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This study used the story of "Sadako and the thousand paper cranes" by Coerr (1977) to discover similarities between the events of August 1945 in Hiroshima and the events of August 1990 in Kuwait. The participants in a children's literature class at Kuwait University folded paper cranes and wrote in their journals to answer two questions: (1) what is the importance of the story of Sadako, the Japanese girl, in introducing the issue of Kuwaiti prisoners of war? and (2) what are the educational values that Kuwaiti students can extract from Sadako's story? Three techniques were used, with a special focus on the participants' remarks and their impressions of those remarks in written form. The researcher counted nine values that the participants mentioned while they folded the paper crane and five values after they realized the crane's meaning. Several recommendations, suggestions, and remarks are also proposed.

Little is known about typography and its contribution to the meaning-making process in children's storybooks. This study applied the systematic framework for a distinctive feature analysis of typography to explore the manifestations of typography in 24 recently published Arabic children's storybooks and outline typography's ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions as interpreted according to the Arabic sociocultural context. The findings show a pattern of visually manipulated typographic representations in terms of weight, expansion and spacing, curvature, connectivity, orientation, irregularity, and colors. In its ideational function, the typography constructed, reflected, and evoked visual images of real-life representations. In its interpersonal function, the typography communicated educative, social, and cultural messages and values to young readers. In its textual function, the typography supported dramatic atmospheres, matched the tone and rhythm of the story, harmonized with the stories' themes, reflected the characters' emotions and thoughts, and highlighted or differentiated incidents, concepts, and characters. The typography was found to be a promising communicative resource in Arabic children's storybooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experimental research study scrutinized the effectiveness of using augmented reality (AR) applications (apps) as a teaching and learning tool when instructing kindergarten children in the English alphabet in the State of Kuwait. The study compared two groups: (a) experimental, taught using AR apps, and (b) control, taught using traditional face-to-face methods. A total of 42 (i.e., 21 in the experimental group and 21 in the control group) preschoolers enrolled in the public educational system participated in this study in the second semester of the 2015-2016 academic year. The findings of this research are coherent and consistent with the results of other studies conducted over the past 5 years as well as with the postulated hypotheses. The results revealed the following: (1) there were statistically significant differences between the control group (traditional group) and the experimental group (AR group) in their degrees of interaction with the English alphabet lesson in favor of the experimental group; (2) there were statistically significant differences between the control group and the experimental group in their scores on the English alphabet test in favor of the experimental group; and (3) there was a very strong linear relationship/correlation between the children's interaction with the English alphabet lesson and their scores on the English alphabet test in the AR group. The study concludes with relevant proposals and recommendations regarding the implementation of AR technology in education and suggests undertaking further studies on this interesting topic.

Understanding and appreciating other cultures has long been a goal of many early childhood education programs. Yet, helping children develop an understanding and appreciation of other cultures is not easily achieved. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of fairytales and storytelling with young children to promote cultural understanding and peace education. We were interested specifically in understanding how children in a rural school in America would understand a Kuwaiti fairytale. After hearing two versions of the Cinderella tale, a familiar version and a Kuwaiti version, the children wrote their own story. The children's stories reflected elements from both fairytales, yet showed each child's unique interpretation of major themes, thus creating a dialogical narrative. Such experiences, we believe, can promote children's understandings and appreciation of other cultures.