Students develop an app for an Android device that utilizes its built-in internal sensors, specifically the accelerometer. The goal of this activity is to teach programming design and skills using MIT's App Inventor software (free to download from the Internet) as the vehicle for learning. The activity should be exciting for students who are interested in applying what they learn to writing other applications for Android devices. Students learn the steps of the engineering design process as they identify the problem, develop solutions, select and implement a possible solution, test the solution and redesign, as needed, to accomplish the design requirements.

The Engineering Design Process has been such a crucial part of STEM education for the past few years. With schools pushing to become more engaged and involved with problem based learning, the design process is seen as a great starting point. In this content package for upper elementary grades, educators will find lesson plans and ideas on how to teach the design process, eBooks and digital texts with some studies on how to implement design thinking, ready-to-use activities and interactives to encourage real-world learning for students, and videos and multimedia to help students visualize different applications of the Engineering Design Process.