The term, Arabic first
Glossary of children's experiences
This glossary explains the terms that recur in designing children's experiences, Arabic first. The Latin equivalent sits beside each term to help search, not because it is the term's original form.
A term enters this glossary when it recurs across the site's pages and tools, and a reader needs a fixed definition to return to instead of a scattered description inside a longer text.
Every definition here is Dawani's own working phrasing, unless it is explicitly attributed to another body inside the definition itself. Some terms are general industry standards, and some are our own internal name for a practice we hold to; the difference is clear from each definition's context.
You can read a longer explanation of some of these terms in our article the edutainment glossary, and find the sources we cite on the sources we rely on page.
Terms
- EdutainmentEdutainment
- A child learns something useful while genuinely playing, not while receiving a lesson dressed up in colour. If the play could be removed and the benefit stayed intact, what was built is not edutainment.
- GamificationGamification
- Adding elements from play, such as points, badges and levels, to an activity that is not a game at heart, to encourage a certain behaviour. It differs from game-based learning, where the whole activity is a game rather than a layer added on top.
- Game-based learningGame-based learning
- The learning goal is built into the game's own rules from the start of design, not added on after the game is finished. What separates it from gamification is where the goal sits: inside the game, not layered on top.
- Intrinsic motivationIntrinsic motivation
- A child does something because they enjoy it or find meaning in it, not for an external reward or out of fear of a penalty. This motivation weakens each time a design replaces it with a temporary outside incentive.
- Executive functionsExecutive functions
- Mental abilities that let a child plan, wait, hold a previous step in mind, and control a reaction, maturing gradually with age rather than all at once. A design that outpaces these abilities tires a child rather than engaging them.
- Zone of proximal developmentZone of proximal development
- The distance between what a child can do alone and what they can do with help, close to their current level of difficulty. The richest learning happens when a design works inside this distance, neither before it nor past it.
- ScaffoldingScaffolding
- Temporary help a system or person gives a child while learning a new skill, withdrawn gradually as their competence grows. Scaffolding that is never withdrawn turns into dependence rather than learning.
- Data minimisationData minimisation
- Every data field is questioned before it is collected: what breaks in the product if we never collect it? Whatever the experience runs fine without is not collected at all, regardless of its possible later usefulness.
- Parental consentParental consent
- Explicit permission from a legal guardian before a child's data is collected or processed, not merely an absence of objection or a window clicked past quickly. The shape of this permission differs with the child's age and how sensitive the data is.
- Age verificationAge verification
- The means by which a product knows the age of who is using it, ranging from the user's own declaration to an account a parent sets up to a stricter check. Each means carries a different accuracy, and a product chooses its accuracy knowingly.
- Age-appropriate defaultsAge-appropriate defaults
- The safest setting is what a product starts with automatically, not an option in a menu waiting for someone to find it themselves. A design that relies on a user adjusting settings on their own risks staying less safe than it should.
- Dark patternsDark patterns
- Deliberate interface tricks that push a user toward an action they did not intend, like a cancel button that is hard to find. In a children’s product their absence is an ethical condition, since a child struggles more to spot and escape the trick.
- Daily streakDaily streak
- A counter that shows a product being used day after day, often designed to make breaking it feel painful rather than a plain stop. A common pattern worth an honest question: does it serve the child’s goal, or only their staying?
- Session endSession end
- The design decision that determines how an experience stops: at a natural boundary such as a chapter closing or a level finishing, not at a manufactured cliffhanger that pulls a child into another round. A decision that deserves a conversation in design, not chance.
- Retention without addictionRetention without addiction
- A child returns to a product because the idea itself earned the return, not because the design exploited their need to finish or their fear of missing out. The difference shows in a single question: what happens when the product is left alone for a long stretch?
- Content moderationContent moderation
- Human review of content other users create before it reaches a child, not after, with a clear reporting path and someone accountable for it. Without this review, a child is left alone in front of what other people publish.
- User-generated contentUser-generated content
- Any text, image or message an ordinary user creates inside a product, rather than the product team itself. Its presence in a children’s product doubles the need for real human content moderation.
- Best interests of the childBest interests of the child
- Every decision concerning a child is taken to serve their interest first, not the interest of whoever designs or operates the product. A principle with no value unless an actual decision taken for it can be named, and unless someone holds the authority to revisit it.
- Screen valueScreen value
- A reading of what a child did inside a screen session, not the length of the session itself. Time alone says nothing about a session; what the child made, who was with them and how the session ended is what carries the meaning.
- Proximal indicatorProximal indicator
- An observation or measure that moves during the programme itself and can honestly be attributed to it, such as a repeated behaviour or a skill shown in a specific task. The easiest indicator to collect honestly, and the narrowest in reach.
- Distal indicatorDistal indicator
- An outcome realised well past the programme's own time, such as academic attainment or mental health over years, and cannot honestly be claimed without a rigorous research design and a comparison group. The common mistake is measuring the proximal indicator and then claiming the distal indicator instead.
