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CS4HS with App Inventor May 18, 2012

CS4HS with App Inventor May 18, 2012. Jeff Gray, Ph.D. - Associate Professor University of Alabama Department of Computer Science gray@cs.ua.edu http://www.cs.ua.edu/~gray. Initial Links. This talk http://www.cs.ua.edu/~gray/external/google-cs4hs/cs4hs-appinventor.ppt

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CS4HS with App Inventor May 18, 2012

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  1. CS4HS with App InventorMay 18, 2012 Jeff Gray, Ph.D. - Associate Professor University of Alabama Department of Computer Science gray@cs.ua.edu http://www.cs.ua.edu/~gray

  2. Initial Links • This talk • http://www.cs.ua.edu/~gray/external/google-cs4hs/cs4hs-appinventor.ppt • A more detailed talk on CS Principles and App Inventor • http://www.cs.ua.edu/~gray/external/acmse2012/acmse-csprinciples-appinventor-tutorial.ppt • Photos from our 2011 CS4HS • https://picasaweb.google.com/115149721412395648937/2011GoogleCS4HSAtUA

  3. For more info… • MIT Center for Mobile Learning main site • http://appinventor.mit.edu/ • Educator’s Site • Links to many Google Newsgroups • Dave Wolber’s App Inventor Site • http://www.appinventor.org/ • The App Inventor Repository • http://www.tair.info/ • Three quality books on the topic

  4. Observation: Teaching CS – 1980s style • Typical example was text-based, trivial, and uninspiring

  5. Motivation: New and Exciting Contexts • Media Computation • Programming in a more exciting context by manipulating multimedia artifacts • Robots • Lego NXT • 2D/3D Animation Environments • Alice, Scratch, AgentSheets

  6. Motivation: Newest Context • Teen smartphone penetration around 62%1 • Novel ways to engage through the “creative hook” and tinkering • “I wish I had an app for that” • Social networking and crowd sourcing a daily activity among teens • Increasing adoption of smartphones in science and medical applications 1http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/168085/nielsen-smartphone-penetration-reaches-48.html

  7. App Inventor Overview • 2007: Open Blocks Java Library developed as Masters thesis of Ricarose Roque at MIT • Hal Abelson becomes visiting faculty member at Google • 2009: App Inventor Pilot begins in 2009 • 2011: Google closes Google Labs • 2011: MIT announces new Center for Mobile Learning • February 2012: New App Inventor server available at MIT

  8. App Inventor Overview • Purpose • Teaching • Prototyping • Overview • Designer • GUI builder • Block Editor • Provide behavior behind the GUI • Based on MIT OpenBlocks and Scratch

  9. Designer • Provides a WYSIWYG editor for designing the visual parts of the app • Also provides ability to attach non-visual components

  10. Blocks Editor • Provides an ability to give behavior to an app; the programming part • Typical and expected basic predefined constructs (logic, conditionals, iteration) • Ability to refer to the components and their properties from the Designer • Very similar to Scratch • Built on Open Blocks library from MIT

  11. CS4HS 2011 Approach • 1st Day: Block language like Scratch and BYOB; CS Principles; Why Study CS Talk • 2nd Day: Introduction to App Inventor; Group and individual exercises • Each teacher received an App Inventor book • HelloPurr, PaintPot, Molemash, Quizzes • 3rd Day: Teacher Project time • 2012 Focus is on CS Principles Pilot Info using App Inventor

  12. Interesting result from 2011… • Gina McCarley, a participant in our CS4HS 2011, won a Samsung STEM competition using an app she created with students • The App Inventor app helps to track the overpopulation of wild hogs in her county • $100,000 prize • https://pages.samsung.com/us/sft/video/index.jsp

  13. High School Summer Camps • http://www.cs.ua.edu/outreach/camps/ • Week 3 focuses on App Inventor • Approach: Mixes block language and Java • Other item: App Inventor Java Bridge • Provides a Java .jar file for accessing the App Inventor components and writing Java apps in Eclipse (much easier than standard Android SDK) • UA student Chris Hodapp extending work initiated by Josh Swank to provide a translator from Blocks to Java • Video on Java Bridge • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnEG7_Et4UA

  14. App Inventor Live Demo… • Traditional Blocks Language • Overview of environment • Hands-on app building (time limited) • Samples from CS4HS

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