educational mobile application

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Adventure Preschool

Prepared for: Professor Michael Roller

Prepared by: Amanda Jezior-Muha

November 26, 2012

Purdue University Calumet Hammond, IN

Purdue University Calumet


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Table of Contents

Adventure Preschool 1Mission

1

Vision Statement 1Problem Statement 1Solution 1

A Competitive Analysis 1Educational Research 2

Adventure Preschool 3Application Areas 3Basic Navigation 3

Navigational Architecture and Rough Layout Design 4Initial Technical Requirements 6

Application Process Maps 7Initial Graphical Design 13

Main Page 13Levels 14Level Graphics 14Levels 16Level Graphics 17

Adventure Preschool: An Educational Application



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Levels 18Level Graphics 19Levels 20Level Graphics 21Levels 22

Final Screen Shots 23Summary 23

Adventure Preschool: An Educational Application



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Adventure Preschool

Mission

The mission of this project was to conceptualize, scope, and build an educational application that prepares young

children for preschool. This simple educational application has been simulated for the Google Nexus S.

Vision Statement

The applications goal is educate and prepare children prior and during preschool. Its targeted age group is children

between two and five years of age. The application will target six areas:

Memory

Counting

Letters (alphabet)

Shapes & Colors

Languages Problem Statement

School requires skills that need to be taught to children under the age of five in order to fully prepare them for classroom

lessons and success.

Solution

Conceptualize and design an interactive, entertaining, and educationally based application to prepare children for the

classroom.

A Competitive Analysis

While there are numerous amounts of preschool applications, many of them focus on one area of learning. After

completing market research, certain themes and/or general trends began to emerge. Below is an analysis on the

preschool application market.

Adventure Preschool: An Educational Application 1



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Speech with Milo: Sequencing

This application provides children with three cards and requires them to place the cards in the correct sequential order by

way of an animated mouse. The stories were chosen by a pathologist of speech. This application allows children to

organize time, sentences, and story-telling concepts. Children must use visual clues to follow and anticipate what is

going to happen.

Wheels on the Bus

Wheels on the Bus plays the song in five languages and allows users to interact actions that take place on the bus. The

application uses bold and bright graphics in order to engage users. English, Spanish, German, Italian, and French

versions of the song are played for users.

Jumpstart Preschool Magic of Learning

This particular application provides users with 15 games that teach math, pre-reading, and critical thinking skills. It helps

users to master upper and lower case letters with graphics of cows. Shapes, colors, and number recognition are

practiced with bug renditions.

Preschool: 15 in 1 Kids Pack

This is another application that piles in 15 games for users. It is targeted for those two through seven years of age. The

application features dozens of sounds, 100 words, alphabet, numbers, sketching, and days of the week.

Market Overview

Trends included that of cartoon/graphic animals that are meant to engage children. Alphabet and mathematical games

were found in several applications. Shapes, colors, and languages were also found separately in multiple applications.

Educational Research

The National Education Association promotes the use of applications in the classroom. The association specifies and

encourages teachers sharing and implementing the use of digital mobile applications in order to teach students with

educational concepts and skills. The association also promotes teachers communicate with their students through

technology in order to meet different learners needs.

The association provides information on using specific language for feedback and praise. They state that using words

that are specific and remain respectful are most clear as feedback for students. Continuous feedback gives students the

ability to track an gage their progress while learning required skills.

The above research suggests that applications are used as tools in the classroom and also gives the sense that they are

successful and impactful on students when learning essential skills. It also provides knowledge on the correct language

to use as reinforcement; and progress tracking cues.




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Adventure Preschool

Adventure Preschool will include several trending educational areas in preschool applications. The application is relevant

because it does not include an over-numerous amount of educational games, but will include those that are vital to

preparing for school. Also, the application will use entertaining and engaging agents of learning that will include cartoon

animals that interact with children while teaching skills designed as tools for success.

Application Areas

Memory:

The application will include cards that feature cartoon animals such as cows, monkeys, ponies, etc. The memory section

will include three levels that increase in the number or cards that will be matched to one another.

Matching Alphabet:

The alphabet is broken down into three separate groups that include 9/9/8 letters respectively. The upper case and lower

case versions of these letters are shown and users are asked to correctly match the letters to one another.

Counting:

Short animations that increase in difficulty will depict cartoon agents acting out different animations. The user is then

asked to answer specific counting related questions that would be derived from the short animation.

I.E. How many ants were carrying food from the picnic basket?Shapes and Colors:

Users are asked to correctly identify different shapes in colors that increase in difficulty across three levels.

Languages:

The days of the week are recited in three different languages that include: English, Spanish, and German.

Basic Navigation

Loading Page: The application will include a loading page because there content may need time to properly load and

visual cues will be needed for the user to gage the loading of the application

Main Page: the main page will include an exit button, and five additional buttons for these separate areas of learning for

the user. The back button leads to the general iPad interface.




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Learning Area Pages: Each learning area has a main page that includes a brief description of the tasks that will be

performed in the area. It will also include a screen shot of the task at hand being completed. Last it will include the three

buttons that will denote the different levels of difficulty for the learning area. The back button will take the user back to the

main page.