- Guardrail metricGuardrail metric
- A separate indicator watching a specific possible harm that pursuing the success indicator could cause, such as usage being hidden rather than reduced. Its absence from an impact report is itself a warning sign, whatever the rest of the figures look like.
- Vanity metricVanity metric
- A figure that is easy to collect and looks convincing in a report, such as time spent inside an app or how often it is opened, yet says nothing about the outcome the project set out for. The risk is that it reads as success when it is not.
- Theory of changeTheory of change
- A written map linking what a programme does to what it expects to change because of it, step by step, so anyone can see where the assumption might break. A programme with no written theory of change is hard to measure honestly.
- Evidence gradeEvidence grade
- A Dawani label rather than an official rating, declaring the kind of backing standing behind an article or a tool: from a documented national figure to an internal practice still being tested. It appears under the title with a link to the page explaining the whole scale.
- Evidence gateEvidence gate
- Dawani's internal name for the rule governing everything it publishes: no figure without a named source, and no promise with no reason to keep it. Every page and article passes through this rule before publishing.
- AI companionAI companion
- An AI system that builds a friendship-like relationship with a child, with memory carried across sessions and a persona that seems to have feelings. This role carries the highest risk among AI roles, because the child forms an attachment rather than simply using a tool.
- AI tutorAI tutor
- An AI system that explains a specific skill or piece of knowledge, with a clear reference for where its answer comes from and no manufactured persona with feelings. Its risk is lower than a companion's when it clearly states it is not a person and that its memory of the child is limited.
- Model hallucinationModel hallucination
- When an AI model states a piece of information that sounds confident and precise while being incorrect, with no signal of doubt at all. Its risk to a child is higher than to an adult, since a child is less able to tell false confidence apart from accuracy.
- Parent in the loopParent in the loop
- A parent has an actual path to see what passed between a child and an AI system, not just a general promise of safety with no way to verify it. This path is what separates trust built on evidence from trust built on a name alone.
- Sensitive disclosureSensitive disclosure
- A moment when a child tells an AI system something that calls for an adult human to step in, such as harm or real danger. A system with no clear path carrying that moment to a human leaves the child unsupported at a seriously dangerous moment.
- Gray prototypeGray prototype
- A playable version of an idea, with no colour, no sound and no final art, built for an unavoidable purpose: is the play itself fun before it is decorated?
- StoryboardStoryboard
- Drawn shots arranged on a shared board and reviewed frame by frame before any real screen gets built. A crossed-out frame stays visible on the board, because knowing what failed is part of the work itself.
- Testing with childrenTesting with children
- A session where real children try a gray prototype or an early version, with their parents' consent, and their sentences are recorded exactly as spoken with no premature interpretation. This stage separates a design only adults have seen from a design approved by the people it was made for.
- Participatory design with childrenParticipatory design with children
- Children take part in designing what concerns them through real roles, rather than being consulted after the decision is already made. The degree of participation ranges from a user being observed to a full design partner.
- Tangible interactionTangible interaction
- Design that relies on things a whole body can touch and move, not a screen touched by a single finger. Especially useful in early-childhood work, and in any experience where a child and an adult should meet each other’s eyes rather than each stare at a separate screen.
- AccessibilityAccessibility
- A child who cannot read yet, uses assistive technology, or lives with a disability can use the product with the same dignity as anyone else. A principle tested through actual practice, not through good intent alone.
- Illustrative-example tagIllustrative-example tag
- An explicit tag placed above an imagined scene or situation used to explain an idea, so the reader knows they are looking at an illustration rather than something that actually happened. It does not excuse a sentence written in the finished past tense; an illustrative example is written in a visibly different form from the start, never disguised.
- TranscreationTranscreation
- Rewriting a text in a new language to preserve its effect rather than its exact words, unlike a literal translation that carries words across and leaves the cultural meaning behind. Across this site the Arabic version is the original, and the English is a transcreation of it.
- Parental partnershipParental partnership
- A parent holds a real role inside the experience itself, not only information that reaches them afterward. A design that grants this role lets a child know they are seen, rather than feeling watched from behind.
- Co-playCo-play
- An adult plays with the child inside the same experience at the same time, rather than standing nearby without actually taking part. It differs from an adult merely being present in the room while a child uses a product.
- Standard Arabic and dialectStandard Arabic and dialect
- A design decision that places standard Arabic and local dialect where each sits naturally in a child's experience, such as standard Arabic in narration and dialect in a character close to the child's own speech. Applying a single choice everywhere loses a child's sense of their real language.
About the glossary
Questions about the terms
Why does every term start in Arabic rather than its Latin equivalent?
Because the whole site is written in Arabic first, not translated into it after being finished in another language. The Latin equivalent sits beside a term to help someone searching in another language, not because it is the term's original form.
How does a new term get added to this glossary?
When a term recurs across an article, a page or a tool and a reader needs a trustworthy definition to return to, we add it here with wording written specifically for this page. You can also suggest a missing term, as the call to action below the page explains.
Is there a term missing from the glossary for your project?
Tell us the term and where it sits in your project, and we will review it for adding or noting.
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