SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORER

MOBILE APPLICATION

NURUL HAZIRAH BINTI NASIF

BACHELOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(INFORMATICS MEDIA) WITH HONOURS

UNIVERSITI SULTAN ZAINAL ABIDIN

2018

SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORER

NURUL HAZIRAH BINTI NASIF

BACHELOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(INFORMATICS MEDIA) WITH HONOURS

FACULTY OF INFORMATION AND COMPUTING

UNIVERSITI SULTAN ZAINAL ABIDIN

2018

i

DECLARATION

This thesis is submitted as a partial fulfilment for the award of a Bachelor of

Information Technology(Informatics Media) at the University of Sultan Zainal

Abidin (UniSZA). This work is the results of my own investigations. All text

and results which have been obtained from other workers/source are full

referenced. I understand that cheating and plagiarism constitute a breach of

university regulations and will be dealt with accordingly.

Signature:………………………………..

Supervisor: Fauziah binti Abdul Wahab

Date:

ii

APPROVAL

This project report, title Solar System Explorer was prepared and submitted by

Nurul Hazirah bInti Nasif, with matric number BTDL16043555 and has been

found satisfactory in term of scope, quality and presentation as a partial

fulfilment of the requirement for the Bachelor of Information technology

(Informatics Media) in University of Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA).

Signature:………………………………..

Supervisor: Fauziah binti Abdul Wahab

Date:

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh..

First and foremost, I am grateful to Allah SWT for giving me health and ideas

to carry out this project.

I am also grateful to my supervisor Puan Fauziah binti Abdul Wahab for her

guidance, patience and motivation for me to continue this project. I greatly

appreciate all the advice she has given to me..

I take this opportunity to express gratitude to both of my parents who have

supported and always pray for me. Not forgetting all my fellow friends who

also helped to give you good comments and suggestions for improving my

project.

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ABSTRACT

Solar System Explorer is a mobile-based learning application. This app is

developed for children under 10 years old. The main objective of this project to be

developed is because most parents today are getting their children to play

smartphones. To make this habit become a positive thing, I have planned to develop

this app so that children do not waste time playing smartphones with unprofitable

things. Methodology use in developing this project is Agile Method. It is an iterative

approach to software development where variables like requirements, designing,

building, testing and other. In this app, they will learn about the planet and the sun.

The apps also come with a variety of interesting activities to test their understanding.

The apps also come with animations to make it interesting and easier to understand.

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ABSTRAK

Solar System Explorer adalah aplikasi pembelajaran berasaskan mudah alih.

Aplikasi ini dibangunkan untuk kanak-kanak di bawah umur 10 tahun. Objektif utama

projek ini untuk dibangunkan adalah kerana sebahagian besar ibu bapa pada hari ini

telah membiasakan anak-anak mereka bermain telefon pintar sejak dari kecil. Untuk

menjadikan kebiasaan ini satu perkara yang positif, saya telah merancang untuk

membangunkan aplikasi ini supaya kanak-kanak tidak membuang masa bermain

telefon pintar dengan perkara yang tidak berfaedah. Metodologi yang digunakan

dalam membangunkan projek ini adalah Kaedah Agil. Ini adalah pendekatan berulang

kepada pembangunan perisian di mana pembolehubah seperti keperluan, reka bentuk,

bangunan, pengujian dan lain-lain. Dalam aplikasi ini, mereka akan mempelajari

tentang pelbagai planet dan juga matahari. Aplikasi ini juga dilengkapi dengan

pelbagai aktiviti menarik untuk menguji kefahaman mereka. Aplikasi ini turut

didatangkan dengan animasi untuk menjadikannya menarik dan lebih mudah

difahami.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION ................................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL ....................................................................................................................... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................................................... iii

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................iv

ABSTRAK ......................................................................................................................... v

TABLE OF CONTENT ..........................................................................................................vi

LIST OF TABLE ................................................................................................................ viii

LIST OF FIGURE ................................................................................................................ ix

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1

1.1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Problem Statement ......................................................................................................... 2

1.3 Objectives ........................................................................................................................ 2

1.4 Scope ............................................................................................................................... 3

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 4

2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 4

2.2 Research of Existing Work ............................................................................................... 5

2.3 Storyboard ...................................................................................................................... 9

2.4 Layout Design ................................................................................................................ 11

2.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 14

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 15

3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 15

3.2 System Development Methodology ............................................................................. 15

3.3 Software and Hardware Requirements ........................................................................ 18

3.3.1 Software Requirements ................................................................................... 18

3.3.2 Hardware Requirement ................................................................................... 19

3.4 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 19

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CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 20

