7th & Up: App Lab

App Lab is a programming environment to create simple apps using blocks or JavaScript. It was created for use in the High School Computer Science Principles course but can be used outside of that course as well.

EXPLORATION:

This is the time to create your first simple app so that you can get to know a bit about how App Lab works. Very often in a Computer Science course, the very first thing you will be asked to create is a "Hello, World!" program. That's what you are going to do here but in this case it's going to be an interactive hello from an animal of your choice or from you. You can see an example app with an animal here. If you "pet" the kitten by clicking on it or tapping the screen if you are on a mobile device, the cat will say "hello" or meow, in this case. You can see another example with a human avatar here. In this example, if you click on the avatar, you will hear a greeting. In this app, there is also a button you can click that will take you to a 2nd screen with more information; clicking anywhere on the 2nd screen will take you back to the 1st screen.

Before you start creating your app, you will need:

1. A picture of an animal or it could be a picture (or avatar) of you! If you need a picture, you can find download some from:
   • Pics4Learning (you should make sure to include a credit in your app, if you use one of these)
   • Pixabay (no credit is needed for these photos)
2. An MP3 of the animal sound or a recording of you saying "Hello, World!" or something similar. If you need to record yourself, try Vocaroo. If you need an animal sound recording, you can download some from:
   • US Fish & Wildlife Service (these are public domain and no credit is needed)
   • Search on SoundBible (a credit should be included, if you use one of these)

Now, it's time to create your Hello, World app! Go to the provided Code.org section and:

1. Select your provided Username and enter your provided password
2. Click on the orange Try Now button
3. Click on the small purple phone icon next to the orange "Hi codewizardXX" dropdown
4. Follow the directions in the video below using your picture and sound file

Once you are done, share your app to your phone or email the link to yourself so you have it and can remix it on your own account once you set one up.

Done? Add the link to your app and/or some thoughts on what you think about App Lab so far on the Wizard Training Padlet.

ACCOUNT SETUP:

You may continue to use the provided Code.org account but you may want to take a few minutes and set up your own account. Once you have a teacher account, you can visit the Teacher Home Page and set up sections for your various classes.

INTEGRATION IDEAS:

Now it's time to start thinking about using this with students. Choose one or more of the options below.

Remix:

Remixing is a great way to learn how something works and then change it to do what you want it to do.

• Remix the Landmark Flashcards into something applicable to your curricular area of interest. For example, create Vocabulary Flashcards for Foreign Language or Science or History, etc., or create Math Facts Flashcards, etc.
• Remix the Choose Your Own Adventure Story into something applicable in your curriculum. For example, create a Digital Citizenship story or a story based on a character in a book or an historical character, etc. OR make it into a quiz with explanations for wrong answer choices.
• Remix the Pet Poll into a poll or quiz related to your curricular area of interest.

Did you create something awesome? Share a link to it on the Wizard Training Padlet.

CSP Unit 3:

As part of the year-long Computer Science Principles course, Unit 3 introduces the basic concepts of computer programming using JavaScript as the programming language, and App Lab as the programming environment to build apps. This unit includes teacher lesson plans, unplugged lessons, online guided lessons, quizzes, and more. This unit could be used in whole or in part to get students familiar with App Lab and JavaScript.

• Try out some of this unit starting with Lesson 4 - previous lessons in the unit do not use App Lab.

Add your thoughts and/or a screenshot of something you completed in the unit to the Wizard Training Padlet.

Algebra:

If you are a Middle/High School Algebra teacher, you might be interested in:

• Computer Science in Algebra
  • Make sure to check out the Lesson Plans for more information and maybe even try out Bootstrap's Introduction to Programming

Add your thoughts and/or something you completed to the Wizard Training Padlet.