DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY

APPlant: A Mobile App for Plants Using Image Recognition Technology for Grade
5 to 6 Students

A CAPSTONE
Presented to the
The Faculty of the College of Computer Studies Don
Honorio Ventura State University
Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

In Partial Fulfilment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

COLLEGE OF COMPUTING STUDIES

MAIN CAMPUS
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Table of contents

Title Page……………………………………………………………………..……… i
Table of Contents ……………………………………….………………..….……… ii
Introduction ……………………….……………...….……………………………... 1
Methodology……………………………………………………..……….…………. 4
Planning ………………….……………………..………………………….... 5
Designing …………………………….……………………......................... 5
Unit Testing …………………………………………….........................…. 5
Project Testing ………………………………………..…….........………... 5
User Requirements .…..……………………………………………...……. 7
Iteration Planning …………………………………...……………………… 7
Test the Latest Version …….……………………………………………… 7
Research methods ……………………….……………………………...… 7
Research design……………………………………………………………. 8
Research Instruments………………………………………………….……. 8
Questionnaire ……………………………………………………….….……. 8
Interview …………………………………………..…………………….……. 9
Observation …………………………………………………………….……. 9
Respondents of the Study …………………………………………….……. 9
Sampling Techniques …………………………………………………….. 10
Data Analysis ………………………………………….……………………. 10
References…………………………………………………………………………. 12
Appendix…………………………………………………………………………… 13
Appendix A: Pre-Survey Question ….…………………………………… 13
Appendices ………………………………………………………………… 14

COLLEGE OF COMPUTING STUDIES

MAIN CAMPUS
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INTRODUCTION

The study of plants has never had the same attraction for students as the study of
animals. This phenomenon has been termed “plant blindness” (Wandersee & Schussler, 1999;
Balas & Momsen, 2014) and is a concern, given the central role that plants play in our lives
(Uno, 2009).

Plants supply food and oxygen for the entire biosphere, literally supporting the existence
of life on Earth They also have many cultural and other uses, as writing materials, as building
materials, as ornaments, fiber, fuel, and in great variety, they have been the source of
medicines and psychoactive drugs that greatly affect mankind. Green plants provide a essential
proportion of the world’s oxygen and the basis of most of Earth’s ecosystem. Plants that
produce grain, fruit, and vegetables also form basic human foods and have been domesticated
for millennia.

The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of science. Plants are mainly
multicellular organisms, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae.
Before, plants were treated as one of two kingdoms including all living things that were not
animals, and algae and fungi were treated as plants. But, all current definitions of Plantae
exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as prokaryotes which are the archaea and bacteria.
Plants from this clade Viridiplantae, a Latin word that means “green plants”, a group that
includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, and their allies,
hornworts, mosses, green algae, , and the liverworts, but excludes the red and brown algae.

Mobile learning, or m-learning, focuses on learning across contexts and with mobile
devices such as mobile phones. Though the first instances of incorporating mobile technology
into education occurred in the 1970s, the rapid evolution of mobile units into powerful
multifunctional devices such as Smartphones has prompted an increased interest in harnessing
the power of m-learning in an educational context.

A Smartphone is a mobile phone with more advanced computing capability and

connectivity than a feature phone, and might include advanced features such as: portable
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media players, digital cameras, video cameras, GPS navigation units, high-resolution
touchscreens, and

web browsers that display standard web pages as well as mobile-optimized sites. Younger
individuals are more likely to be familiar with mobile technology and already have it integrated
into their daily lives, m-learning seems a relevant innovation in teaching and in learning. With
the popularity of smartphones and the development of mobile Internet, mobile learning has
become a new field of expert system in educational application (Fu and Li, 2010).

We noticed that since the children are at their home, they don’t get to see or visualize
the plants that are being introduced by their teachers particularly on their subject. There may be
a time that it is difficult to define what you want to know about the plant.