4.1 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 20

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 21

APPENDIX (A) ................................................................................................................. 22

viii

LIST OF TABLE

Table 2. 1: Paperwork research regarding to project ..................................................... 8

Table 3. 1 Software Requirement ................................................................................ 18

Table 3. 2 Hardware Requirements.............................................................................. 19

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LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 2. 1: Astronomy for Kids Space Game ............................................................... 5

Figure 2. 2: Planet for Kids Solar System ..................................................................... 6

Figure 2. 3: Our Solar System ........................................................................................ 7

Figure 2. 4: Page 1 – 2 ................................................................................................... 9

Figure 2. 5: Page 3 – 4 ................................................................................................... 9

Figure 2. 6: page 5 – 6 ................................................................................................... 9

Figure 2. 7: page 7 – 8 ................................................................................................. 10

Figure 2. 8: page 9 – 10 ............................................................................................... 10

Figure 2. 9: Page 11 ..................................................................................................... 10

Figure 2. 10: Home ...................................................................................................... 11

Figure 2. 11: Let’s Explore .......................................................................................... 11

Figure 2. 12: Planet ...................................................................................................... 11

Figure 2. 13: Activity ................................................................................................... 12

Figure 2. 14: Arrange It! .............................................................................................. 12

Figure 2. 15: Match It! ................................................................................................. 12

Figure 2. 16: Name It! .................................................................................................. 13

Figure 2. 17: Scoreboard .............................................................................................. 13

Figure 2. 18: Help ........................................................................................................ 13

Figure 2. 19: About ...................................................................................................... 14

Figure 2. 20: Exit ......................................................................................................... 14

Figure 3. 1: Agile Method ............................................................................................ 16

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Technology is increasingly growing today with various uses in our daily lives.

Technology-based learning is one of the uses of today's technology. Learning can be a

stress but it is a necessity for all. Nowadays people are less interested in learning

through books. Therefore, technology-based education is created to attract people to

learn while help them to have better understanding about the content of learning. The

first educational game was created by Seymour Papert and Wally Fuerzeig in 1970

called the Logo. Logo blended mathematics and programming by allowing teaching

players the basics of coding by directing a turtle-shaped cursor to draw lines.

Today, everyone has a smartphone even some kids already have their own

smartphones since childhood. Every day we will not miss out on playing with our

smartphone. Therefore, I take this opportunity to create an educational game for kids.

When they play phones, they can use this application to play while learning at the

same time. With this, they no longer use the smartphone for anything useless.

In this project, I will build an educational games based on smartphone. The

aim for this project is to teach kids about planets. They will get information about

every planet. In addition, there will be various games and quizzes to test their

understanding.

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1.2 Problem Statement

Currently, the use of smartphone applications in learning is wider. Various

types of educational games have been developed to facilitate learning. We cannot

deny that thing with technological element on it is more exciting and interesting than

how is the thing before.

The rapid development of technology now making learning through manual

books is increasingly unpopular. The use of technology in learning is very useful to

help user to get better understanding especially for children. They are more attracted

to something that has multimedia elements and animated elements.

Furthermore, the widespread use of technology and smartphones has also led

people to spend more time on their smartphones. This includes children who have

been accustomed to their parents to play smartphones and there are a handful of

children below eight years old already have their own smartphones.

1.3 Objectives

The objectives of the development of this educational games are :

1. To design a mobile-based educational games for kids.

2. To develop an application to help children learn about solar system.

3. To test and evaluate the application to ensure it works as it should be.

3

1.4 Scope

There are several scopes need to be outlined to ensure that the use of this

application will stay on the right tracks.

1.1.1 Target User

- User targeted for this application is children between 5 to 10 years old.

1.1.2 Platform

1. Mobile-based

- This application only can be access by smartphone.

2. Android

- This application can run only in android platform.

1.1.3 Themes

1. Educational Games

- This application will test users’ understanding through several

games that will be developed inside this application

2. Edutainment

- This in-app information will be displayed in the form of animation.

Various multimedia elements will also be included. This is to

attract users to use this app with fun and can give them an

understanding.

4

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter will discuss the literature review of ‘Solar System Explorer’. The

purpose of this literature review is to provide the readers with a general overview

about this project. Since 1970, educational game has been invented and keep growing

from day to days. This project is implemented to assist especially children to learn and

understand our solar system. Next, there are few research has been reviewed to get

some overview about existing application and related technique involved.

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2.2 Research of Existing Work

2.2.1 Astronomy for Kids Space Game by Star Walk 2

This application is about journey and exploring the space. This

application also provide a lot of great features. The information present

in this app is by watching an animation video and we can just listen to

it. Besides, user also can test their knowledge with short quizzes. As

we can see, this application builds in with an interesting interface. It is

really compatible for kids. But, there are several weakness. First, the

information contained in this application is only displayed linearly.

