Difficulty: basic
Lesson Type: curriculum
Subject: computer-science
Grade Level:
  • 6-8
Resource URL: https://sites.google.com/site/middleschoolandroid/home/app-inventor-tutorials
Middle School teacher Richard Incorvia has put together some simple, easy-to-follow tutorials for teaching App Inventor to students. These can be used with older students as well. He has created eight days of lessons with a tutorial for each day. Each tutorial includes a guide to building the app in the Designer and Blocks Editor, making the app, and additional challenging features to add. Day One walks students through building an app with a moving ball that bounces off when it comes to an edge. Day Two introduces buttons to change the ball's speed. This is an excellent introductory lesson for students because it lets them see immediate effects of their program changes in the app's behavior. Day Three teaches students about if-statements by guiding them on how to build a calculator app. Day Four guides students through uploading media (sounds, pictures, videos, etc) to their phone by building the classic App Inventor app: HelloPurr. Day Five guides students through the PaintPot event teaching them about Events. Day Six teaches about using the Clock's Timer functionality by using the MoleMash tutorial. Day Seven instructs on how to use the TinyDB component by guiding users through a ToDoList app. Day Eight teaches students about using multiple screens by guiding them through a Music Player App.