African Film Studies (Media/Arts) | 12 September 2011
App-based Educational Support in Somali Refugee Camps: A Cognitive Development Assessment Study
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Abstract
Somali refugee camps in Egypt present unique educational challenges due to language barriers and limited resources. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 120 participants randomly assigned to either an intervention group (using apps for learning) or a control group (standard school curriculum). Cognitive assessments were administered at baseline and post-intervention. App users showed a statistically significant improvement in arithmetic problem-solving skills, with a mean increase of 36% on the pre-post test compared to controls. Confidence intervals around these findings are not provided here due to study limitations. The app-based education significantly enhanced cognitive development among Somali pupils in refugee camps, particularly their ability to solve arithmetic problems. Further studies should explore scalability and long-term effects of the intervention across different educational contexts. Somali refugees, Cognitive assessment, Educational apps, Egypt, Randomized controlled trial Model estimation used $\hat{\theta}=argmin<em>{\theta}\sum</em>i\ell(y<em>i,f</em>\theta(x<em>i))+\lambda\lVert\theta\rVert</em>2^2$, with performance evaluated using out-of-sample error.