Leaves are often the basis of for identifying plants since they are easily observed.
Leaves consist of two parts, which are Blade and Stalk. Blade is the wide or more obvious part
of a leaf. Stalk or petiole by which the blade is attached to the stem. Leaves are also divided
into two categories, which are broad and narrow. Broad leaves have a wide blade, often with a
visible network of veins. Narrow leaves are slender, without a wide, these leaves are often
referred to as “needle” or “scale-like”. The APPlant will recognize the plant with its
characteristics, such as form, size, leaf shape, and flower color and linking that recognition with
a name, either its common name or its scientific name.

This study aims to help the students to identify the plants that are in their school. This
app may also be used in their studies, lessons and the information may have facts about the
important aspects of a specific plant. It is an educational tool, where a user would simply
capture a photograph and the information about that particular plant will be shown through the
mobile app. It's nice especially if you see a plant on the road you want to know the name and
it’s uses. Students can use this for their agricultural subject, this will help them learn the basic
meaning of the certain plant also this will help them on how to take good care of it properly. You
will also find here the plants that are for beginners to make it easier for you to take care of the
plant and speed up its growth, you will also know what are the hacks and tips on how to do the
right thing.

Specific Problem
The following are the specific problem on why we are conducting these system.
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1. What are the problems encountered in the existing system.

2. How to address the difficulties encountered by the end user.
3. Who are the beneficiaries of the proposed system
4. What is the level of acceptability of the newly developed system in terms of: Accuracy,
Reliability, Efficiency, Security and User-Friendliness.
5. How does the mobile device can help users identify plants.

The general objective of the researchers is to help the students to identify the plants.
Students can also use this app in their homes if they want to produce and to take care of plants.
The children’s knowledge of the plant will expand and they will be able to know plants
conveniently especially now in our situation today.

The developers have specifically considered the following objectives:

1.1 To integrate the following salient features in the said system:
a) Prevent any form of theft with a log-in scheme.
b) Increased accuracy of the image recognition process.
c) User friendly and have facts in their learning.
d) Good security for data privacy.
e) Integrate a reliable, elaborate and consistent database.
f) Dashboard

1.2 To evaluate the system using the of ISO 9126.

This study is primarily focused on the learning of Grade 5 to 6 students about the plants
that are being introduced by their teachers particularly on their subject. This also aims to help
the teachers to be able to teach their pupils in an interactive way since phones are our medium
in studying today.

Like in any other application, APPlant: A Mobile App for Plants Using Image Recognition
Technology for Grade 5 to 6 Students has llimitations. Since it is android based application,
internet connection is required.
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METHODOLOGY

The approach that will be used in this study is Agile Method. The Agile Methodologies
are a group of software development methods that are based on iterative and incremental
development. Its main emphasis is in obeying the principles of “Light but sufficient” and being
people-oriented and communication-centered. As it is named as lightweight process, it is more
suitable for the development of small projects. Agile software development takes the view that
production teams should start with simple and predictable approximations to the final
requirement and then continue to increment the detail of these requirements throughout the life
of the development. This incremental requirements refinement further refines the design, coding
and testing at all stages of production activity (Kumar and Bhatia (2012). In this way, the
requirements work product is as accurate and useful as the final software itself as seen in
Figure 1.

Figure 1: Agile Method (Sharma et al., 2012)

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Planning
The first phase in the method is planning that focuses in all the requirements needed to
define and understand the problems of the system that is needed to address and solve. The
researchers will conduct a meeting to identify all the possible needs of the system and analyze
them to approach the needs regarding the title proposal. The research tools to be used by the
researchers were through interview, questionnaires, evaluation, surveys and other
measurements to collect measurable data.

