Over the past decade the market for children's digital play activities focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has grown exponentially. One benefit to the growth in digital STEM play is that it can provide children opportunities to engage the cognitive skills and practices that can be valuable for formal STEM learning.…

The present paper documents the design and development of a mobile mathematics application targeted to improve magnitude representation skills. Educational experts worked together with an app developer with the goal of creating an educational app as a math learning tool for children 5-8 years old. The description of the app design processes…

The topic of the Human Reproductive System integrated with comprehensive sex education was selected for this research because the concept of the human reproductive system is highly related to daily life. This study aims to develop an Android game application named "HUPROSED" for learning media on human reproductive system topics…

Many approaches have been employed in the creation of educational technologies. One of the lesser explored approaches is that of participatory design when it includes children as direct contributors. In such cases, specific strategies for supporting the effective participation of software developers and children are necessary. This article…

This article seeks to explore the convergent validity of (and thus the consistency between) a few popular generative artificial intelligence (AI) robots in evaluating popular mobile learning apps' usability. The three robots adopted in the study were Microsoft Copilot, Google PaLM, and Meta Llama, which were individually instructed to accord…

The lack of digital media to support middle school chemistry learning needs further expanded. Hence, an Android application as a learning media on acid, base, and salt topics was needed. This study aims to develop FunLABS (Fun Learning Acid, Base, and Salt) android-based applications. This study used a DDD-E model of development as a research…

Digital learning environments have been gaining prominence during the last few years. In particular, the rising usage of mobile devices, including smartphones and tabs, has invited researchers to design and develop learning applications and games for such platforms. Mobile applications and games have been developed for learning languages like many…

The article analyzes the success of interactive methods for evaluating digital tools and digital games with a focus on usability. To do so, it maps out the game's heuristic evaluations of usability, called playability. In this context, a bibliographic review was performed, seeking to encompass the most prominent authors as well as the articles…

As technology advances to bring new immersive and imaginary worlds, how children are educated and how teachers are prepared must also advance to meet these new opportunities. Today, as the metaverse infrastructure is still under construction, researchers, educators, policymakers, and digital designers have a chance to lead the way rather than get…

Background: Gamification is the use of game design elements, such as rules of play, point scoring and competition, in a non-game context, in learning activities. We designed a game, based on the famous augmented reality game "Pokémon GO," called Insects GO in which players should capture images of real insects with their mobile phones.…

Digital Education Initiatives and Timely Solutions (DIG-IT) is an Erasmus+ project collaboration between university academics, clinical educators, industry partners, healthcare professionals, and technology experts over 5 European Union (EU) states. The objectives are to create digital educational capacity for academic faculty and mobile learning…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the major concerns at the Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de América Latina (UCAL; the University of Sciences and Arts of Latin America) has been to keep offering high-quality education with effective teaching methodologies and creativity at its core. This article aims to describe and understand the use of…

The expansion of mobile devices (e.g. tablets, smartphones) and their educational and recreational applications have contributed to the emergence of Mobile Learning Games (MLGs). MLGs show great potential for increasing engagement, creativity and authentic learning. Yet, despite their great potential for education, the use of MLGs by teachers,…

Mobile technologies are increasingly becoming tools for enhancing access and smooth sharing of information, products, and services. In this realization, this study used a design science research users' participatory approach to co-design a mobile application prototype known as CBE Mobile Educational Tool (CBEMET) to enable lecturers of the College…

The purpose of this study was to identify salient features for a critical thinking app and create an instrument to facilitate the app evaluation and selection process. Two questions guided the study: (1) What distinguishes critical thinking instructional apps from others? and (2) What design principles are essential to develop a critical thinking…