Dutch Fork Student Creates Hot Selling Android App!

By Robert S. Jackson, Ed.S., Assistant Principal for Instruction

Do you need a calculator to help you with those formidable Physics problems? Well, a Dutch Fork High School Student has an app for that! We’ve heard that phrase over and over again on those entertaining, yet engaging advertisements seen on televisions and youtube world wide. That crave has now come to Dutch Fork High!

Through a rigorous, problem -based curriculum at Dutch Fork High School, one student has decided to take the difficult step and brave the new world of application development that has been popularized by the likes of Apple® and Google®. “Through the inquiry-based research process, students at Dutch Fork High School are encouraged to be creative in their thought processes, analytical in the discovery methods, and innovative in the problem resolution phase. This is the only way that we will create the next wave of scientists and engineers that will compete globally in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics related careers."

Tyler Vincent (a senior computer science student at Dutch Fork High) has developed an application that will help students enrolled in Physics classes conquer those complex problems. He began with the questions; is it possible to design, develop and implement an Android app that would prove useful to both physics teachers and students? And if so, what would be the function of such an application?  In order to find the answers to these questions, the first and most obvious step would be to research previous examples of physics applications.

Keeping those points in mind and following his research of similar product designs, Tyler developed an application entitled the “Physics Formula Calculator.” This application allows the user to maneuver through 71 physics formulas, as well as trigonometric functions and the Pythagorean Theorem for dealing with components in physics. Tyler states “Whereas the usefulness of a reference app is lost after the material is memorized, a calculator will always be needed when completing physics problems.” This app is intended to be used for those calculations, with the goal of making homework quicker for a learning student and the process of grading papers more accurate for teachers.

Teachers and students interested in this app can find it on the Android Market or  on any Android Phone by searching Physics Formula Calculator by Vincent Programming. Both LITE and full versions are available.