FunNature: Android Application for Environmentel Lcorning

The development of FunNature Android application is to provide an interactive
learning aid for the preschoolers to learn about the environment that focus on flora
and fauna. The objective is to demonstrate a minimum l0olo improvement in object
recognition through image, text and sound among the preschool children. 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 game in an application.
The idea of this project arose from an assessment of the current method used by the
Malaysia preschools which is using reading materials or Microsoft Power Point
slides. The author believes that by using reading materials, it fails to grab the
children's attention which later becomes a problem for the kindergarten teacher. By
using FunNature application, children and teacher can enjoy the learning process
together especially if they play the games together.
ln order to develop such application, the author had conducted rpsearch on the
following domains: (l) preschool syllabus by Ministry of Education to ensure that
the game's content abide the syllabus and (2) environment domain focusing on flora
and fauna in Malaysia context.
For the rcsearch methodology, this study focuses on qualitative research acquired
from the feedback of children on their experience in using the existing system and
their opinions on the new interactive application. Parents and rcachers also
cooperated to give their feedback on the prototlpe of this application. Using a Rapid
Application Development model, the author successfully developed an application
that is user friendly and cost effective using Andmid platform. The final prototlTe of
FunNature Android application is developed using Adobe Flash Creative Suite 5.5.