Solar System Adventure
ABOUT
Solar System Adventure is a mobile application (app) for kids Astronomy (The app has also be removed from the app stores because AppFurnace shut down on the 30th of September 2018). This app will help primary-school learners jump into the attractive part of astronomy with interactive game-based learning and promote their interest in further Science study. The target learners of this app are primary students, who are digital natives with basic IT literacy, especially use of mobile devices like iPads. They may have limited prior knowledge about astronomy and basic reading abilities. After learning this module, students will be able to distinguish 8 planets in the solar system by the formal names and appearances, identify the main characteristics of 8 planets in the solar system including the distance, size, and the number of satellites, and improve their self-directed learning abilities with mobile devices and digital resources.
DESIGN HIGHLIGHTS
User-friendly Interaction: The instruction on each page of this app is pretty easy for learners to understand because the complex operations may damage children's intrinsic motivation. Clarity interactive buttons with explanations will guide students to perform well in the quiz and game parts.
Multimedia Content: This app uses a combination of different content forms such as text, images, music, animations, and video. According to Mayer's information processing model, diverse kinds of learning contents play an important role in constructing new knowledge and forming long-term memory. Besides, the background music will also create a relaxing learning atmosphere. In this way, the monotonous traditional learning with textbooks can be greatly improved.
Engaging User-interface: Attractive static and dynamic images are ubiquitous in the app, which can avoid the boring reading of the redundant text and effectively strengthen the learning experience of students. Besides, the bright and eye-catching color-matching will definitely engage young children.
Motivation Trigger: Engaging interface may only give learners a nice impression but hardly keep high learning enthusiasm. Therefore, in my design, I set several triggers to stimulate learners' motivation, such as the autonomous menu, unlocking quiz level by level, and two different game-based learning. The challenging tasks will powerfully prevent them from losing their interest in self-directed learning.