Technology has been embraced in so many ways and it has proved to be very beneficial and convenient. It has grown from strength to strength, especially in the field of education.

Online technology is reshaping the classroom experience. Teachers have new tools at their disposal which allow them to offer a quicker, standardised teaching experience to the children than pen and paper. Digitalization offers myriad options for tailor-made educational solutions for each student’s strengths and weaknesses, interests and pace of learning. These kinds of online tools make the learning environment flexible and less daunting for the child as learning is made fun with the use of characters and games and he can pick up from where he left off from school as well as home.

Augmented Reality is one such feature that is taking the education world by storm, especially in Dubai and becoming more and more popular in the learning experience for children. Visual cues have always led to a better understanding of the concept than just reading it in a textbook. Earlier videos were used with textbooks and now characters or environments are brought to life using virtual reality to give an almost real-life experience.

Alive Studios Zoo is a company run by Cynthia and Ron Kaye that has developed 3D-reality technology to create an unbelievable learning experience for early learners. This patented technology requires no 3D glasses to have the 3D experience. Their goal is to use technology to increase engagement and knowledge. Resources from Alive Studios are being used widely across America and even Middle East regions, have spread to 26 other countries worldwide. It is fast becoming one of the favoured apps for digital learning. An ingenious offering by Alive Studios Zoo is the Rugs Alive App. This app is created to help pre-schoolers in UAE with collaboration, communication, and concepts of STEM.

Rugs Aline is a colourful classroom rug that comes to life when paired with the Rugs Alive Mobile App. The Kit contains the Rug, Habitat cards for the animals and Magical Zoo Coins. Classroom rugs are available in different sizes and shapes to suit your classroom.

You will find 26 zoo animals on this rug with matching habitat cards and coins. You can download the mobile app on any device and bring to life these animals and learn about their habitat. All you need to do is scan the habitat card and you will find an augmented-reality version of the animal on the rug right in front of you. By scanning the Magical Zoo Coins, you can view a smaller version of the animal standing right on your palm. Children can learn about how this animal moves, what it eats and other various information about the animal. The most exciting part for the children is to be so close to the animal and take fun pictures with them. The rug also includes the alphabet song through which they can learn the alphabet. Rugs Alive entertainingly enlightens children and teaches them about animals and their habitats around the world, upper case and lower-case letters and collaborating with their peers over their findings. They can enjoy other STEM and SEL-related activities as well in the GCC region. This app is the perfect complement to other apps such as the Journals and Letters Alive app.

This app is found to have increased student attentiveness and involvement and encourages learning. Children are motivated to learn and are excited to be with the animals every day.

Contact us

Children all over the world including in the Middle East have grown up playing outdoor and indoor games with their friends or even alone. Children not only relax their minds while playing with their peers but also learn interpersonal skills, creativity, sporting skills and get good exercise. Earlier in Dubai, children spent at least 2 to 3 hours outside in the evenings playing games or simply tossing a ball around. Today, given the change in the climate children prefer to spend more time indoors and perhaps even play games on their devices or social media. Albeit, every child will enjoy playing the games that have entertained so many generations before, if they are taught how to play them. These traditional games elicit intellectual as well as physical growth and help them forge friendships that could last a lifetime.

Most of our favourite games do not need any special equipment barring the stray stone and a willingness to play. They usually do not require any adult supervision as they are safe apart from the occasional fall or bump.

Cops & Robbers, Hide & Seek, Dodgeball and Catch, are just some of the evergreen games that we have all enjoyed at a young age.

Learning coding through games can be fun and educational. A very popularly used online platform in the UAE to learn coding is CodeMonkey. This is an award-winning online platform that teaches kids real coding languages like ‘CoffeeScript’ and Python through block-based and text-based coding. CodeMonkey’s engaging game-like environment is specially designed by Jonathan Schor (Founder and CEO) for the K – 8 curriculum. Realizing the weight coding will carry into the next generation, the team of experts at CodeMonkey devised games such as Dodo does Math (where students will use a real coding language to solve diverse math puzzles and use code to help a Dodo bird find its eggs), Coding Adventure (where students can learn programming basics with the help of a greedy monkey and Wrap up the course with learned concepts that will be applied with logic and skill to complete tasks assigned.) and many more. The GCC countries favor Code Monkey as it facilitates parents, teachers, and kids alike and because it is a browser-based application that does not require the use of any special software or hardware except your personal device. It is easily accessible and affordable.

