A critical review of mobile application UI design for preschool children educational applications (Chapter 2)

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Category: Level 3, CET300 Computing Project (Dissertation)

Published: Tuesday, 09 February 2021 16:59

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2. A critical review of mobile application UI design for preschool children educational applications 3

2.1 Introduction.. 3

2.2 Education.. 4

2.3 Effects of mobile application on preschool children.. 6

2.3.1 Behaviour 6

2.3.2 Physical Toll 10

2.4 UI design for children.. 12

2.4.1 Visual Design.. 12

2.4.2 Visual effects. 16

2.5 Conclusion.. 20

2. A critical review of mobile application UI design for preschool children educational applications 

2.1 Introduction 

Healthy eating and nutrition is fundamental to how young children develop and grow, as children need vitamins, minerals and other nutrients to have a healthy growth and development. (Hull, P. et al. 2017)  Obesity is a major problem amongst young children. It is estimated that in England, 28% of 2 to 15 year olds are obese or overweight; which is almost a third of children between 2 and 15 years old. (Marsh, S. 2019) However, a major problem with this kind of application can be dangerous and damaging to the growth and the proper development of young children. A primary concern of healthy eating for young children is how to teach them at a very early age, as most young children are not yet able to read or write, so how would they be able to learn about what is good for them and what isn’t. 

Recent evidence suggests that an efficient way to teach young children would be through mobile applications, that capture a child’s attention and interests them to be able to educate them in a fun and enjoyable way compared to the traditional classroom environment. A way to attract a child’s attention through applications and a way to aid them in learning is through, visual aids like images and icons, colours and audio as they can’t yet read. However, there is controversy surrounding children using technology and mobile applications, as many people see this as children spending more time inside on their devices instead of being outside and being activity and socializing with other children. 

Previous studies of educating children with mobile applications have only studied and researched older children and teenagers, not young children like 2 to 5 year olds. Most also have only focused on how well the children learn through mobile applications and games, they didn’t view how it helped them learn how to eat more healthily. Other studies also mostly focused on the negative effects of mobile application use for 2 to 5 year olds and didn’t mention the positives (Hosokawa, R. and Katsura, T. 2018) This means that there is a bit of a gap in knowledge about educating 2 to 5 year olds about healthy eating through a mobile application, as there aren’t many studies or research out there surrounding the topic. 

This research attempts to be able to educate 2 to 5 years on how to eat more healthily, what to eat, what not to and nutrition through the use of a mobile application. This paper analyses the impact of mobile application and how well children learn about nutrition and also the positives and negatives of mobile applications for educating young children. It also discusses the design of the application, how to cater it towards younger children and how to make it more suitable for children. This is also the purpose of the research, to look at how to not only design applications for children, but how to educate children through the application. 

Based on our experience in reviewing the topics mentioned above, we assume that it will take us further in the professional implementation of the project. 

2.2 Education 

For preschoolers, play is an important foundation for children's development. Its main purpose is to analysis the condition of the art of interactive technologies to assist experts in the field of game-based preschool education. (Nacher, V., Garcia-Sanjuan, F. and Jaen, J. 2016) 

Therefore, the following article provides an overview of play techniques that support the development of preschool children. Preschoolers aged 2 to 6 years have been tested in various technology categories Traditional computer, Interactive surfaces, tablet and Smartphone, Robots and technologically-enhanced toys. For preschoolers, play is an important foundation for children's development. (Nacher, V., Garcia-Sanjuan, F. and Jaen, J. 2016) 

Research has shown the frequent use of tablets and Smartphones, these devices when placed on a flat surface can create a multi-display environment similar to a desktop computer. Therefore, many children can participate in the game at the same time and thus develop their social skill. This tool can be easily moved to create physical agility in games. In addition, the Apple App Store's most popular category is the "Education" category, which has over 80,000 applications. (Hirsh-Pasek, K. et al. 2015)

The education category being very popular, means that preschool children and parents have a wide variation of applications to choose from when it comes to educational applications, which is presumably a popular category as well with parents of young children. 

