Learn & Enjoy for Kindergartens

Information technology (IT) is playing an increasingly important role in our everyday lives, with every field utilizing IT at some level. Education has become no exception. Through Power Point presentations, educational websites, and projectors, educators have been using technology to enhance curriculum efficiency.

Educating children, particularly, takes a lot of concentration and devotion, and it is important that educators make the course interesting. Therefore, it is obvious that technology involvement is needed to achieve a complete educational mission.

Learn and Enjoy for Kindergarten is educational software developed by Galyah Ali Abdulah Al-Mannaei and Khadeyah Mohammed Rashid, two first-year students at the College of Information Technology at United Arab Emirates University. The purpose of the software project is to make kindergarten learning effective and enjoyable.

The system uses animation and incorporates multimedia technology to assist the student in learning with practice. For instance, the program helps children learn the English alphabet along with a wide range of vocabulary. Handwriting and keyboard use are also taught. In science and math, students will study numbers and basic mathematical operations and match animals with their proper habitats.

Figure 1, below, illustrates that the system focuses on the basic skills of English, math, and science. The three main topics are introduced in a very interactive manner and each includes a games section where kids not only play, but learn.


Figure (1) Main Window

Figure 2, below, depicts a part of an English lesson that teaches the alphabet. The student will be asked to choose a letter of the alphabet. The result will be displayed in the balloon.


Figure (2) Part of an English Lesson

A part of the math section, below in Figure 3, shows two children talking about apples. One of them is asking about the sum of one apple and three apples.


Figure (3) Math lesson

The science lessons, as depicted by Figure 4, the students learn the names of familiar animals and other objects they deal with everyday. As with the other sections, animation plays an effective role.


Figure (4) Part of a Science Lesson

This system has participated in the 2004 UAE National IT Challenge and won two awards: The Best College Student Award and The Best National Student Project.

More functionality will be added to the system in the near future. These include:

• Users able to track learning progress.
• More lessons in English, math, and science.
• Interaction on-line.