Muscat – An educational mobile app created by a research team at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) to help students learn scientific concepts through interactive, game-based activities has won the Jazan Award for Excellence and Creativity, held in Saudi Arabia recently.

Called Dr Electron and funded by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, the app won the award in the innovation category.

Developed by Prof Sulaiman Muhammad al Balushi, supervisor of the project, and Huda Ali al Hosani, a PhD student at SQU, the free app is now available on Google Play.

The app was developed in response to recommendations of several international studies that point to the need for a phone application based on the concept of gamification for teaching scientific concepts to students.

Speaking to Muscat Daily, Huda said, “We started in 2021. This is our second app after Dr Science. Both these apps are based on gamification. For Dr Electron, we obtained the intellectual property rights from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion in 2022. The app is suitable for hybrid education, especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It was tested on a sample of students, and later a number of studies were conducted on it.”

The app, Huda said, seeks to explain scientific concepts to students in the Arab world, and dispel misconceptions in physics, chemistry, biology, environmental sciences, earth sciences, astronomy and space sciences in an interesting and fun way.

Huda explained that the gamification approach is based on the use of game elements such as badges, achievement boards, points and stages. “It is designed to help students understand scientific concepts and correct their scientific misconceptions. The app consists of more than 500 scientific questions in various fields of science.”

Elaborating further on Dr Electron, she said that creating the app – one that would be distinct from the many already available – from scratch was a challenge. “We also encountered numerous difficulties in verifying the accuracy of every scientific fact, all the information and images used in the application.”

The app targets students of Grades 3 to 12. “Anyone in any age group can download it and enjoy it, as it encourages self-learning outside the classroom.”

The team is working on developing Dr Electron further and participating in international competitions to spread scientific awareness and concepts.