In a 2016 article, various applications were used in a study, such as mathematical, grammatical or geometric shapes for educational applications. “Their results confirmed that tablet-aided learning provided better learning outcomes than the traditional (non-technological) teaching method.” (Nacher, V., Garcia-Sanjuan, F. and Jaen, J. 2016) Not only educational applications but also a series of basic multi-touch gestures have been tested with children aged 2 to 6 years. “Their results showed that preschool children are able to perform successfully the tap, drag, scale up, scale down and one-finger rotation gestures without assistance, as well as the long pressed and double tap gestures with some assistive techniques that fit the gesture to the actual abilities of children.” Although there are significant differences in this area for children between the ages of 2 and 3, their fine motor skills are still being developed. (Nacher, V., Garcia-Sanjuan, F. and Jaen, J. 2016) 

In summary, the interactive technology is capable of developing children's abilities. Therefore, future research in the field of interactive technology is needed to support educational games that promote child development. It can help teachers, game designers and human-computer interaction (HCI) experts to further develop interactive technology. (Nacher, V., Garcia-Sanjuan, F. and Jaen, J. 2016)

The study identified the need for future research in the field of interactive technology, but did not elaborate on the research area. In addition, it would have been better to illustrate comparative results in the form of a table in percentages. 

The purpose of the research was, to systematically review creations that utilise mobile applications to help fight against malnutrition in preschoolers. 

This research was conducted to evaluate what is out there in the world to provide preschoolers, mothers, and health workers with information through mobile application, to help battle malnutrition. Mothers had very little access to use mobile phones, but stated that they are willing to learn how to use the new technology and the mobile applications in order to benefit their children.

Health workers in the same region stated that “mobile messaging, voice or text, mainly should be a supplementary method to face-to-face interaction”. Even though they didn’t think they had the skill set or the knowledge to be able to use the technology or the mobile application for more challenging tasks they were willing to acquire the skill via feedback from the application. (Hull P, Emerson JS, Quirk ME, Canedo JR, Jones JL, Vylegzhanina V, et al. 2017) 

It was also reported that the mother’s had been disinterested after having major and minor issues with the application, for example the scanner feature of the application, wasn’t compatible with Android phones. Along with the application having video deletion errors and video accessibility issues. (Weerasinghe MC, Senerath U, Godakandage S, Jayawickrama H, Wickramasinghe A, Siriwardena I, et al. 2016) 

A key finding in this research was that in low and middle income countries reported infrastructure and technical limitations to execute the application, mainly surrounding the issues with getting a hold of mobile phones, reception, access and a delay in the updating of the database. They have also found that it is important for government organisations, academia and industries to help support and provide a adequate infrastructure for the application to work successfully. They also state that the use of advertisement for the application is important too, to help motivate people towards the application. (Seyyedi, N. et al. 2019) 

This article is not convincing as it introduces users to a site for reasons or errors for not using the application on the mobile phone. The study does not address the results of the kindergarten application used to combat malnutrition. This research focuses more on the defects of mobile phones than on the use of the mobile malnutrition application and its positive effects. 

The following Study examined how the use of game-based learning by the use of mobile application and devices and using it to be able to teach preschool children music. The use of mobile applications in learning has been an easy and affordable, also has been favoured when it not only comes to classroom teaching but informal and non-formal teaching settings. (Martin and Ertzberger 2013)

The experimental group in the study was made up of 43 preschool children, their ages adding up to a mean of 5.6 years old. 

The study used a game called SAMI which included four games, all four games took the classical Montessori method as a template for the use of the colours in the games, the games all tested and challenged the children’s creativity and thinking and the children had to interacted with the same character in all four games to carry out different activities. 

The results of the study showed that the use of audio material in mobile application has helped children learn music more easily, the children have also felt confident when playing the game and showed off their own works to other children, which helped their social skills.  The difference between the control and the experimental group showed that the use of mobile applications had motivated and interested the children in using the application, in turn making them spend more time learning music. (Paule-Ruiz, Mp. et al. 2017) 

In this study, children of true preschool age were examined, although the average age was 5.6 years. As there may also be large differences between preschool children, such as between a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, the study of the preschool age group is incomplete, it would have been better to have divided and examined preschool children by different age groups.