Because of these reasons, children now seem to deviate towards playing games on their devices rather than in the outdoors or board games. The visually appealing games on the computer lure young minds away from the traditional cardboard and plastic games. However, nowadays, these kinds of online games have evolved into learning-based applications which tie up with school curricula and offer players the opportunity to practice, learn, and compete in coding contests. Some platforms support over 25 programming languages such as CSS, CSS Flexbox, Scratch, JavaScript and much more. Unique tasks present challenges that allow you to become familiar with the language while at the same time enjoy learning it. Working your way through the different levels of the games, hone your tactical skills, critical thinking, and cognitive development.

Interactive entertainment options available on every device in the home, make it difficult for the outdated games we used to play but it is up to us to ensure that screen-free time is not completely abandoned. A healthy balance of both will provide the best of both worlds to children who require physical activity, social skills, creativity, imagination, competition, and camaraderie.

Contact us

The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the world for us as we know it. The world has been forced into the digital age at speeds that will make your heads spin. Even those that did not propagate the option of working from home or homeschooling were forced to embrace it. Research in the UAE and data from over 130 parents, showed that the perception of home-schooling was mainly positive, and this change was welcomed by a large part of the parent body. Armed with this knowledge, academics from not only the Middle East but throughout the world have come forth with learning programs and lesson plans to help parents encourage home learning.

Every parent and student had to familiarize themselves with the concept of an online classroom, group communication, and software-based homework submission. Most reservations about the online method of learning were laid to rest as a very insignificant percentage of students reported a decline in interest or other related negative feedback. As e-learning became a way of life, more and more content emerged online with apps, programs and online platforms being dedicated to this style of education. One such online platform which is especially very favored by schools in Dubai is the Australian-owned Blake E-learning’s Mathseeds. Blake E-learning along with 3P Learning—the team behind the world’s most used educational website – Mathseeds created this leading, global EdTech platform.

Mathseeds is the perfect early learning maths program to form a strong base for math students. It syncs with all your devices for your convenience and can be set up in minutes. This program includes a personalised path with downloadable worksheets and a curriculum to support your pace of learning and math level. Fun characters and lessons use real-world examples and accompany you through your learning journey while providing instant assessments and reports, so you are aware of your progress. Numeracy skills and curriculum topics starting right from kindergarten to Grade 3 are covered in depth.

Homeschooling also requires increased parent/teacher involvement with lesson planning and guidance. This is where Mathseeds comes in to provide you with adaptive lessons and worksheets perfectly suited to your grade or topic. Skills can be practiced online or offline and cover activities that may not be convenient for you to create at home.

Mathseeds provides you with a free 30-day trial and each subscription gives you access for up to 4 children, so it becomes cost-effective as well. Instead of lining up your bookshelves with different workbooks, you can get the award-winning Mathseeds Essential Skills workbook series which flawlessly complements the online Mathseeds program. Each guide provides a 36-week training and learning sequence with assessment tasks like the Driving Tests area and end of map quizzes.

Once you have determined the area of interest for your child… it could be geometry or puzzles etc, you can use Mathseeds to customize and suit your child’s lessons to fuel his interest in the subject. The use of ‘Teaching Learning Materials (TLM) such as toys, characters, etc greatly increases the interest in the topic and proves beneficial.

According to research in the GCC areas about early childhood education, math is one of the key competencies that affects a child’s learning outcome. Through these years, maths can prove to be a daunting subject for some, but it is easily interchanged with one of the most enjoyable subjects with the use of correct teaching methods and resources. This is where Mathseeds comes in and ensures children achieve mastery. A strong foundation in maths eventually builds critical thinking skills and logical reasoning. This later transforms into the overall cognitive development of a child.

