Interactive educational game, an android mobile app for children learning alphabets

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop and evaluate a mobile educational application that supports fun learning for children. This paper describes an educational game application “Laut ABC”, which is an Android-based app that aims to be a learning tool with an attractive design that would help children learn alphabets. The results show that educational game app “Laut ABC” is a effective learning tool and can be used as an alternative for learning alphabets using an interesting and fun-learning concept.Design/methodology/approachResearch methods include methods of data collection, design and implementation. Data collection was done through research literature, interviews and questionnaires and analyzing some similar applications. Designing game application using storyboard and implementation was the done using the waterfall model for the software development life cycle.FindingsMost respondents stated that the introduction of alphabets is important for young children. They chose uppercase or capital letters to be used in the game. A majority of the respondents answered that the order of writing alphabets is important. These respondents agreed that educational games are a means for children to learn alphabets, as well as learn to write and pronounce alphabets. The application can also provide writing exercises to train childrens’ memory. The usual difficulties parents’ stated were that the children feel tired and are not in the mood to learn, have poor concentration, have difficulty in responding and seem to be disinclined to learn. Most of the parents mentioned that the critical points in children’s applications were the design of the educational application and completeness as a whole.Originality/valueThe paper reports the development of game’s design —- display, navigation, instruction and feedback. It can be said that the users had no difficulty in playing the game.