2.3 Effects of mobile application on preschool children 

2.3.1 Behaviour 

"Association between mobile technology use and child adjustment in early elementary school age" illustrates the impact of using mobile technology on children's development. (Hosokawa, R. and Katsura, T. 2018). 1,642 children aged 6 years participated in this study. Parents of the children completed questionnaires on children's mobile device use and emotional behaviours. “Among the participants, 230 (14.0%) were regular users (60 minutes or more on a typical day) and 1,412 (86.0%) were non-regular users (under 60 minutes on a typical day).” (Hosokawa, R. and Katsura, T. 2018) 

Computers and mobile devices have positive / negative effects. It can be positive with cognitive and scientific skills, negative with social and psychological development. The time spent on the computer and mobile devices can displace the quality interaction between the parent and the child. This includes opportunities for joint reading, playing or verbal communication. It also reduces the time you spend playing with your peers. Another positive impact of mobile applications and devices would be that the users feel rewarded after playing an application. (Li X, Atkins MS, Stanton B. 2016) 

Play is important for children's development as it supports their problem solving and creative abilities. However, using media tools reduces these capabilities. It also leads to sleeping issues, which in a negative sense can affect children's development. Violent media can also influence children to raise fear, anxiety, and conflictions, and in addition, mobile devices and the computer can reduce physical activation, which can lead to obesity. (Bremer J. The internet and children: advantages and disadvantages 2015). 

The transition between preschool and primary school is an important period of development for children. They need to acquire a social ability that prepares them for social and emotional success. (Hosokawa, R. and Katsura, T. 2018). 

This study examined behavioural problems, hyperactivity, inattention, emotional symptoms and contemporary problems. “Mobile device use in this study, among 1,642 participants, 1,010 (61.5%) were non-users, 402 (24.5%) used devices less than 60 minutes on a typical day, and 230 (14.0%) used devices 60 minutes or more on a typical day. In terms of emotional / behavioural problems, users spend 60 minutes or more a day had significantly more problems / symptoms (ie, conduct problems, hyperactivity / inattention, and emotional symptoms) compared to non-users or users spending less than 60 minutes a day ". (Hosokawa, R. and Katsura, T. 2018). 

The results of the behavioural problems (Hosokawa, R. and Katsura, T. 2018.) are shown in Table 1: 

Table 1. The result of behavioural problems

Those who regularly used mobile devices showed higher behavioural problems, hyperactivity, or inattention than those who did not regularly use mobile devices. Based on these findings, recurring use of mobile devices leads to behavioural problems in children. Children can hinder their development in terms of social adjustment. (Hosokawa, R. and Katsura, T. 2018) 

The authors mention that mobile devices have negative and positive effects, but only negative effects have been researched. The authors could have used the benefits of positive effects in their study. The study would have been more useful if suggestions had been made to solve the problems of negative impacts. 

In this work, Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory studies preoperational children and adolescents aged 3-6 years. An observational study of touch interaction behaviour when interacting with smartphones and tablets was conducted. 89 children and 30 young adults participated in this study. This work focuses on preschool children and aims to examine children's ability to interact with the touch screen but to improve their motor skills. 

In his research on the subject, the author overlooks the fact that he mentions in the article that he is doing research based on Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory, although he does not explain what Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory is. 

Children play using a touch screen using mobile devices. However, these mobile devices are designed / applied for general adult user interaction. As the device screens have been developed and designed with adults in mind, so for children to be able to use the screen reliably it would be difficult, as a previous study showed “children between 7 and 10 years old miss 7 mm targets almost 30% of the time.” (Anthony, L., Brown, Q., Tate, B., Nias, J., Brewer, R., Irwin, G., 2013a) 

“Indeed, children have limited cognitive and motor abilities that affect their performance with today's touch-screen technology, which is a consequence of children's limited degree of physical maturation, one of the four factors that affect child development, next to experience, social aspects, and emotion." (Vatavu, R.-D., Cramariuc, G. and Schipor, D. M. 2015) 

The result is shown in the following tables 2: 

The task completion rate shows a large difference between Tap (98.7%) and Multi-touch drag and drop (53.7%). However, children were far more successful with Phone (90.8%) than with Tablet (72.8%). 

 Table 2. Completion rates per Task, Gender, Device, and Age-Group.

(Vatavu, R.-D., Cramariuc, G. and Schipor, D. M. 2015)

Fig. 1. Completion rates showing significant interactions between Task and Device (left), Task and Age-Group (middle), and Age-Group and Device (right).

Children's sensorimotor evaluation and correlation with touch performance measures According to the results, age significantly influences the four sensor motor abilities. 

Older age groups were able to control their finger movements faster than younger children.

