AppJam+ Fall 2015 Showcase Finale Recap & Results!
November 19, 2015
AppJam+ Fall 2016 Showcase Finale Recap & Results
December 1, 2016AppJam+ Spring 2016 Showcase Finale Recap & Results
The 1st ever AppJam+ Spring 2016 Program concluded on the evening of June 1st with the Showcase Finale Event featuring presentations by 12 teams from 3 different program sites this year at the Newkirk Alumni Center at UC Irvine.
AppJam+ is a program in which the concept of building software in a short period of time is used as a tool to excite and inform middle school students about STEM fields while teaching them the creative and hands on technical process of mobile application development & exposing them to careers in STEM.
AppJam+'s partnership with Wells Fargo continued for Spring to create the the Wells Fargo Financial Literacy Challenger Category. Students in teams were challenged to create an app that teaches banking and finance concepts to students in grades K-6 . Using the financial literacy curriculum available through the Wells Fargo Hands on Banking for different age groups, students were challenged to play around with the curriculum & use the existing content to develop a mobile application that teaches one or more concepts related to the online financial literacy hands on banking website.
AppJam+ partnered with Wells Fargo, Kay Family Foundation, Time Warner Cable & OC STEM Initiative. The University partners in 2016 included the UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, UC Irvine Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Saddleback Community College. The catering partner for 2016 Spring was Gina's Pizza in Irvine.
Bringing together nearly 70 middle school students from Doig Intermediate Boys & Girls Club of Garden Grove, Rancho San Joaquin Middle School in Irvine and Harbor Day School in Corona del Mar, the showcase featured 12 team presentations with the following teams coming out on top in the friendly competition & a new fan favorite award this year!
App Name: Cash Kings Mentor(s): Ashley Cuatepotzo, Danny Magsalin
Team Members: Jack Johnston, Shaan Sakraney
App Description: Cash Kings is a game about saving money. You have to do chores to make money, you can buy mini games that are fun. The chores have questions related to economics and money. Ultimately, the goal is to learn how to make money and learn how to spend it wisely.
Technical Components Used: We used databases to store money throughout the application. We use lists to hold questions. And we used animations to help bring our app to life.
App Name: Lost Unicorn of the Sea
Mentor(s): John Shipley
Team Members: The D., Kelly Y., Hang K., Caillou K.
Watch their video: https://youtu.be/cE6GRImgt2k?list=PLe7HqHmnC6br6nytbQClx3eV-hmAP058f App Description: A lost narwhal tries to find its way back home while overcoming obstacles and learning about the sea. With the help of Snappy the crab, the young narwhal will learn about the sea it grew up in, its fellow creatures and be guided how to escape the evil gang of sharks preventing it from rejoining its family.
Technical Components Used: Music and audio effects, touch and fling, gyroscope, accelerometer, moving sprites, internal list arrays and on-flash database. Additional Comments: The team overcame a shortened timeframe due to holidays and spring vacation, multiple team member turnover and time stealing required extracurriculars to create this heartwarming app of a young narwhal overcoming obstacles to find a way home.
App Name: Oland the Slayer
Mentor(s): Cristian Galindo
Team Members: Vishnu R., Ambarish R. , Avery K., Carly Z., Katherine M.
App Description: Oland is a teenager that lost his family so he had to go live in the caves. He noticed that there are scary dangerous monsters in the caves. He decides that he wants to destroy these monsters so that they never reach the village on main ground. He uses chemistry potions and weapons to be able to defeat the monsters.
Technical Components Used: Data base, Custom Images, Canvas and Image Sprites, Notifiers, Sounds
App Name: Earth Explored
Mentor(s): Arash Nase, Gillian Bendicio
Team Members: Ayden N., Max L., Isabel G., Lukas H.
App Description: Earth Explored is an adventure/puzzle game where you are an explorer and you are journeying down to the center of the earth. Each layer of the Earth, from Crust to the Inner Core, will have a STEM related problem and you must answer it correctly in order to move forward. Each layer will have a different problem so you would never get bored! This app guarantees that you will learn new things from Math to Science to even Health. The creators are also confident that you will have fun while playing this app.
Technical Components Used: We used database, orientation sensor, timers, and audio.
Additional Comments: The creators wanted the game to be as original as possible. They made original buttons, the game logo, the molecules in one of the problems and the drill image. They also made the riddles in one of the levels. Each level will contain a different puzzle, so this app has 6 different mini games plus a bonus fun facts page!
App Name: Unidragons
Mentor(s): Jonathan Yuen
Team Members: Nidhi Desu, Shaina Wang, Jay Vitela, Anjaly
App Description: Learn time and money management while building your dragon farm!
Technical Components Used: database, graphics, sound, touch screen, persistent timer events
Additional Comments: while the app may not seem extremely technologically advanced, behind the scenes, the kids have nicely designed the app's backend
Each year the level of technical sophistication and depth of design that the students achieve in their apps is astounding & greater! The movies, presentations & posters students make in support of their app improve each year, as well as the breadth of technical skills the students learn in the areas of game design, graphic editing tool, and sound editing. It boggles our minds that they do all of this in the span of 8 to 10 weeks!
Thank you all for your support of a program that not only helps participants gain technical skills and knowledge of possible STEM career paths but also increases each participant's belief in themselves and their aptitude for a career in STEM fields.
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