Distracted? At KMS, there's an app for that

Students envision app that limits their own surfing during school hours

By Ted Hayes
Posted 12/13/17

Armed with their own laptop computers, Kickemuit Middle School students literally have the world at their fingertips. But a group of 13 of them has fared well in a statewide contest by trying to find …

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Distracted? At KMS, there's an app for that

Students envision app that limits their own surfing during school hours

Posted

Armed with their own laptop computers, Kickemuit Middle School students literally have the world at their fingertips. But a group of 13 of them has fared well in a statewide contest by trying to find a way to limit computer surfing on class time, which is becoming a stubborn issue at the middle school.

This Wednesday, students in the school’s “Think Tank” team will find out if their idea for a computer-restricting app, which limits the functionality of computers and cell phones during classroom time, is good enough to enter the next phase of “Solve for Tomorrow,” a national competition sponsored by Samsung that encourages students across America to solve real-world issues using their writing, science, technology, engineering, art and math skills.

If they win the Rhode Island portion of the contest — they’ve already placed in the top four student teams in the state — they’ll head to regional competition and perhaps even the finals, where finalists compete for a $150,000 technology prize for their school.

The contest encourages middle school students to solve problems familiar to them, and Kickemuit obliged. For the first time ever this year, every student at the middle school was given a Google Chromebook at the start of the year. Though the computers help with assignments and coursework and are used extensively during the day, they have proven to be distractions too irresistible for many kids to refuse:

“Usually I will be making music” on the computer during class, student Odin Goudreau said. “That’s not that cool in the middle of a class. I’ve been called out many a time.”

But the app, Evan Fournier-Swire said, would change all that:

“When you go longer than five minutes, it’ll block” access, he said. “It’ll keep us on track better.”

“So you can’t go on Youtube and stuff like that,” said Odin.

There are 13 students in the group, and all bring different talents to the table. Some are skilled in computer coding while others have stronger art, English and math backgrounds. It took the collective effort of all to come up with their idea for the app. If they win the local competition and continue on in the contest, the next step will be to start coding the app, work on an advertising campaign and collaborate with Samsung, which would send a film crew to the school to film them at their work.

Mary Cabral, a Kickemuit English teacher who is overseeing the students’ work, said she’s proud of them. While it might seem odd for students to come up with a way to restrict their own surfing habits, she said students came up with the idea on their own and ran with it.

“The students were seeing this as a problem since this is the first year they’ve had the computers. It’s easy to get sidetracked. The thought was, how do they manage to maintain access to the information they need but curb their entertainment options?”

Meet the team

Students on the Solve For Tomorrow team include Odin Gaudreau, Evan Fournier-Swire, Rebecca Oliver, Allyson Devine, Eva White, Alice Grantham, Aditi Mehta, Mickayla Ricks, Abigail Heroux, Mikayla Hudon, Kristiana Cabral, Chelsea Goodman and Jacob Perry.

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.