Fig. 2. Children׳s sensorimotor evaluation results in terms of finger dexterity for single- and multi-touch conditions (a,b), visuomotor precision (c), and visuospatial processing (d). Low values for (a), (b), and (c) and high values for (d) indicate better performance. (Vatavu, R.-D., Cramariuc, G. and Schipor, D. M. 2015)

It has been found that children improve with time and task accuracy with age. Compared to the youngest age group, older people were 2.5 times faster on a tablet and 4.0 times faster on a tablet, and about 25% more accurate. (Vatavu, R.-D., Cramariuc, G. and Schipor, D. M. 2015)

Adults, on the other hand, were 4.5 times faster than kids on tap and dragged items 3.5 times faster on the phone and 2.8 times faster on the tablet.

These results confirm the concerns that touch screen devices may not be fully appropriate for children, as there are large differences between children and adults.

Their results show that children grow faster and more accurate as they grow up, and develop cognitive and motor skills. However, this study also showed that young children have difficulty in accurately reaching targets and dragging elements on the touch screen surface. (Vatavu, R.-D., Cramariuc, G. and Schipor, D. M. 2015) 

In this study they researched how the teachers of preschool children thought they would do with using a mobile device and application and compared it to how the children actually preformed. To research this, 43 children ages between 3 and 5, 180 teachers were recruited. 

The result had shown that most of the “preschoolers could complete 9 of the 12 Ipad tasks without any help, whereas the teachers assumed that the children would need more help and would require more assistance.” Teacher candidates mis-estimated preschoolers' skills on 50% of iPad tasks.” (Mourlam, D. J. et al. 2019)  

The finding have shown that preschoolers can complete multiple tasks that they had been given on the iPad which can be adapted by their teachers later on when developing their later subjects or  whenever they are teaching the children something new. This shows that there are flaws in the way teachers prepare learning programs for their students and that teachers should use this knowledge to their advantage more often. (Mourlam, D. J. et al. 2019) 

2.3.2 Physical Toll 

About 12.7 million children in America are obese, due to the fact that children eat more calories and do not exercise enough to burn this dietary energy with exercise. 

However, 75% of the children's rooms have a television and 50% of the families use the television 24 hours a day. Technology is evolving rapidly with iPads, tablets, mobile phones and internet games captivating the younger generation, leading to a sofa-potato lifestyle. 

Children develop a technological addiction. Because they spend a lot of time on iPads, tablets, mobile phones, and internet games, which reduces their physical mobility.

The number of children who get smartphones at a young age is increasing. This, in turn changes socialization with others and with the world 

According to research, 38% of children under the age of 2, 72% of children under the age of 8 and 78% of high school children have mobile phones that are used for gaming and media. And 25% of high school students have a tablet. 

Thanks to fast-growing technology, children are more easily accessible even to children from disadvantaged families. Because they have easy access to mobile devices, they spend a lot of time playing with mobile devices. 

The health consequence of this is that they exercise less, spend less time in the open air and become addicted to mobile technology and pursue a sedentary lifestyle. Lack of physical activity can cause potential serious health and relationship problems. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a minimum of 1 hour of physical activity per day. Fitness oriental technology combats the sedentary lifestyle by creating tools to support people for a healthier lifestyle. The fitness trackers tool helps you do that. 

The result of this research is the benefits of fitness trackers, as fitness bracelets users who choose this tool can continuously monitor their steps, calories burned, calories intake, and overall physical activity, which encourages users to exercise more. With the help of these tools, fitness followers get instant results, positive feedback, and invitations via smartphones. This way, they can connect with friends through this formation to get each other together. Fitbit users increased their physical activity by 43%. So to combat obesity fitness trackers should be provided for children. (Jamruk, K. 2017) 

This case study focuses on the use of mobile devices. This includes its effects on physical health such as sleep disorders, depression, cell phone addiction, behavioural problems, obesity and reduced vision. 

Electronic media has become a part of today's young generation and is used for leisure purposes. The advantages of mobile applications like information, access and rapid communication, but the screen causes health and psychological problems for young children.

Today's technical tools distract the personal communication of young children, as they are spending a large portion of their time on their devices instead of with other people and socialising. It greatly influences social behaviour, integration, impulse control, emotions, thinking and task stamina. (Anderson et al., 2010) However, most people in society seem to disagree with the idea of video games making someone less social and more aggressive when the person plays violent games. 

In the UK, 20% to 30% of young children suffer from sleep problems. It is important for children to have quality as well as substance for their physical and mental health. In addition, sleep has a major influence on behavioural problems and school performance. 

