App Inventor

Mobile development
in App Inventor

Block programming for building mobile apps

Smartphones and tablets have become indispensable assistants for us. With a couple of clicks you can install a huge number of apps on them. And many children who are passionate about programming would like to learn how to create games and useful mobile applications on their own.

But what to do if it’s too early to write code or you can’t? Start learning App Inventor! This language is very simple, because from the beginning it was created for schoolchildren. To program in it, you don’t need to write lines of code, as you do in “adult” programming languages. Programming is done with blocks, like in Scratch.

MIT App Inventor is a programming environment developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

It is a cloud-based visual application development environment for the Android platform, work in which does not require knowledge of the programming language Java and Android SDK, enough knowledge of the basic basics of algorithms.

The difference between App Inventor and Scratch is that App Inventor is designed to create applications for mobile devices – smartphones and tablets with Android. It can, for example, “understand” the data from the accelerometer of the mobile gadget, control the built-in camera, see how the phone is oriented in space, and much more.

Who is this direction for?

Who wants to learn how to create mobile apps
Suitable for students as young as 8 years old, but children under 9 need to take a screening test to enroll
Not psychologically ready to start learning “adult programming languages”
Knowledge of basic topics in Scratch (loops, variables, lists, procedures)

This activity will allow children to create their own mobile applications and install them on a smartphone or tablet with Android OS starting from the first lesson. Use them on their own, send them to friends, or even upload them to Google Play.

This trend is also suitable for those who have iPhones and MAC.
If you don’t have an Android device, you need to install free software on your computer to use the Android screen emulator.

Program of Study

It takes 16 to 24 hours to study the course at the basic level without additional topics.
At the advanced level with additional topics – from 24 to 50 hours.

Module 1: Introduction to App Inventor (1-2 sessions)

Learn the interface of the MIТ App Inventor programming environment.
Create a mobile application in MIТ App Inventor. Testing and debugging the application.
Interface of the MIT App Inventor programming environment. Design and Blocks modes.
The main components of the programming environment and their properties. Saving and installing applications on mobile devices.

By the end of the module, students will have learned to navigate the MIT App Inventor visual programming environment, create mobile apps from scratch independently, test them, and install them on their smartphones.

Module 2. Basic Level – Mobile Applications (12-16 lessons)

Development of applications containing multimedia objects (images and audio resources).
Components “Sound” and “Button”. Working with sensors.
The application screen and its properties. Working with variables.
Using arrays when creating applications with large sets of the same type components.
Learning the Procedure block. Working with random numbers.
Principles of color assignment for applications. RGB model.

By the end of the module the student will know the basic concepts of programming, (variables, loops, branching, procedures, arrays), to distinguish types of sensors; to operate arrays of numerical data, to address the elements of the array, change, delete and save them. Create simple mobile applications such as calculator, translator, image gallery, text recognition, pedometer.

Module 3. Intermediate Level – Mobile Games (12-16 lessons)

Graphics in App Inventor. Working with the canvas. Working with media components.
Drawing. Component Canvas. Sphere and Sprite Images: Properties, events, and actions when using them.
Animating the movement of objects on the screen. Actions for superimposing objects.
Object coordinates. Studying the properties of objects that make them move.
Programming moving objects. Working with timers. Local and global variables within the application.

By the end of the module, students will learn to navigate the basic principles of color design; animate graphic objects; draw and work with graphics, coordinate system, timers. Create simple mobile games: snake, magic ball, ping-pong, platformer.

Module 4. Advanced Level – Web Applications (12-16 lessons)

Work with components to create line graphs, bar graphs, and pie charts based on lists.
Loading additional components, in the MIT App Inventor environment.
Work with web pages.
Working with files and databases to save application data. Using a component of Tiny DB.
Network databases Firebase. Working with cloud storage Dropbox. Working with the file system of a smartphone.
The background execution of applications.

By the end of the module the student will learn to add additional components to mobile applications, create Internet applications, work with databases. Create a messenger, scanner and generator of QR-codes, etc.