International Journal of
Information and Education Technology

Abstract

This study implements a Virtual Environment setting to enhance and develop the physical aspects of teaching the Islamic prayer to primary school children, in comparison to traditional forms of teaching through a prayer book and prayer video. An interactive teaching system, the interactive Islamic Prayer (iIP) has been developed for this purpose. Through quantitative analysis of the participants’ learning experiences, this study investigates which approach the participants preferred, in terms of their comprehension, participation and overall satisfaction. The results revealed a higher degree of interaction within the lesson on prayer was found using the iIP compared to the traditional teaching methods, and although some were unfamiliar with the X-Box 360 Kinect console, on the whole, they found it fun and educational. The findings also showed that the software was able to focus on lower level thinking skills such as recalling information and memory, as a test of the students’ knowledge on the prayer before and after using the software showed a significant improvement in comparison to the other approaches. Recommendations have been given on how to effectively implement this software within these relevant classrooms.