile application, mobile device and end users. The flow of the system is given and this illustrates what options are available to the user.
The result shows that the majority of children are exposed to smartphones or tablets. This derived that the majority of parents agree with the trend of using mobile learning on their children. Maybe some of the parents use a non-Android based mobile phone like iPhone, Blackberry or Nokia, causing the children to never experience using any Android application.
Three-quarters of children have already developed an interest in using an Android app, regardless of purpose. Although almost half of the children have never had experience using an Android application, this does not prevent children and parents from being curious about the proposed Android application. Some respondents commented that a positive effect can be created under the supervision of an adult, whether it is a teacher or a parent, to prevent children from becoming too engrossed in the use of mobile devices.
Keeping this result in mind, the author designed the Android application to have gaming features to attract children to use it. This result suggests that parents viewed games as an alternative to educating children about the theory behind games, such as the environment. One of the main concerns is to get agreement from teachers that the content is appropriate for children and aligned with the MOE curriculum.
The first one is to get feedback from the kids about the FunNature Android app interface and features. The second objective is to measure the improvement of the children in identifying flora and fauna after using this product. A set of questions consisting of animal and plant images was distributed to the children twice.
From the observation during the user testing session, the children know what to do even if no questions are asked in the modules. Parents and teachers can spend their time with the children by playing the games together. Based on feedback from teachers, FunNature is able to capture children's interest and the content is appropriate according to the MOE preschool curriculum.
At what age do you think it is appropriate to teach children about the environment, e.g.
