As technology is changing every year, students can take classes to participate in this movement by learning how to create things dedicated to computer programming.

At Elk Grove High School, a Mobile App Development class is currently being offered based on the iOS operating system for iPhones and iPads in which students study computational skills. This class is especially hands on for students because of the availability of the iPads.

The school partnered with the company Mobile Makers to create the course. This company uses expert instructors through videos to demonstrate and discuss how to build iPhone and iPad apps. The videos are short and no more than about seven minutes.

“The focus of programming and computer science is computational thinking. A big part of that is working with algorithms, [which are] step by step instructions how to solve a problem,” Mobile App Development teacher Kristen Fisher said, “So, in general, the whole course is focused on problem solving, and to solve problems and communicate with the computer we need to use language. The language that the students are using is Swift.”

They write code- a set of instructions- and train the computer what to do based on that language. Students could write many lines and lines of code just to create one app. The bigger and more complicated the app, the more code there is.

Freshman Eric Pfister explained that, in the Object Library, “[There] are precoded objects that are supported by the iOS, like the iPhone and iPad. [You] drag them into apps, link them into your code, and then use them within your code.”

Students build a different app each unit. An app that the students have created so far is the tip calculator. Students can input the bill at a restaurant and the app calculates the tip percentage or a tip recommendation. One of the students’ favorites is the Tic Tac Toe app they made, where two people can play against one another or the computer and it keeps score.

Right now students are learning to create a design layout called a tableview. It is a design layout that is used by Facebook, Twitter and almost any other app where they list statuses. For example, voicemails listed in an iPhone have the tableview layout. In this specific design, students can add different the names of cities, like for example Chicago, to a list and then edit, delete, and reorder them. A lot of code went into this as well, and it helps the students learn the basics of the tableview design layout.

“You have to go through a licensing process with Apple to get it on the App Store,” Pfister said. “To test

it on the iPad, there is a way to do it, although it’s very complicated.”

This is all training students to develop strong computational skills in which they could later on transfer to pick up another language in the software development world.

“I could give the students a problem and I don’t tell them how to do it. They figure out how to solve it using the skills they learned in class,” Fisher said.

In its first year, the class has students eager to learn what could contribute to what they choose as a career path. “My guidance counselor told me about [this class] because I told him I was interested in computer science,”

junior Ayla Bretana said. For her future, she wants to do exactly what they do in

the Mobile App Development class. “I was always really interested in computer

programming and my brother told me about this class,” freshman Daeveion Rivera said.

Rivera said he might want to “go into app development” in the future, and he wants to focus on developing “games, mostly.”

For most of the students, it’s their first exposure to programming.

There are also kids who have made apps on their own to benefit the school. For example, a few students worked together to develop an assignment notebook for phones from Buffalo Grove High School.

For anyone who wants to begin learning about computer programming, this class can help them begin developing into what they want to be later in life. This class is also beneficial for anyone, because it teaches computational thinking.

“Every student should be learning it. Whether they want to be a nurse, physicist or engineer, everyone should have exposure to computer science,” Fisher said.

A big theme in the class is grit. Grit is a personality trait that has to do with passion and motivation. It is when students overcome obstacles in the curriculum, never give up and keep asking questions.

“Everyone can be successful, but you have to have grit,” Fisher said.

There is discussion of possibly creating an app development course based on the Android system or adding it to AP Computer Science.

“I think in the next few years, you’re going to see a lot of students creating apps, not only the ones we do in class, but that could help other students at their school, help clubs and activities [and] help the community,” Fisher said.