The Computational Thinking Through Mobile Computing project, funded by NSF Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM, is pleased to be invited to host a workshop at SIGCSE this coming March. More information on this 3-hour hands-on workshop on App Inventor 2 will be forthcoming.

In August 2013, teachers gathered at the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center for an App Inventor Boot Camp: a 4 day workshop geared on teaching teachers about App Inventor and computational thinking. In this hands-on workshop, educators built their own apps and explored how to integrate app programming and computer science principles into their curricula in computing, technology, science, and math classes.

During Summer of 2013 thousands of young Chicagoans will continue learning while school is out, thanks to the Chicago Summer of Learning initiative, which will focus learning activities around science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The City of Chicago teamed up with the MacArthur Foundation and Mozilla to be the first city to pilot a citywide digital “badge” system that visually represents and rewards students’ achievements. These badges are earned by completing activities in various pathways available from the Chicago Summer of Learning hub site. App Invention using App Inventor is one of these pathways.

I recently teamed up with CS teacher Kristin Violette to write an article for the July issue of CSTA Voice. In the article we chronicle how Kristin's students at Newtown High School in Connecticut have used App Inventor to forge a personalized connection between CS and their local community. Kristin and I will be presenting at the CSTA Annual Conference in Quincy, MA on July 16th. We hope to see you there!