Rochester City School District

Students enrolled in the RCSD Virtual Academy’s Digital Solutions course at Integrated Arts and Technology, Wilson Commencement, and World of Inquiry high schools took part in the First Annual App Challenge. Students created a mobile App using the online app creation tool Thunkable. The task promoted inquiry-based learning and project-development skills that students will need as they move into college and careers.

The inquiry-based learning skills that students honed during this activity included analyzing exemplary mobile apps that were submitted to the 2016 Congressional App Challenge from students across the country, accessing the Thunkable resource and tutorials provided, independent learning with minimal teacher support, and trial and error activities as they created their App. The project-development skills students utilized included mobile App idea development, accessing research and resources from the internet, audience identification, drafting, rubric development, graphic design challenges, time management, testing, and revision planning.

Students were required to have a functioning mobile App with at least three screens, programmed blocks that transitioned from one screen to the other, and at least three screens with content related to their App topic. Students finally engaged in analyzing their skill set with respect to independent or small group work in project development with limited support from a teacher.