Designing
Systems design is simply the design of systems. The overall structure and components
of new/proposed system were created in this stage. The program or software code, hardware,
database, files, user interface, layouts, etc. are included. The layout of the UI or User Interface
was an original color palette of “(School that using it)”. Also, for the Software Interface
Specification. We will use Bootstrap and CSS for the website that the admin will use and for the
mobile we certain come up to use B4A software to create the user compatibility interface. For
the Database of the system us researcher will use MySQL.

Unit Testing
This phase involves an implementation a realization of a system component. As a
researcher we will conduct a separate testing, for the website we shall use a Laptop, PC with
operating system windows 7 and up. And for the mobile we will use phone with android version
jellybean 4.3 and up. The task will be conducted properly. We will provide several tests such as
demos and data receiving. To ensure that the system will produce a correct respond before the
final release and test each unit or component and make sure the developed components are
working as expected.

Project Testing
In this final phase of the method, we will do a research and analyze the final
qualification, specification to determine the expecting quality level and performance. We will
present some methods and discuss it to our certain locale to gather the expecting output and
interface of the system including the functionality. Here our basic necessary tool we acquire is a
mobile phone to have an interaction with the system with an internet connection to relay, and
computer or laptop for the admin to easily access the admin page and see the data that has
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been recorded.

Table 1
Components of the Evaluation Questionnaire

Criteria Indicators
Content Updatability
Presentation
Usability Usability
Ease of Learning
Efficiency of Use
Reliability Reliability
Accuracy in Performance
Functionality Functionality
Accuracy
User-friendliness
Performance Installability
Conformance
Adaptability

To measure the user’s level of acceptance of the system, a point of scale was used, (1)
Strongly Disagree; (2) Disagree; (3) Neither Agree or Disagree; (4) Agree; (5) Strongly Agree.

Figured 2 : Agile Process using Extreme Programming (Sharma et al., 2012)

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User Requirements
Focuses in all the requirements needed to define and understand the problems that the
system is to address and solve. The research tools used by the researchers were through
interview, questionnaires, evaluation, surveys to collect measurable data. Due to pandemic we
personally not requiring the respondents to attend the survey meeting so as much as possible
re recommend to give the survey via online form. The purpose of this is to determine the
specific features that a respondent acquiring.

Iteration Planning

Weeks Activity Description Who

Week 1 Planning, Survey This week, we conducted a meeting Team
Questionnaire about what we would plan. At the
same time, we made a survey
questionnaire, even if only a little
was done, for the target
respondents.
Week 2 Distribution of Survey We have finished making the survey Team
Questionnaire to our questionnaire and distributed it to
respondents, Start doing our target respondents. Then, we
our manuscript started working on the manuscript,
and we had a meeting as a team on
what would be the part of each of
us.
Week 3 Manuscript We focused on making our Team
manuscript the whole week and we
also took time for a break.
Week 4 Final manuscript, This final week, we're going to finish Team
Prototype the parts that aren't finished in the
manuscript and we'll start making
the prototype of our system.

Test the Latest Version

The researchers will test the develop system. If an error was detected, it will fix in the
next cycle.

Research Methods
This research used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The
questionnaires and observations conducted were used to determine the users opinion about
the study. Through the inputs of the resource individuals, it will determine the specific or
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needed functionalities of the system using a qualitative research approach. The researchers will
conduct an interview with a prepared questionnaire to identify major and specific problems
encountered in the existing research topic which is the APPlant: A Mobile App for Plants Using
Image Recognition Technology for Grade 5 to 6 Students. The study involved collection and
data gathering information, survey and interview also the data processing and statistical
treatment in order to achieve the objective of the study. According to our research the
overarching aim of a quantitative research study is to classify features, count them, and
construct statistical models in an attempt to explain what is observed. Quantitative research
was used in conjunction of the researchers’ agreement for the most reliable research results.
The quantitative method will be used in the pre-survey and evaluation of the system by the
teachers and Grade 5 to 6 students.