Examination of children aged 4-8 years revealed that the amount of time they spend in bed before the screen is too small and that this will affect the next day, making them more tired. 

Children sitting in front of the screen displace physical activity which leads to excess weight and cholesterol levels. Studies have shown that sedentary behaviour and lack of exercise lead to hypertension not only in the young generation but also in adults. 

According to the latest studies, children have impaired vision in children sitting in front of computer monitors and video games, resulting in dry eyes, blurred vision, eye fatigue and headaches, this is all due to prolonged hours of sitting in front of a bright computer monitor or screens. Children 1-13 years old develop myopia, which is myopia or refractive illness. Children who played half an hour of video games, more than the recommended daily amount of time, experienced headaches and dizziness.

This would help when considering making an mobile application and the design and colours that would need to be considered, the article however does not mention how this could be prevented.

It also causes orthopaedic problems due to inappropriate posture and intense muscular and skeletal loads of repetitive movements of the wrist and arm, causing discomfort. 

Excessive use of mobile devices causes depression, distraction, hyperactivity. The use of toys that are inappropriate for children may lead to aggressive behaviour as a result of playing rough toys. (Lissak, G. 2018) 

Previous research also proves that they focus only on the negative things, it does not examine its possible positive effects, and does not include suggestions for solving these problems.

2.4 UI design for children 

2.4.1 Visual Design 

This study looked at three aspects to when reverse engineering process is applied in android applications. These three aspects are; “the selection of applications, the selection of patterns and the analysis of existing patterns in the selected applications.” 

Overall, they had examined and evaluated only 23 applications, where they had found that they all used and had included buttons of action, so buttons that when clicked perform an action and they also used graphic and icons to make it more attractive but also easier to navigate. Fig. 1- A screenshot showing a brain games application.

 Fig. 3- A screenshot showing a brain games application.

Another feature that was observed in these applications was the use of voices and sounds as a sign of how the children had performed and a way for the kids to receive feedback. 

However, a pattern that wasn’t used as often in application, but is probably the most useful when creating a children’s application, is the use of a tutorial or a simulation to help the children understand the workings of the games. (Patricia Villareal-Freire, A., Felipe Aguirre Aguirre, A. and Alberto Collazos Ordoñez, C. 2019)

 Fig.4- The image below shows the use of a tutorial that was presented to the child before starting the game.

The following study aims to design technology-supported interactive social stories, develop innovative learning environments, and develop alternative classroom practices for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A total of 157 children, moms and teachers with ASD participated in the study. 

The researchers had made direct observations in environments such as the classroom and the home. Interactional elements of social history were designed with consideration of the characteristics and level of development of the target persons. Social story topics were selected with the help of families and teachers by completing a social skills checklist. At the time of writing the stories, there were high school students of the same age and typical development who were expressing their behaviour and reactions. Families and teachers defined "the characters, the activities, the background characteristics, the graph-background relationships, and the duration of the training." In addition, buttons, colours, options, voice recordings and sound effects were selected based on the opinions of experts and teachers. 

The following table 3 shows the participants in Design-Based Research:

Table 3. Participants of the Design-based Research

The following images illustrate the operation of the application. Starting with User Login, The second page is where the story title appears after the login page, User guide:  buttons for navigation and interaction are introduced, by pressing the buttons; the verbal stimulus is exposed to the voice of peers, Page four, which is the title of the story, is explained by an animated character. Interactive social story pages: These pages contain the "Next", "Back" and "Listen" buttons, presenting the verbal, visual and audio versions of the content based on the individual learning differences of the participants, Decision page: participants are given the opportunity to re-read the social story or answer reading comprehension questions, Reading comprehension questions: Read questions were prepared to help participants understand the story and a last Logout page: This page provides users with the opportunity to go back to the previous page, re-read the story, or logout. 

Fig. 5. Login Page                                                       Fig. 6. Page 2 

Fig. 7. User Guide                                                       Fig. 8. Page 4 

Fig. 9. Interactive Social Story Page                          Fig. 10. Decision Page 

Fig. 11. Reading Comprehension Questions              Fig. 12. Logout Page

Teacher feedback suggests that colours are vivid, relevant, and consistent, so they attract students' attention. The fonts are easy to read and the images used in the story are harmonious and attractive. In addition, “The attention of children is better with these stories because they actively read the stories, which might make the stories easier to remember”. From the moms' point of view, however, they received feedback that it was easy to use, fun, and one of the moms said her child didn't like to read, but she was happy to use this program and attract her child's attention.

