Springdale Elementary Students Create District’s First 'App'

Jayden Eursery, 9, front, and Devin Gill, 9, both fourth grade students in EAST at Sonora Elementary School, look over code they worked on Friday, Aug. 30, 2013 at the school in Springdale. The pair and a few others in EAST are developing a smart phone app for the school.
Jayden Eursery, 9, front, and Devin Gill, 9, both fourth grade students in EAST at Sonora Elementary School, look over code they worked on Friday, Aug. 30, 2013 at the school in Springdale. The pair and a few others in EAST are developing a smart phone app for the school.

SPRINGDALE — Devin Gill, 9, wants to work with technology when he grows up and is getting a head start by helping create a smartphone application with information about Sonora Elementary School.

Four students in the Environmental And Spatial Technology program at Sonora started working on the application Aug. 26, said Josh Worthy, the program’s coordinator. Two fifth-graders worked in Photoshop to design a visual layout for the program. Two fourth-graders are writing HTML and Java Script, two different languages that work together to make the application function.

“The kids know how to make it look pretty,” Worthy said. “Now they’re getting to the coding.”

The technology career field is expanding rapidly, he said. Educating students about technology at an early age will help make the future work force more proficient.

“It’s going to be a major demand in any business,” he said. “Someone’s going to need to know script and coding.”

At A Glance

What It Means

• HTML: Also known as hypertext markup language, programmers write HTML to create the visuals and elements of a program or application for people to interact with.

• Java Script: What programmers write to create interactive elements in a program or application. Java Script can’t function without being combined with HTML or some other computer programing language.

• Script: The instructions programs and applications used to perform a desired action.

• Code: The programming language that computers interpret in order to perform actions.

Source: Staff Report

Employment in computer systems design is projected to grow by 3.4 percent every year between 2010 and 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website. All industries together are predicted to grow by 1.3 percent over the same period of time.

Students who have more opportunities to get involved in activities related to science, technology, engineering and math are more likely to work in those career areas, according to an April 2012 report by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee. Employees in these industries also earn more money than those in some other industries.

Devin said he wants to be an application developer when he grows up. Learning to create a smartphone application now could help him prepare for a career in technology.

At A Glance

Sonora Elementary Smartphone Application Contents

• Bus routes

• Lunch menus

• Calendar of school events

• Program for parents to make meal payments

• GradeBook for parents to check grades

• School and teacher contact information

• Parent Teacher Association information

• Access to Facebook

• Access to Twitter

Source: Sonora Elementary School Environmental And Spatial Technology program

“If I learn this early, I can build video games in junior high or high school,” he said.

It’s good to teach students about technology at a young age, Worthy said. Such as languages, HTML and Java Script are easier to absorb in elementary school than in junior high and high school.

“They’re already thinking in script,” he said.

Many people hire companies to design and code smartphone applications, which can cost thousands of dollars, Worthy said. Application design will cost nothing for Sonora because students are doing all the work.

The only cost will be to license the application so it can be sold to the public, Worthy said. He doesn’t know how much that will cost, but said the students will need to either raise the money or ask Sonora’s Parent Teacher Association for help,

The application is made for parents and is designed to have a red background with the school’s owl mascot. Students working on the program haven't decided whether they will charge anything for the application, Worthy said. They're going to send out surveys to parents asking what they would be willing to pay to have the program on their phone.

This will be the first smartphone application created for a Springdale school, said Rick Schaeffer, communications director for the School District. Students hope to have the application available to the public by Christmas, Worthy said.

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