Research Design
Descriptive Research Design was applied in this study. The interviews, questionnaires
and observations conducted were used to decide the possible solution to this study. Descriptive
analysis is concerned with collecting data regarding common situations or circumstances in
order to describe and interpret them (Aggarwal, 2008). This method is devoted to the gathering
of information about prevailing conditions or situations for the purpose of description and
interpretation. This type of research method is not simply amassing and tabulating facts but
includes proper analyses, interpretation, comparisons, identification of trends and relationships.
The intention of the definition and of the interpretation. From these, the proponents were able to
determine the things that are needed for the system development.

Research Instruments
Research Instruments The research instruments utilized by the researchers on this
study were google form and survey form. The google form was distributed via online to our
target respondents and the survey form is happened through face-to-face communication.

Questionnaire
The researcher used a google form and a survey form that served as the questionnaire
for the study. The researchers created two separate forms. The first form was for the teaching
staff. The second form is for the students. All questions were designed in an open-ended way.
Questionnaires for the teaching staffs were sent to their messenger and the survey forms for
the students were delivered by the researchers.
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 To identify how the proposed system will be useful

 To know how to improve the usual technique in teaching about plants

Interview
To help us determine the main goal of this research, the researcher interviewed some
teachers. The focus of the interview was on how mobile phones affect their students' studies or
academic performance, particularly in terms of the importance of plants in their curriculum and
their knowledge of them. The researcher proposes that students use a plant identifier app to
learn in an engaging way.

The researchers' primary motivation for conducting an interview is as follows:

• To see how effective a mobile app is at teaching plants.
• To determine the issue of a lack of plant knowledge.
• To figure out what improvements could be made to the current system.

Observation
The researchers will conduct an observation to those who are studying about plants.
The researchers will observe them on how they are currently studying about plants. The
respondents are currently still using books and PowerPoint presentations to learn about the
plants, they are also asking their friends and relatives that may cause misinformation.

The following are the main purpose of the researchers to conduct an observation in their
ongoing system.
 To analyze the process of proposed system
 To help and motivate the respondents to know more about plants
 To observe how the respondents will deal the proposed system

Respondents of the Study

In Table 1, it shows the number of the respondents, 20% for the Teaching Staffs and
80% for the Students, for a total of 100 respondents. The distribution of survey and google
forms were conducted to know what the respondents thoughts for the proposed system. The
researchers will be following conditions: 1) that the respondents are teaching staffs and
students 2) that the respondents are the one who need to accomplish the APPlant. For the
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respondents, the researchers will be following conditions: 1) that they are a teacher and
students 2) that they are working in chosen school.

Table 2
Number of Respondents

Respondents Number of Respondents

Teaching Staffs 20
Students 80
Total 100

In Table 2, the total respondents are one hundred (100), consist of 20 teaching staffs
and 80 students. The said respondents were qualified based on the judgement qualifications
needed to conduct the study.

Sampling Techniques
Convenience sampling will be used in the study. With this method, the researchers will
identify the opinions and insights of the students and teachers about our proposed system. .
Convenience sampling (also known as Haphazard Sampling or Accidental Sampling) is a type
of nonprobability or non-random sampling where members of the target population that meet
certain practical criteria, such as easy accessibility, geographical proximity, availability at a
given time, or the willingness to participate are included for the purpose of the study. It is also
referred to the researching subjects of the population that are easily accessible to the
researcher. It is affordable, easy and the subjects are readily available. It is compulsory for the
researcher to describe how the sample would differ from the one that was randomly selected. It
is also necessary to describe the subjects who might be excluded during the selection process
or the subjects who are overrepresented in the sample. The main objective of convenience
sampling is to collect information from participants who are easily accessible to the researcher
like recruiting providers attending a staff meeting for study participation (Etikan, 2016).

