NTNU led middle school students to attend MIT AI & Education Summit
A team of Taiwan junior high school students designed the “No Waste App”, which recently stood out and won the Best Design Award at the MIT AI& Education Summit which is an international competition organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S. This app is designed to help local farmers reduce food waste and fully demonstrates Taiwan's outstanding achievements in information technology education.
Subsidized by the Department of Information and Technology Education in the Ministry of Education for the Taiwan App Regional Competition, Prof. Ting-Chia Hsu of the Department of Technology Application and Human Resource Development in National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) led a team of outstanding middle school students in the Hackathon to share their achievements with the youth masters of App Inventor from many countries.
NTNU led the “Bobi App” team, which was composed of two students, Cheng-Tse Lin and Kai- Jung Chou, under the guidance of Ruei-Fu Hong from Longshan Junior High School in Taipei City. Moreover, the “No Waste App” team, which was composed of three students, Shih-Chen Yang, Keng-Jui Lin, and Shih-Ting Yang, under the guidance of Chih-Chao Yang from Luodong Junior High School in Yilan County. They were the representatives of Taiwan to visit Boston, the United States, to compete for this international information and computer education event on July 24th to 26th.
The summit had an attendance of up to 350 people. In addition to student representatives from Japan and South Korea who shared their Apps, Taiwan's 'No Waste App' team stood out among representatives from Ireland, Brazil, Hong Kong, India, and other countries on July 25. Led by Teacher Chih-Chao Yang, students Shih-Chen Yang, Keng-Jui Lin, and Shih-Ting Yang won the Best Design Award, bringing glory to Taiwan.
The judge who questioned them were from UNESCO, and the students responded fluently in English. An audience member from the United States specifically mentioned that the No Waste App would be very helpful in the U.S., while another American researcher from the MIT App Inventor Group, Evan, expressed his intention to use Taiwan's No Waste App as an example in his speech next month, thereby increasing Taiwan's visibility.
The 'No Waste' App was primarily designed using 'MIT App Inventor.' It aims to help local farmers prevent food waste. The team members frequently saw reports of food waste issues on the news, and had classmates whose families grew crops but couldn't effectively sell them, leading to many unsold agricultural products. The team hopes this app can help reduce carbon emissions, achieve zero food waste, and assist local farmers in solving their problems.
The competition was extremely challenging. The students had to demonstrate the system's functionality in English within a limited time before contestants from various countries. After the presentation, they had to answer questions from the judges, also in English. Student Keng-Jui Lin mentioned that the most difficult part of creating the app was 'multiple coordinates.' Although he referred to relevant literature, such resources are relatively scarce domestically. Therefore, he had to extensively review foreign literature and past project designs, which required significant effort in collecting data to solve real-world problems.
Student Shih-Ting Yang stated that to make the app more user-friendly for farmers, they needed to continuously conduct user interviews. However, since many farmers are older and primarily speak Taiwanese, communication was a major challenge. Through this Taiwanese hackathon and the international presentation competition, he also learned many communication skills.
Student Shih-Chen Yang mentioned that practicing for an international presentation is very challenging for junior high school students. This was the first time they had to use English entirely to present the system's functionality. Within the limited presentation time, they had to showcase the best and most useful aspects of their programmed work. Therefore, continuous improvement was necessary to achieve a perfect performance during the presentation.
After passing the preliminary selection in Taiwan, they qualified to participate in a two-day, one-night hackathon at a concentration camp. Following the hackathon, they advanced to the international presentation competition and attended a training workshop. This journey brought many benefits to the participants. Student Keng-Jui Lin stated that the Hackathon competition after the preliminary selection was the most serious and dedicated activity he had participated in over the past year. During the two intense days of the hackathon, he was constantly focused on thinking about how to improve the app to make it better and more complete. Even during lunch breaks, he and his teammates continuously brainstormed. In the relay-sharing session, while creating the presentation, he recalled the journey from the early stages of team formation to the opportunity to present in the United States. Through sharing the report, he recounted many moments of preparation with his teammates, which brought a great sense of accomplishment.
Student Shih-Ting Yang mentioned that during the competition, he constantly thought about how to make the user interface look simple and clear. It was important not only to present the content clearly and comprehensively but also to ensure that the judges could understand what the mobile application aimed to convey. Student Shih-Chen Yang stated that through this series of competitions, his presentation skills became more confident, and his programming skills improved significantly.
Teacher Chih-Chao Yang believes that during the period from team formation to competing abroad, the students' initiative and enthusiasm significantly improved. The students became more capable of solving problems independently. This competition not only developed their ability to solve programming issues but also further cultivated their skills in addressing problems in their everyday lives, using their abilities to help those in need.
During this international presentation competition, all the students attended the summit with full focus, striving to showcase their best selves. They received much applause during their presentations. The students also shared and exchanged ideas with international peers through the promotional materials they designed and created to represent Taiwan. This summit activity is believed to inspire the students to continue advancing in the field of technology.
The PI and leader of Taiwan team, Ting-Chia Hsu, stated that in the past, senior high school students had more opportunities to participate in international information technology competitions. Now, junior high school students can also join international competitions and share their experiences, gaining practical experience in information technology and English communication. This would thank to the partnership established between the Ministry of Education and the App Inventor Foundation for the 112th academic year, which jointly selected and nurtured students, supported and subsidized this participation in the MIT AI & Education Summit in Boston.
Students' Presentation Video: https://youtu.be/Qom_67JmF6A
Award Ceremony Video: https://youtu.be/Ten7aGuzJOE