INNOVATION CULTURE & HERTITAGE EDUCATION
The Children’s Arabic Language Edutainment Centre
King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language, Saudi Arabia
formula D_ partnered with KSGAAL to craft an immersive Arabic language learning experience for children, employing AR, gamification, and interactivity.
formula D_ was commissioned by the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language (KSGAAL) to create a highly interactive experience for children to learn about the Arabic language.
They took a bold approach by utilising the entire design spectrum to create a series of stimulating learning experiences by incorporating augmented reality (AR), animation, projection mapping, sensors with triggered LEDs, sound, and gamification. These exhibits address different aspects of the Arabic language, which is globally understood as one of the more complex language models, through fun and accessible interactive design and gamification.
The first exhibit is Poetry Slam, a face-tracking application where visitors can select one of four famous Islamic poets and display the features of a life-size illustration of a renowned poet alongside a cartoon recounting their famous poem. They listen to poets reciting their work through a trumpet-shaped speaker and follow a letter-marked path to explore Arabic poetry across the ages. At a double-sided video screen, they can step behind the stage to perform a poem, selecting features of different poets and rehearsing lines before giving a live performance. This immersive experience fosters creativity and self-expression in young visitors.
Virtual Book takes the form of a plinth with a large book model. Visitors interact with a digital book showcasing Arabic proverbs. They touch the screen to reveal animated pages with proverbs, additional information, and relevant visuals. Navigation is easy, with arrows for flipping through pages. Visitors can page through the book as the story is narrated aloud with different voices that read different parts of the story. This use of audio significantly enhances the storytelling. A total of five proverbs are accessible, and if there’s no interaction, the display goes back to idle mode. This interactive experience provides a brief and engaging overview of Arabic proverbs.
Arabic Around the World enables visitors to explore Arabic words and their origins in a fun and engaging way. A projected world 3D map lies at the centre of the experience, with five mounted tablets surrounding it. Visitors can pick Arabic words, and the map will display where they come from and how they’ve influenced other words globally.
Font spinner is a ‘vertical abacus’ consisting of five suspended grids with rotational blocks. The exhibit features a suspended grid of blocks, each displaying an Arabic letter in a different font. Visitors rotate the blocks to create words horizontally and vertically; in doing so, the correct words will light up. The experience encourages the exploration of Arabic typography, fostering creativity and appreciation for the artistry of letterforms.
Synonym Stomp turns Arabic literature into a fun, active game. The exhibit teaches synonyms and antonyms through gamification. Players stand on a curved surface with projected content. Standing on pressure pads allows users to interact with content using their feet. After a short introduction to synonyms and antonyms, a word will appear at the top of the screen. Players start by reading it aloud; shortly after, other words start falling down the wall. The aim of the game is for the player(s) to “stomp” on the words that are synonyms to the main word and avoid the words that are antonyms. Animated feedback is projected on the curved surface with sound effects included.
Sun and Moon Letters is a two-player wall-mounted game designed with subtle animations of the sun and moon. Interacting with this exhibit, children learn that the Arabic alphabet has 28 letters and is classified into 14 sun and 14 moon letters. The classification is based on how these letters affect the pronunciation of the definite article (ال) at the beginning of words. The names of the letters come from the word for “the Sun,” al-shams, pronounced ash-shams, assimilating the lām, while the word for “the Moon,” al-qamar, doesn’t. Children will hear each word read out loud, and then they need to decide where it fits.
Players have a limited time to use hand gestures to swipe words towards either the sun or the moon, based on their classification. The goal is to correctly group as many words as possible within the given time frame. The winner is determined by the player who successfully categorises the most words.
Word Garden is designed to emulate the environment and plants endemic to Saudi Arabia. With four interactive stations taking the form of plant pots, visitors are invited to choose Arabic root words or ‘seed’ words from a tray and plant them in one of the pots. After watering the seed word by turning a physical tap that releases animated rain to water the plant, it will grow to display various words on its leaves that were influenced by the root word. These words are also narrated out loud as they grow. This design blends physical and digital elements to make an experience that is both engaging and immersive.