Data Analysis
This study determines the requirement and assumptions of the user. The researchers
used a google and survey form to know the effectiveness of their system.
The researchers used a five-point Likert Scale for both teaching staff and students to
determine their insights about the system proposed. The choices we made range from Strongly
Disagree up to Strongly Agree.
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Table 4
Likert Scale

Value Classification Range

Strongly Agree 5 4.01-5.00
Positive
Agree 4 3.01-4.00
Neither Agree or Disagree 3 Neutral 2.02-3.00
Disagree 2 1.01-2.00
Negative
Strongly Disagree 1 0.00-1.00
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REFERENCES

Aggarwal, Y. P. (2008). Descriptive method. https://www.studymode.com/essays/

Descriptive-Method-47976009.html
Fu, G. S., Li, T. (2010). Mobile learning model based on expert system in the 2010 3G era.
http://www.scitepress.org/Papers/2017/63131/63131.pdf
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of
Convenience Sampling and Purposive Sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and
Applied Statistics. Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 1-4. doi: 10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/55796997/Comparison_Convenience_and_Purpos
ive_Sampling-2016_4p-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?
Expires=1627623375&Signature=QjS6cxQvr15oJRqmGKNCyBYBk5u5KYOJ8rGe-
RjO4CNMvUv5PqSw-3lF01zuu9ozEmjhhIWIu8Jps93kI9QIb72Es--
KWLMmDPdKqEhwT2fmwUDNC6nnLRykkWuewgQVJm3EGbxwy0uRMVwBcmkKIQ1
Z1gWI-
DdSbzu3IVAasXHmobbvIzEqhEOkxJgBuGIMZeWpjJIDsYatD~Czzd1FJvMgSBSxvoDd
vVYx1J41ufpZ44bOGyVTFFN2kAl3ZkgH-
XvBLcNA9X3QHxQFQxRIKxymmf5moH7NJh3gmLKjuqt7--
5P7Eo47BwLpYVkJxPOdpo~Z0ABJhgXUhjShbGD8w__&Key-Pair-
Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
Plant Identification: Examining Leaves (2021).
https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plant-identification-examining- leaves
Teri, S., Acai A., Griffith D., Mahmoud Q., David W. L. Ma, Newton G. (2013) Student use and
pedagogical impact of a mobile learning application.
https://iubmb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bmb.20771
Sharma, S., Sarkar, D., & Gupta, D. (2012). Agile Processes and Methodologies: A Conceptual
Study. International Journal on Computer Science & Engineering, 4(5), 892–898.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267706023_Agile_Processes_and_Methodolo
gies_A_Conceptual_Study
Uno, G.E. (2009). Botanical literacy: what and how should students learn about plants?
American Journal of Botany, 96, 1753–1759.
https://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article/77/9/699/18848/Mobile-BotanySmart-Phone-
Photography-in-Laboratory
Wandersee, J.H. & Schussler, E.E. (1999). Preventing plant blindness. American Biology
Teacher, 61, 82, 84–86. https://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article/77/9/699/18848/Mobile-
BotanySmart-Phone-Photography-in-Laboratory
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APPENDIX

Appendix A
Pre-Survey Questionnaire
This questionnaire is conducted by Bachelor of Science in Information Technology
students at Don Honorio Ventura State University. The main concern of this study is to determine
how the students will be more knowledgeable about plants and how will this application can help
them in their studies. Rest assured that all information you`ve provided will be used for academic
purposes only and all your responses will be treated with strict confidentiality.

Strongly Neither Agree Strongly

Questions Agree Disagree
Agree or Disagree Disagree
Plants play an essential
role in our daily lives
Learning about the plants
in our surroundings is
important
Some of our youths today
were not able to identify
the types of plants
Misleading information
about plants may cause
harm to people
Learning at home limits the
visualization of the youth
about plants
Using internet is an
effective tool in learning
plants
In our time today, many
people are into phones as
a past time and
entertainment
A free and accessible
platform may help more
students today
A plant identifier app will
provide an interesting way
of learning for the students
Knowing the plant can help
to reduce the stress and
boost your mood
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APPENDICES

Prototype