This means there is no interaction between users with this app. Users

only need to watch the video to gain information. The game contained

in this app also very little and causes this application can be explored

for less than an hour.

Figure 2. 1: Astronomy for Kids Space Game

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2.2.2 Planet for Kids Solar System

This application build for kids between 2-6 years old. It helps

children to study the universe. It has an interesting interface and user

does not need to be able to read in order to use this application. The

weakness of this application is it did not have any information. User

will only know the planet name by pressing the planet. We can

conclude that this apps has nothing. No games to test user knowledge

and also no information

Figure 2. 2: Planet for Kids Solar System

2.2.3 Our Solar System (https://kidsastronomy.com/solar-system/)

Our Solar System is a game based on website. This is so interesting

because it contains a great interface. The developer also put a lot of

information here. User also can test their knowledge by playing the

game. As this project is developed for kids, user also can watch video

to gain better understanding about our solar system. The weakness of

this project is user need to open browser and must have internet

connection to open this site. Next, user can play this anywhere they

want as it must be open in computer.

https://kidsastronomy.com/solar-system/

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Figure 2. 3: Our Solar System

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2.3 Paperwork Research

Title Author/Study Conclusion

A Board Game

About Space and

Solar System for

Primary School

Students

• Gurbet Vurkaya

• Sebnem Iseri

The study is about a visual board game

that can be applied and play in the

classroom to help increase students

understanding.

The Exploration of

Solar System Using

Multimedia

Technology

• Anusuriya

Devaraju

• Sucilia Devi

Muniandy

• Zulisman

Maksom

The study focus on secondary school

student on how they can learn more

about solar system and its

phenomenon.

The Effect of Game-

Based Learning on

Students’ Learning

Performance in

Science Learning

• Eric Zhi Feng Liu

• Po-Kuang Chen

The study examined the integration of

the game into science learning as well

as the educational benefits of the game

with regard to learning performance

Table 2. 1: Paperwork research regarding to project

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2.3 Storyboard

Figure 2. 4: Page 1 – 2

Page 1 show the homepage of this app. Page 2 show the Let’s Explore page. It will

appear after user click the ‘Let’s explore’ button on home page.

Figure 2. 5: Page 3 – 4

Page 3 is where all the info in located. User will be in this area if they click any planet

on the Let’s explore page. Page 4 show the activity contain in this app. User can go to

this page after they click the ‘Activity’ button on the homepage.

Figure 2. 6: page 5 – 6

Page 5 and 6 show the activity in this app. Page 5 is ‘Arrange It!’ game while page 6

is ‘Match It!’ game. Both of this game can be access after user click any game they

want to play in Activity page.

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Figure 2. 7: page 7 – 8

Page 7 show ‘Name It!’ game page. Same like page 5 and 6, this page can be access

after user click ‘Name It!’ button on activity page. Page 8 show the Scoreboard page.

This page will appear if user click ‘Scoreboard’ button on homepage. This page will

show all the mark obtain by the user.

Figure 2. 8: page 9 – 10

Page 9 is Help page. In this page it will tell about all the button icon and its function.

This will be the guide for user. Page 10 is an About page. Information about this app

in written here.

Figure 2. 9: Page 11

Page 11 is the Exit page. Here user can choose if they really want to exit of stay on

this app. Is user click the ‘Tick’, then this app will be close and if user click the

‘Cancel’ icon , user will go to the last page they viewed.

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2.4 Layout Design

Figure 2. 10: Home

Figure 2. 11: Let’s Explore

Figure 2. 12: Planet

12

Figure 2. 13: Activity

Figure 2. 14: Arrange It!

Figure 2. 15: Match It!

13

Figure 2. 16: Name It!

Figure 2. 17: Scoreboard

Figure 2. 18: Help

14

Figure 2. 19: About

Figure 2. 20: Exit

2.5 Conclusion

To put in a nutshell, literature review gave details understanding or assumption

about the project documentation. It involves some research and study on existing work

to get some overview and related technique involved. Besides, an idea can be

generated from the existing product to overcome their disadvantages.

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CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

Chapter 3 will explain and discuss the details of method and alternatives that

will be used from beginning until the end of this project. Project flow and system

overview will be discussed briefly to give more understanding of the design and

development concept of this project. The project methodology should systematically

solve the entire problem arising in the system analysis to make sure this project

complete and working well. There are many types of methodology that can be applied

in the development of this project. For this project, it will run on mobile application

framework and the programming task are done by using desktop. So, I decided to use

Agile software method as the guideline to help developing this project.

