Inspiration
We are always looking to help educate the future generation using the knowledge given to us. We took ideas found on https://www.nasa.gov/stem where NASA gives at-home activities based on grade ranges and decided to make this a bit more accessible and easy to use by converting it into an app format that kids or guardians could use.
What it does
In an app format it welcomes the user referring to them as an "Astronaut Candidate" to help students feel like they are building towards their future at NASA. They then choose their mission which relates to which grade group they are in, Satelite Mission is k through 6, Moon Mission is Grade 5 - 8, and Mars Mission is Grade 9 - 12. After this they choose their location in the mission, this is actually which kind of activity they would like to do whether it be math-based, crafts, etc. It also displays the percentage complete of activities in the group. They are then presented with thier list of assignments which are their activities to complete. If they have already completed it then it is marked as complete. Once one is chosen a summary page is presented with a list of materials, the estimated time it will take, a picture, and a summary. Once they hit begin then the step-by-step activity commences!
How we built it
We built it in SwifUI using XCode and saved all the activity data in JSON files.
Challenges we ran into
The challenges we ran into were figuring out how to read the JSON files and how to build the app in the best way to be engaging. The group consists of all varying levels of developers from new to entry-level iOS and so it took a lot of work to find documentation to help us understand errors or what to do to successfully build this app.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
The biggest accomplishment we are proud of is our knowledge gained. As stated earlier, we are all different levels of developers. This allowed us to share knowledge through the group to help build each other's skills in iOS development. We pair programmed to teach side by side how to resolve errors and others watch tutorials on how to develop iOS. We even shared knowledge about what JSON files were how they are built and the tools out there that could help us build them. We went into the hackathon wanting to learn as much as we could and we are happy to say that we accomplished this goal.
What we learned
We learned iOS development from how to think about app layout planning and the options associated with it to actual development. This includes debugging and the tools we could use to debug even deeper. We also learned about JSON files, what they are, the best ways to build them using public tools, and how to read them into an app.
What's next for Astronaut Candidate
What's next is to continue working on the pages in the app and cleaning up the UI to be more engaging. We feel that students could really benefit from having an educational and fun app like this and all it takes is more work to get the app done and distributed to the community.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.