Contact us

They say where words fail, music speaks. Much in the same way, music can be medicine for the mind. Lilting music is found to affect the unborn child positively. We have all seen even an infant enjoying the lullaby his mother sings to him or the familiar tune that his favourite toy plays. Music soothes the soul and is the language that everybody speaks right from the beginning. In GCC areas, music plays a wide role in religious, social and interpersonal lives.

Musical experiences help form cognitive and neural pathways in the early development years of a child. Matatalab delves deeper into the role of assimilating non-musical skills with music and observing the results. They find that multiple neural systems are hence engaged and so it fosters communication between both hemispheres of the brain and accelerates development, particularly in the areas of language acquisition, mathematical learning and reading skills. Studies in the Middle East have shown that children who learn to play an instrument and are consistent with their practice have shown an incredible increase in their IQ levels by 3 points.

Matatalab uses STEM learning to help students develop essential skills and social-emotional learning which will have a positive impact on the future of these learners. Matatalab’s solutions are a combination of tools that require the use of devices as well as offline play and screen-free coding. The Matatalab platform holds the attention of the students while entertaining them and inspiring them to explore and learn more. Its solutions combine subjects taught in school along with coding in ways that stimulate children to gain more knowledge. And adding to its repertoire it now introduces a musical add-on accessory that you can use in tandem with all tools on the platform. It encourages children to develop a liking for music.

Matatalab is a technology, education company, established in 2017, that is reshaping the way that children between the ages of 3 to 9 years can learn coding. In Dubai as well as the rest of the UAE, the use of Matatalab’s coding robots has been exponential and it has become a much-sought-after tool by educational establishments for their ground-breaking STEAM solutions. It now includes an Innovative Music Learning Tool where children can learn how to compose their favourite melody and through its various combinations also create their very own. This music add-on accessory has 16 Alto Clef Music Blocks, 16 Treble Clef Music Blocks, 10 melody blocks with pre-set melodies that kids can combine with robots or scenes they create while learning how to code and 3 double-sided music warm-up cards. Additionally, these patented tools help in sensory development as well.

Learning to string a musical piece together using these music blocks improves coordination and memory. With the correct teacher guidance and parent encouragement, these students can become more socially adept and better at coping with anxiety. They are also poised to become better communicators. Using Matatalabs music add-on accessory improves listening skills as in addition to instructions from the teacher, they also need to listen for speed, rhythm and pitch.

This accessory allows you to shuffle through the Do, Re, Me… Ti scale of notes and learn composition and beats through programming. In this manner, children can often compose their own songs. This activity also allows them to build up their patience and perseverance, which are handy skills to master when tackling difficult challenges faced later on in life. Reading and composing music is translated by the brain into the physical motion of playing that instrument thereby improving hand-eye coordination. Improve your creativity by adding that beautiful song to your coding adventure.

Contact us

During my growing-up years in Dubai, my mother would write small clues and hide them all around the house. Then my friends and I would split up into teams and find the treasure. This was our favourite game as it would give us a chance to explore the great outdoors and the clues would be so mentally stimulating or sometimes even humorous, that we would spend time mulling over them or excitedly laughing over their hilarity. That’s my earliest memory of the much-loved game of treasure hunting; which has now become a very interesting career for some, given advancements in technology and expertise.

Playing this game is organised in many childcare centres in the Middle East as it not only keeps the children distracted but also enhances their self-confidence and problem-solving skills. It encourages them to work in teams and creates bonds between the players. Rewards and discoveries instill a sense of achievement within the players while solving the mysteries makes them more confident in taking up future challenges.

For the uninitiated, Treasure Hunt is a game where you are provided with clues, one leading to the other. The final clue leads you to the treasure. The first person to retrieve the treasure wins. Alternatively, the simpler form is to hand over a list to the players and the first team or person to get all the items from that list is declared the winner.

Playing this game with kids helps them develop patience and social skills. They need to decipher the cryptic clues and not give up when they get stuck as the whole game depends on each clue. If there is a participant team, each player gets a turn to read and solve the clue. So patiently waiting your turn is key. Being completed focused while the others are having their turn is also vital as you could contribute your thinking skills or creativity and win the game together as a team. Reading maps or clues, following directions and navigating them, teach the children many necessary life skills such as listening and concentration. Playing this game bolsters the very important requisite of social skills. They learn how to communicate effectively and act responsibly. Working in the outdoors is also a great opportunity, especially in the UAE to explore nature and get some fresh air and exercise – A much-needed change from hours of screen time.

