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Teach with App Inventor

Welcome Teachers!

Teaching with App Inventor is easy with the following resources.

Setting up Your Classroom

Dr. Sonia Mitchell with MIT undergraduate researcher Gisella Kokoti during an App Inventor professional development event January 13, 2024.

The most common way for students to use App Inventor is to establish a connection between a classroom computer and a mobile device over Wi-Fi, as described in our general setup instructions.

In most classrooms, App Inventor works without issues. A good way to test your classroom network is by following one of our introductory Hour of Code tutorials. If a classroom computer and mobile device can connect over Wi-Fi with one of these basic apps, it can connect with any app.

  • Having trouble with classroom Wi-Fi and App Inventor? Some schools have security restrictions on Wi-Fi networks that prevent the App Inventor platform from connecting to a mobile device. Teachers can share our Letter for IT Professionals in Schools to answer common technical questions, recommend network settings, and provide alternatives.
  • Don't have mobile devices for students? Students can use our phone emulator on their computers to test apps as they code. If your classroom has Chromebooks, students can code and test apps inside the Chromebook operating system.

Curricula and Units

Computational Thinking Curriculum

Coding for My Piano app

Based on the Coolthink@JC curriculum, these units teach students to think computationally while making mobile apps with MIT App Inventor. Developed by MIT App Inventor in collaboration with Education University of Hong Kong with support from the Hong Kong Jockey Club, this curriculum is targeted toward middle school grades and up.

  • 10 units
  • About 50 hours
  • Middle school and up

GoAI: Computational Action with AI Curriculum

Two smiling primary school students at their laptops, one holding up a printed picture of a pug, in a classroom full of students working on laptops.

Photo: JC GoAI

App Inventor lessons from the GoAI curriculum developed in collaboration with the Chinese University of Hong Kong with support from the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Students are introduced to the AI capabilities of App Inventor with the aim of developing an AI powered final project that can serve their community.

  • 14 one-hour lessons
  • Grades 6+

EcoBits Explorers: Collecting Environmental Data with Micro:bits

Students at classroom tables testing Micro:bit sensors with tablets.

Gathering Authentic Data: Students set up Micro:bit sensors to collect light and temperature data, starting with a mystery sensor and then a sensor inside their own refrigerator, and build a dashboard app to monitor it from anywhere.

  • Needs a Micro:bit
  • 5 lessons
  • Grades 7–12
  • Science (NGSS)

Data Science: Charts and Predictions from Spreadsheets

A spreadsheet of lake data flows into three phone screens that chart it, clean it up and predict a trend, over a photo of two children skating on a frozen lake.

Developing and Using Models: Today, making sense of data through visualization is a crucial skill for identifying real-world problems in your community and communicating evidence about them to others. Students create graphs using data from Google Sheets spreadsheets. They compare datasets and, in a final step, add a line of best fit. This guide provides everything students need to learn how to create phone apps with their own data.

  • Most lessons need no extra hardware
  • Ages 10–18+

The Internet of Things: Apps That Talk to a Micro:bit

An image of the IoT app with labels showing sensor data.

Solving Real-World Problems: The internet of things (IoT) is a way to collect and analyze real-world data to solve important problems. Today, almost every electronic device, even tiny ones, can connect to the Internet. It's critical for students to understand how data can move in and out of those devices. IoT lets us remotely control lights in our homes, monitor our property and make data-informed decisions about our communities, factories, and businesses.

  • Needs a Micro:bit
  • 8 lessons
  • Grades 6–12

Mobile CSP

The Mobile CSP logo.

This high school curriculum is a College Board-endorsed AP Computer Science Principles curriculum and professional development based on the theme of mobile computing. The course engages students, is project-based, and encourages collaboration and creativity.

  • AP CS Principles
  • High school
  • Teacher PD included

More Resources

  • Community Forum

    We encourage everyone to join and participate in discussions on our community site. Go to Groups, and request to be added to the “Teach App Inventor” group. Educators can also share ideas, lesson plans, activities, etc. through the community platform.

  • MIT App Inventor Tutorials Page

    This page includes various tutorials of all levels for use in a classroom.

  • App-Building Guides for the Youth Mobile Power Series

    In partnership with YR Media, we've built 9 App Building Guides that are based on articles written by young people on topics that are meaningful to them. They can be used as single tutorials or bundled into a computational action curriculum.

  • Artificial Intelligence with App Inventor

    MIT is building AI tools into App Inventor that will enable even beginning students to create original AI applications that would have been advanced research a decade ago.

  • Students Can Keep Their Apps — Offline

    In the MIT AI2 Companion app, a student taps the book icon at the top right while their app is running, and it is saved on the phone — iPhone or Android. They open it later from Companion's library, the purple my saved apps button — so the app they built in class still works at home, on the bus, or anywhere the network does not reach.

  • Official Book: Become an App Inventor

    This is our official guide from MIT App Inventor to designing, building, and sharing apps. Published by MITeen Press.

  • More Books on App Inventor

    Books about coding with App Inventor, in English and seven other languages.

  • Release Notes

    See what changed in the latest version of App Inventor before your next lesson.

  • MIT App Inventor YouTube Page

    This is our official YouTube page where you can find videos and video tutorials for Hour of Code, Computational Thinking Curriculum, Computational Action projects, AI with App Inventor, and many more topics.

  • Links to other App Inventor Resources

    Here you'll find links to other curricula and resources developed by educators from around the world.