3.2 System Development Methodology

Agile is a development method that is quick and responds swiftly to change.

It is an iterative approach to software development where variables like requirements,

designing, building, testing etc. We can refer to the figure 3.1 for better understanding

of this agile method.

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Figure 3. 1: Agile Method

3.2.1 Planning

Planning stages is divided into 2, initial planning higher lever planning.

In initial planning stage, we carefully plan the component. Planning

begins with defining the goals of the software, which are separated into

“must-haves” and “nice-to-haves” and prioritized accordingly. User

and stakeholder will give their input for what they needs. In this

planning stage, project owner just analyse the requirement only.

Higher level planning stage is after the initial development and

implementation are done.

3.2.2 Define Requirements

During requirement stages, project owner will list out all the

requirements, ideas and features for the upcoming project. Some of the

facts finding to gather information is from research and observation

method. In my project, I download the exist apps and try it by myself

so a new application can be built from scratch or tweaking existing

systems. This phase is where it’s become guideline for development of

this project.

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3.2.3 Development and Implementation

Implementing client's feedback and developers technical input into a

design. Project owner need to understand the features needed to put

into the apps. These phase also where roughly designs are made to give

an initial overview of the project. Solution starts to take shape. Based

on the intelligence gathered in the analysis and planning phases,

architectural and user experience design are completed.

Upon beginning development, code is then written to the minimum

specifications to expose hidden technical issues early. We then identify

these issues and evolve the code as needed

During the second stages of development and implementation, project

owner should have a solid understanding of the overview and user

stories. All of the features need in the app is ready to develop and the

first presentation to explain the project will be done.

3.2.4 Testing

When the software system is build, we put it through meticulous testing

to ensure functionality and goal completion. If we find any problems,

we rework the code and test again. Testing have several phase, one is

the initial testing. Nest we have client testing and system testing. We

demonstrate the software and request client acceptance. Feedback and

opinions from the client are carefully noted, and moved to planning the

next iteration if required, or deployed if completed.

3.2.5 Release

When the client signs off on the custom software, we do final system

testing and a hand-off. Then the product is released and the

development process is complete.

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3.3 Software and Hardware Requirements

This section will show all the list of software and hardware that involve in

the developments process. Lists of software and hardware are shown as below:

3.3.1 Software Requirements

List of the software needed for the development:

NO. Software Purpose

1. Adobe Flash -To create animation for the apps

-To create code of the game

2. Adobe

Photoshop/Illustrator -To make a design

3. Microsoft Word -Use to prepare the

documentation

Table 3. 1 Software Requirement

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3.3.2 Hardware Requirement

List of hardware use for the project:

NO. Item Quantity Description

1. Wireless Network 3 UniSZA Hotspot

UniSZA Wifi

Redmi

2. Redmi note 5A

Prime

1 Display: 5.5” HD

Camera: 16Mp front, 13 MP

rear

Battery: 3080mAh

CPU: Octa-core Max 1.40GHz

RAM: 3 GB

Internal Storage: 32 GB

Support fingerprint sensor

Network: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2

3. Lenovo Ideapad

320

1 Processor : AMD A9-9421

RADEON R5

RAM: 4 GB

Memory: 1 TB

System Type: 64-bit operating

system

Operating System: windows

10

Table 3. 2 Hardware Requirements

3.4 Conclusion

This chapter describe the methodology for development of the apps.

Methodology is very important in development. In this project, agile software

development method is used as a guide to build the project Each phase already

explained for better understanding. Besides, software and hardware requirements also

explained in this chapter.

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CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSION

4.1 Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope that I can run this project successfully. This project will

bring a lot of benefits especially to children. Hopefully, this project will be developed

successfully and become beneficial to everyone.

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REFERENCES

1. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – April 2010,

volume 9 Issue 2

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ897997.pdf

2. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 103 ( 2013 ) 1044 – 1051

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813038755

3. National Conference on Science & Technology: Application in Industry &

Education (2006)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267423168_THE_EXPLORATI

ON_OF_SOLAR_SYSTEM_USING_MULTIMEDIA_TECHNOLOGY

4. Our solar system (web game)

https://kidsastronomy.com/solar-system/

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ897997.pdfhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813038755https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267423168_THE_EXPLORATION_OF_SOLAR_SYSTEM_USING_MULTIMEDIA_TECHNOLOGYhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/267423168_THE_EXPLORATION_OF_SOLAR_SYSTEM_USING_MULTIMEDIA_TECHNOLOGYhttps://kidsastronomy.com/solar-system/

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APPENDIX (A)