Students Learn by Applying Concepts to Real-World Needs

A group of Pattonville High School students have launched an app they created for use by parents, students, staff and community members in the Pattonville School District.

Students in Jeremiah Simmons' Computer Science Capstone class at Pattonville High School have been working since last summer to develop the app. Under Simmons' direction, the students worked with district officials as clients to develop an app that works on iOS and Android smartphones.

Students in the class who helped create the app are Mustapha Barrie, Kevin Bowers, Keturah Gadson, Ethan Holtgrieve, Mitchell Skaggs, Nathan Skelton, Micah Thompkins and Josh Zahner. 

The students used survey data collected by the Pattonville community relations department, along with their own primary research, to develop an app with features that would appeal to a variety of users. The students created a communication tool for the district that other school districts have developed using industry providers, usually costing thousands of dollars.  Read here full article

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The app features news that can be customized for the user, district and school calendars that can be customized for the user, the ability for a user to add dates from the app to their device calendars or "pin" a favorite event on their app calendar, push notifications, school menus, school flyers, PowerSchool access, Moodle (online learning tool) access, a staff directory, and school and district websites.

As of June 1, the app is available for download from the App Store for iPhones or Google Play store for Android phones.
Computer science courses have grown at Pattonville High School due to student interest – from one class in 2013-2014 to seven sections this year. The high school offers two courses in Project Lead the Way's (PLTW) nationally recognized computer science program, Computer Science Principles and Computer Science A. This year, the school added Computer Science Capstone class to its offerings, and students can also take an AP (advanced placement) computer science course. Computer science classes were also added to the middle school curriculum and for a district-wide fifth-grade, project-based learning classroom that was piloted at Holman Middle School.

Source: The St. Louis American