Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 8(21) Special 2014, Pages: 18-24 AENSI Journals Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences ISSN:1991-8178 Journal home page: www.ajbasweb.com Corresponding Author: Siti Zulaiha Ahmad, Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Perlis E-mail: sitizulaiha@perlis.uitm.edu.my Enhanced Interactive Mathematical Learning Courseware Using Mental Arithmetic for Preschool Children Siti Zulaiha Ahmad, Noor Asmaliyana Ahmad, Arifah Fasha Rosmani, Umi Hanim Mazlan, Mohammad Hafiz Ismail Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Perlis ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 30 September 2014 Received in revised form 17 November 2014 Accepted 25 November 2014 Available online 6 December 2014 Key words: Interactive Mathematical Learning Courseware 2.0 (iMLc2.0) is an enhanced version of multimedia application which aims to expose the pre-school children in mental arithmetic technique with; i) larger range of numbers, ii) implementation of standard written method and, iii) video support to visualize both techniques. The application integrates all multimedia elements and mental arithmetic techniques in interactive and supportive ways which are suitable for pre-school children. It is divided into three modules, addition, subtraction, and quizzes. The addition operation has been designed to apply the finger-brain approach which is a part of mental arithmetic technique while, mental-imagery approach is adapted for subtraction operation. Experimental test and user acceptance test have been conducted to evaluate the application. The implementation of iMLC2.0 in enriched interactive multimedia environment can be used as additional teaching and learning tool since it is supportive and attractive. In addition, it can motivate the preschooler to be prepared for future mathematical learning. © 2014 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved. To Cite This Article: Siti Zulaiha Ahmad, Noor Asmaliyana Ahmad, Arifah Fasha Rosmani, Umi Hanim Mazlan, Mohammad Hafiz Ismail., Enhanced Interactive Mathematical Learning Courseware Using Mental Arithmetic for Preschool Children. Aust. J. Basic & Appl. Sci., 8(21): 18-24, 2014 INTRODUCTION The process of learning mathematics, such as numbers and basic operations like addition and subtraction, takes a long time to build for new learners, especially for preschoolers. Some of them found it hard to memorize the numbers and the mathematical concepts even though they already knew and understood them. Technology and computer are main aspirations and they are now integrated in education curriculums (Ktoridou, D., et al., 2005). With the evolution of computer technology, learning of mathematics for pre-school children can be improved. With the help of multimedia tools, their attention and interest can be developed. Furthermore, children nowadays are already exposed to computer at an early age. Multimedia is an interactive computer-based environment with the combination of texts, voices, pictures and animations (Weiss, I., et al., 2006). Thus the teachers can teach more consistently and effectively by using it as an alternative teaching tool. This is different from the traditional method, where only the exercise book is used as their single source in learning mathematics due to lack of tools. This results a boring environment and causing children to lose their focus. Mental Arithmetic Technique can help children to build cognitive thinking when they need to use mental representations and fingers in order to do basic operation exercises. With the support of multimedia, their imagination of the mathematical concepts can be at enhanced. This improves their performance and allows them to be more active and excited due to the utilization of multimedia combination elements during learning sessions. Most children in traditional method environment use only exercise books as their source of information. It is hard to develop their understanding and imagination using mental arithmetic if this method is used as a single approach in the classroom. Without an alternative learning tool, children will easily get bored and lose their interest. As a result, their focus on the mental representations of mathematical concepts decreases. This may affect their mathematical skills performance in the future, especially when they are in primary school. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to improve the design of previous iMLc by introducing mental arithmetic with standard written method using additional interactive elements for pre-school children.