This study received positive feedback and development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The colours, pictures, sound effects, characters' gestures, letters, sentences, questions and positive stories used in the program, had a positive outcome. (Sani-Bozkurt, S., Vuran, S. and Akbulut, Y. 2017) 

The following article confirms this statement "However, research has proved that majority of people with ASD have above-average skills of problem solving, logic building and mathematics." and "the prototype will be beneficial in making children with ASD emotionally intelligent, as early intervention of emotional intelligence boosting strategies can result in better understanding; hence, producing successful, confident and optimist individuals." (Shah, N. and Jameel, F. 2019) 

The research listed deals with the design of user interfaces for children, although it does not detail the age of children, it has highlighted the importance of designing the user interface of an application.

2.4.2 Visual effects 

Visual effects are very important in the mobile app for preschoolers, this article integrates the learning process with the latest technology. It offers game-based learning with an experimental program. "Game-based learning (GBL) is one of the approaches that utilises the gaming environment to attract the student's attention and increase participation throughout the process of learning." (Lai, N. K. et al. 2018) Game-based learning (GBL) it proposes an intervention program for colour and shape teaching that used a virtual learning environment (VGVLE) based on sound and gesture. 

This pilot program was attended by 84 to promote pre-school learning. These results were compared to traditional classroom education. (Lai, N. K. et al. 2018) 84 preschool children, 44 boys and 40 girls participated in this study. The purpose of the test was to test their previous knowledge of colour and shape. The children were classified into three groups based on their performance: excellent, average and low. The children in each category were then randomized into two groups, the control group (normal classroom, 24 boys and 19 girls, total = 43) and the experimental group (interactive virtual learning environment (VGVLE) 20 boys and 21 girls total = 41). 

Several educational games and applications were used in the study. A traditional classroom educational game, such as a card game, used to teach kids colours and shapes, with 7 games to play with there are 7 cards and different colours on the cards to match. Virtual games are used to educate children as well as playing card games to recognize colour and shape. The purpose of ball game assessment is to examine the ability of preschool children to recognize colour and shape. This game program runs on a console and uses audio, gesture inputs for interaction. 

The following two figures illustrate traditional classroom education (Figure 13) and virtual education (Figure 14).

Fig.13. Card Game (traditional classroom educational game)

Fig. 14. Virtual Game

"Cognitive development involves the development of higher order thinking skills such as reasoning, problem solving, and decision-making skills." A 2-7 year old child recognizes colours, shapes and dimensions during the cognitive development phase. The game-based learning framework involves three important areas: learning, education and assessment. They have developed a fun learning game that teaches preschoolers colours and shapes. This game works on a game console that recognizes the signs of human voice and gesture and movement. "Fun to learn was developed using .NET C# running on Visual Studio 2015. It is a standalone system that runs on Xbox Kinect console (somatosensory platform), a device that used to process visual, voice and gesture signals." (Lai, N. K. et al. 2018) Children need a monitor for visual display, and communication between the game and the Storage Manager to manage and access and store data, which saves their evaluation results individually.  (Lai, N. K. et al. 2018)

 Fig. 15. System architecture of Fun to learn.

The following figures 16. and 17. show that there is an increasing tendency for kindergarten children in the interactive virtual learning environment (VGVLE) group compared to normal classroom education.

Fig. 16. Comparison of the mean scores of colour assessment by group. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

 Fig. 17. Comparison of the mean scores of shape assessment by group.

The study concludes that it is an interactive virtual learning environment (VGVLE) using teaching mode preschool children should discover and learn in real-life material environments in real-world conditions. Embedded voice and gesture interaction can stimulate interest in preschool children and facilitate learning. In addition, it shows an upward trend with children's learning experiences and understanding and memory of learning materials. 

It requires continuous research and development to improve the quality of learning in preschool education. So, researchers, educators and developers need to work together to develop high quality educational games and software. Of course, without sacrificing the fun elements of education to enhance children's learning experience. (Lai, N. K. et al. 2018) 

The following empirical study involved a total of 41 children (18), adolescents (7), and adults (16). In this article, they analyzed 9 simple and 7 complicated gesture features to determine if there were differences between users of different age groups when performing surface gestures with or without visual feedback. Children and adults received visual feedback on gesture interaction on mobile touch screen devices. 

