MD MESA is releasing a brand new Computational Thinking Challenge for the 2020-21 school year. For this challenge, teams will design, develop, and demonstrate a proof-of-concept mobile app designed to improve people’s lives by addressing a health issue in our society. The app will collect, process, and display data in a way that can benefit users and/or health care professionals. Apps developed by teams must meet all design requirements specified in the MD MESA Mobile App Challenge document. Below is a high-level overview of the design requirements.

General Requirements:

The app must:

• Collect data over time, store data, process data, and output data.

• Include an intuitive, aesthetically appealing user interface.

• Output data in a way that is meaningful and intuitive to users.

Technical Requirements:

Input: User Interface must include specific elements. See the Summary for details.

Data Handling: App must utilize variables, store data, and perform mathematical calculations.

Output: Specific types of output are required (e.g., numerical, graphical). Output must be useful to users and/or health care professionals. High school students are required to include measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode, range

While the primary focus of this challenge is the mobile app that students design and create, there is much more to this challenge than just writing the code for the app. Teams will submit a variety of products, all designed to show off their hard work, creativity, and approach to designing the app. Each team will submit a video-recorded presentation with a demonstration, an electronic poster, and an electronic brochure, and code files.

Elementary/Middle School:

Teams must use MIT App Inventor to create their mobile apps. MIT App Inventor is a free, web-based integrated development environment (IDE) that allows users to drag and drop visual objects and code blocks to create applications that can run on mobile devices. The code blocks used in MIT App Inventor are very similar to the blocks used in Scratch, another popular program developed at MIT. One of the many powerful features of MIT App Inventor is that it allows testing of apps in real-time on an emulator. An emulator is software that lets you open a window on your computer that looks and behaves just like the screen on a mobile device such as a phone or tablet. Apps can be displayed and tested on the emulator instead of testing on a real device. This means students do not need a physical device like a smartphone or tablet. However, if students have access to an Android mobile device, the free MIT AI2 Companion App allows them to test and run apps on a physical mobile device.

MIT App Inventor can be accessed here: https://appinventor.mit.edu/.

High School:

Teams must use Android Studio to create their mobile apps. Android Studio is the standard software used by mobile app developers working on the Android platform. One of the many powerful features of Android Studio is the long list of device emulators included. Because Android Studio includes emulators for a multitude of mobile devices, teams can prototype and test apps without the need for a physical mobile device.

The latest version of the Android Studio software package can be downloaded for free at https://developer.android.com/studio.

MIT App Inventor is a cloud-based platform and therefore does not require specific hardware. While Android Studio must be installed on local computers, it can run on a variety of hardware, including Chromebooks.

Because both MIT App Inventor and Android Studio have emulator capabilities built-in, teams are not required to use a mobile device for this MESA challenge. However, JHU/APL is providing each MESA School Coordinator with a mobile phone (Alcatell ideal extra 5059r) to use as a testing device. Use of the mobile phone is optional; students are not required to use a mobile device to participate in the MD MESA App Challenge.