Level Page: Each page will include either: graphics, animation, video, or audio that will be essential for the perspective

tasks to be completed, anticipated, or understood. The back button will lead the user back to the learning are page.

Navigational Architecture and Rough Layout Design

* Please see the sketches and navigational structure below:




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Init ial Technical Requirements

Page Multimedia

Loading Page Graphic, Progress Bar

Main Page Graphics, Text, Buttons

Memory Home Text, Image, Graphic, Buttons

Memory Level 1-3 Graphics, Text, Buttons

Matching Alphabet Text, Image, Graphic, Buttons

Matching Alphabet 1-3 Image, Graphic, Buttons

Counting Home Text, Image, Graphic, Buttons

Counting 1-3 text, Image, Animation, Buttons

Shapes &Colors Text, Image, Graphic, Buttons

Languages 1-3 Audio, Text, Graphic, Buttons

Galaxy Nexus S Specs Multimedia

Height 4.88 inches

Width 2.48 inches

Screen (diagonally) 480x800 pixels

Display Multi-Touch

OS Android Gingerbread

Storage 16 GB, 512 MB RAM

Video WVGA 30 fps

*All multimedia will need to meet these specifications. Video should sample at 30 frames/ second and saved in .mov or

mpeg4. Graphics will need to be designed to fit the 4 inches.




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Application Process Maps




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Init ial Graphical Design

Main Page

To the left you can see a screenshot of the original graphical

design of the main page. The Adventure Preschool logo can bee

seen at the top of the page. The main also come equipped with

buttons that navigate to the six areas of knowledge: memory,

alphabet (or letters), counting, shapes & colors, and language.

Below the buttons is a graphic of a schoolhouse meant to fit the

theme of education and preschool. In the top left of the page is

an exit button that will navigate back to the phones application

pages.




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Memory Main Page

The memory main page has a header at the top, as well as a back button that

navigates back to the Adventure Preschool Main Page. Below the header is a

picture/ visual example of the memory game. The page also has a summary of

the operation of the game so the user understands what will occur when they

proceed. The page includes three additional buttons that indicate each level of

the memory game.

LevelsThe levels increase in difficulty. There is a back button and feedback areas. The

main feedback areas below the header indicates if a match was made. In the

lower corners of the page you will see a counter that tacks of matches & misses.

When the correct number of matches is made then page is advanced to the the

level complete page.

Level Graphics

Below are the graphics used in the levels. They are meant to resemble flash cards with cartoon animals. This was shown

to be successful in other children aged applications.




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Alphabet Main Page

The alphabet main page has a header at the top, as well as a back button that


picture/ visual example of the alphabet game. The page also has a summary of



the alphabet game.

Levels

The levels increase in difficulty. There is a back button and feedback areas. The


lower corners of the page you will see a counter that tacks of matches & misses.

When the correct number of matches is made then page is advanced to the the

level complete page. The levels are broken up into sections of the the alphabet.




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Level Graphics

Below are the graphics used in the levels. They are meant to resemble flash cards with upper and lower case views of

the letters in the alphabet.




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Counting Main Page

The counting main page has a header at the top, as well as a back button that


picture/ visual example of the alphabet game. The page also has a summary of



the counting game.

LevelsEach level is equipped with an animation/short video. The children are to watch

the animation and then answer the questions once it has been fully watched.he


lower corners of the page you will see a counter that tacks of matches &

misses. When the correct number of matches is made then page is advanced

to the the level complete page.




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Level Graphics

Below are the graphics used in the levels.They are screenshots taken from the short animations. These animations

include the cartoon characters from the memory level.




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Level Graphics

Below are the graphics used in the levels. Shapes were created in different colors and added to the pages. Below are

some examples of the shapes used in the color and shape levels.




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Languages Main Page

The languages main page has a header at the top, as well as a back button

that navigates back to the Adventure Preschool Main Page. Below the

header is a picture/ visual example of the game. The page also has a

summary of the operation of the game so the user understands what will

occur when they proceed. The page includes three additional buttons that

indicate each level of the game.

Levels

Each level is equipped with the days of the week. Each day is enabled as a

button. When a day is selected audio can be heard of the day being

pronounced in either English, Spanish, or German. In the lower corners of the

page you will see a counter that tacks of matches & misses. When the

correct number of matches is made then page is advanced to the the level

complete page.




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Final Screen Shots

Summary

During the course of building the prototype I came against several hurdles and difficulties. I spent countless

hours working on different coding options, set-ups, layouts, etc. Despite my very best efforts and exhaustive

hours and trials I came up short..........waaaay short. I have never felt defeated or overtaken by any one

project or assignment no matter the demands it brings, but this particular project brought me to my knees.

The functionality of this application was meant to include cards that flip over, buttons that submit, feedback

for matches, counters for matches and misses. It was also intended to include animations as well as audio of

different languages. While I learned a great deal in this project, I was also extremely challenged. Though the

application didnt turn out the way I wanted it to, I am still proud of the effort and design I created. I truly

believe in the concept and still feel that it would be successful if it was fully functional and deployed. Below

you can see the final screen shots of what was created for each level of the application. WIthin the submitted

folder you will find the animations, graphics, and flex file for the application. It is a bittersweet ending to a my

undergraduate career at PUC.




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Adventure Preschool: An Educational Application i



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