STEM Education at Work: Five Innovative Apps Created by High-Schoolers

The Lenovo Scholar Network brings a robust mobile app development curriculum to students at underserved high schools. Here are some of the apps they created.

Students at the Phillip O. Berry Academy of Informational Technology in Charlotte, N.C., created Sukario Kids as a subsidiary app for Sukario, an on-the-go blood analyzer and recorder app for diabetics. The app was created to serve as a communication tool between school nurses and parents, where parents can monitor their children’s health throughout the school day via an automated text message sent through the application by the school nurse.

Promoting positive messages and behaviors for teenagers may seem like a lofty task, but students from Washington High School of IT in Milwaukee created a game app—WHS Bowling—to do just that. While bowling through the app with the flick of a finger, a motivational or encouraging message will appear to enforce positive behavior and discourage bullying. Online public voters selected this app as the Fan Favorite among the finalists.

Also from the Phillip O. Berry Academy of Informational Technology, a student group took what they learned in economics class and applied it to their real-life school environment. DeeringDollar fosters a token economy society, using a reward system in the form of virtual dollars for good deeds conducted in the classroom.

Flashy Cards from Cimarron-Memorial High School Academy of Information Technology in Las Vegas helps change how students study inside and outside the classroom. Looking for a more interactive way to study and learn, the students created an app to help their peers engage with their course work in a more interesting way. The app serves as virtual flash cards in the form of a game, where points are given or deducted based on the user’s response.

In Hartford, Conn., Pathways Academy of Technology & Design’s student team figured out a way to virtually eliminate textbooks. How? They created Savant, an online portal for students where they can participate in group class discussions, read assigned books and materials, complete assignments and receive push notifications for upcoming deadlines. No books necessary.

Student of all backgrounds need STEM and computer skills to be successful in today’s high-demand careers. Programs such as the Lenovo Scholar Network give underserved students access to the skills needed to prepare them for STEM careers. As the program enters its second year, 20 new academies are working with Lenovo, NAF and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (using its App Inventor program) to learn STEM skills and, ultimately, develop their own applications.