Using MIT App Inventor in an Emergency Management Course to Promote Computational Thinking

At Jackson State University (JSU), an innovative module has been developed and integrated into an existing “Emergency Management Technology” course. This course module involved four faculty members. Faculty from several different departments (Computer Science, English, and Technology) developed teaching materials for the module. Through this course, students have opportunities to explore the exciting world of computer science from the perspective of mobile computing. This course module is part of a project, Computational Thinking as an Approach to Refining the Critical Thinking and Analytical Reasoning Skills of Undergraduates, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of the project is to develop new courses and course modules to broaden participation in computing. This course module is designed to use MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) App Inventor to introduce mobile application (app) development concepts. Students are required to design apps which can use be used before, during, and/or after an emergency. MIT App Inventor is a drag and drop programming tool that enables users to create applications for Android devices. MIT App Inventor makes mobile app development highly visual and highly intuitive. MIT App Inventor can engage students in developing not only fun and useful apps, but also in logical thinking skills, problem solving techniques, and creativity. The students found MIT App Inventor to be very accessible and quickly learned how to develop their own apps. MIT App Inventor can allow students without any background in information technology to see computing concepts in a context that is of great interest to them.