For the user, touch interaction has become one of the most common ways of interacting on devices such as smart phones or tablets. All these mobile technology devices support the surface gesture. These gestures such as swipe, pinch-to-zoom, drag-to-pan and other variety of gestures to use for specific apps. A Samsung Google Nexus S smartphones running Android 4.0.4 were used to perform the experiment. (Anthony, L. et al. 2015) 

The study used 20 gestures. The set of gestures contained letters, numbers, symbols and geometric shapes. During the study, participants drew gestures onscreen with their finger one at a time. 

The third table shows the recognition accuracy of $ N-Protractor and $ P on gestures by age group and presence or absence of visual feedback. Visually they are clearly different, such as gesture length, height, width, etc. 

Table 4. Recognition accuracy of $N-Protractor  [44] and $P  [45] on gestures by age group and presence or absence of visual feedback.

Fig. 18 shows comparative examples of K letters drawn by children with feedback(left) without feedback(right.)

Fig. 19 shows comparative examples of 4 number drawn by children with feedback(left) without feedback(right.)

Fig. 20 shows comparative examples of rectangular shape drawn by children with feedback(left) without feedback(right.)

It was found that they execute movements with fewer gestures in the absence of visual feedback. Visual feedback, on the other hand, also tends to make more compact movements, such as using straight lines, with greater efficiency and less unsure motions. 

In addition, it has been observed that all age groups prefer visual feedback, although adults are willing to accept a lack of feedback. (Anthony, L. et al. 2015)

2.5 Conclusion 

This review set out to research healthy eating and nutrition for young children and educating them on this through a mobile application and creating an application based on these findings and research. 

This review has identified the way that children use mobile devices and applications in a  educational way, the studies have show that the interactive technology is capable of developing children’s abilities, therefore this is needed to support them in their learning in the future. Another, study has found that it is important for government organisations, academia and industries to help support and provide for the application for it to work successfully, they also stated that advertisement is important to help promote the application and to motivate people towards the application. 

The final review in the education section, found that it is important to use the aid of audio material in mobile application to help young children learn and it showed that the application also helped the children with their social skills as the kids liked to show off what they had created to other children in the class. 

The research part of education raises a number of questions such as whether this research was conducted in a group or individually in a home environment and for how long. Children would be able to concentrate even if they used the same application for a longer period of time and attracted their attention, it would still be educationally sustainable. 

In the next section, the studies mentioned and discussed the behavioural impact od using applications. The first study stated that applications help and challenge the children and also supports their problem solving skills and creative abilities. However, the next study sated that those used their devices regularly showed higher behavioural problems, such as hyperactivity or inattention that those who did not use their devises regularly. 

The next review showed that children grow faster and more accurate, it also develops their cognitive and motor skills, and however it showed that children have difficulty in a accurately reaching targets and dragging elements using the touch screen surface. This will need to be considered when making an application, how to make it easier for young children to navigate and use the application with little difficulties. This review also showed that children are better at using devices than teachers and adults have thought as they were able to complete most of the tasks without any assistance. 

The next section discussed the physical toll that using mobile devices has on children, this mostly mentioned the fact that they impaired vision after long hours of looking at a screen, troubles with sleeping, lack of physical activity and lack of socialisation with other people and also causes orthopaedic problems. 

The effects of mobile application at this stage there are few studies on its positive effects. This area would need a long-term study, as nowhere is it examined whether its negative or positive effects are in the majority. It would be an important consideration to consider the negative and positive effects as we want to educate our children about a healthy lifestyle. 

The last few sections had discussed the design of the application and how that is designed to help children, they had mentioned the use of colours, pictures, sound effects, characters gestures, letter, sentences, questions and positive stories had a positive outcome. These are useful to consider when thinking about creating an application catered to children, as these will help in educating and keeping the children’s interest. The next section also mentioned that embedded voice and gesture interaction can stimulate interest in preschool children and facilitate learning. 

When researching user interface design, it does not examine in more detail which colours and colour tones that preschoolers like would be appropriate for them and which it is recommended to use in an application, although the same problem arises with sounds, images, and icons. 

If the review was to be replicated, work needs to be done to established into educating children on more than just healthy eating and rather a healthy lifestyle too, it should also consider more of how well the children have learnt, instead of saying hoe it had effected them negatively or positively physically.