Robotify, which is an online platform aims at teaching children coding and believes in the bright future of automation. They aim at providing accessible and affordable learning for all. It is a popular brand used in schools throughout the GCC. Introducing this platform to the children can free up the parents’ time while also giving your children something fun and intuitive to focus on. Building on the age-old game of treasure hunting, Robotify introduces its new course called The Underwater World of Treasure Hunter where you explore the depths of the ocean in a remotely operated vehicle – The Robot LIR. Similar to the original, you will explore, collect data and clues and come across sunken pirate ships and deep-sea creatures in addition to a dark abyss holding a giant secret.

This new course from Robotify also introduces the children to a career in Marine Biology. Without the use of any external hardware, the learner is introduced to the underwater world and the magic it holds. He can use functions, loops, and variables to control the robot exploring the ocean. The learner needs to collect, store, and retrieve data thereby learning to program and at the same time much about life underwater.

Contact us

The world and especially the GCC area is still divided when it comes to whether grading students in the school is beneficial or detrimental to their learning. The grading system is just a concrete system to judge your academic accomplishment. However, it is not the sole measure as they can sometimes be unreliable. There can be myriad reasons why a student may not have been able to perform well on a test or have performed extremely well. However, it is a known fact that good grades have a great impact on lifetime earnings. So if you plan to get a degree or pursue higher studies, you can’t afford to dismiss grades as insignificant, even if you may have reservations about them.

Keeping that in mind, CodeMonkey has taken into account feedback from its users and implemented it into refining their grading system. CodeMonkey is an award-winning online platform that teaches programming to students in a fun and gamified manner. It teaches coding languages like CoffeeScript and Python. Teachers, parents and Kids alike can use this platform to their benefit and now with its new grading system, they can all evaluate the learning journey even better. Previously the grading for the courses included only a limited number of options for filtering. But now, teachers can filter progress for all or even one of the selected courses and calculate overall performance. The grades can now be viewed in a numeric, alphabetic or percentile format after selecting from the Quiz drop-down menus. Code Monkey even makes it possible now for teachers to generate a course certificate once the student completes the course.

Good grades usually open a lot of doors for students, most of which lead to good colleges and universities and there onwards to good jobs. Therefore grades out of high school matter if further, higher education is to be pursued in college or university. Many colleges in the Middle East place a lot of importance on the grade point average or GPA score of the student while considering his application for acceptance. In the professional fields of medical school or law school etc, there is immense competition and so grades are usually the deciding factor of who gains acceptance into the institution. The best graduate schools can afford to take only the best so grades with an average B or lower may not even be considered, This builds pressure sometimes on the student which proves disadvantageous in the long run.

The UAE is usually generous in awarding funding to a student to pursue further education. But they too are required to deliberate mainly over the grades and then look at other achievements of the student. Higher grades can lead to more scholarships. While lower scores, sometimes can negatively impact a student’s future by immersing him in debt. Becoming a part of a scholarly organization or honor society can sometimes open the door for such students to special funding and consequent opportunities. He may thus be able to travel abroad or be a campus leader with the help of such involvement.

Post studies, the first employers who absorb freshers straight out of college also consider grades while hiring for jobs at entry level. While the smaller employers may not expect to see excellent GPA scores but the big fry will. 67% of companies surveyed confirmed that they screened candidates by their GPA as it was the sole indicator of the applicant’s technical ability and competence to do the job that he was hired for. The higher the grades the higher the possibility that the employee would successfully be able to complete tasks given with minimal need for supervision.

The all-new grading system at CodeMonkey makes it easier for users to clarify what topics have been understood and what have not. Recent studies in Dubai have found that the confidence of the students was tied to their grades, and barely any familial support and encouragement could change that opinion for them. It could be said that grades have more benefits than discredits to their name.

Contact us