A tech start-up is helping children turn coders, and what they are creating for your kids to use and be smart and aware, will blow your mind.
Hirranya Rajani's app helps you learn sign language. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
In 2018, Karan Bajaj, ex-CEO of Discovery India founded WhiteHat Jr., an educational-tech startup to help kids, aged six to 14, build online games, animations and apps. All of this by teaching them the fundamentals of coding and algorithmic thinking. "As a father of two daughters, I believe in the incredible power of early childhood learning. After reading a fair bit on the subject from MIT and TUFTS, I found that kids who code, see themselves as creators very early on, and start to view life as a giant playground of experimentation," says Bajaj, who has received $10 million in funding for his company. Here are four of the most successful apps that his team of young thinkers have created for you to check out for your kid.
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Sign Aide
Creator: Hirranyaa Rajani, 7
Rating: 5
This bright kid developed an app to learn sign language. "I am empathetic towards the differently-abled since my brother is confined to a wheelchair. Once I saw two hearing impaired persons communicate, and I was intrigued by their hand gestures. This gave me the idea to create an app so that anybody, whether differently-abled or otherwise, can learn sign language," she says.
How it works: Once logged in, the user can enter the said word. The app picks up the alphabets and shows him/her the sign language equivalent for that word.
Rocket Simulation
Creator: Siya Narale, 9
Rating: 5
Siya Narale's app helps kids understand space technology
ISRO's launch of Chandrayaan 2 and the active involvement of women scientists and engineers in making the mission a success inspired Siya Narale from Nagpur to create a rocket simulation app. She wanted to help kids her age understand space technology. "I hail from a family of science buffs. My father works in artificial intelligence, and my grandmother has a PhD in science. When I shared the idea with them, they encouraged me to create the app," she says.
How it works: The app allows students to play around with various parts of the rocket and assemble it in the correct order. They can learn about each part's functional role and what the rocket does after landing on the moon or planets.
Book Barter
Creator: Vihaan Khera, 9
Rating: 5
Vihaan Khera's app is for like-minded readers to connect and exchange books
You can never have enough books. And, Vihaan Khera knows it too well. It's the reason why he decided to create the Book Barter app for Android devices. "The school library is not adequately stocked, so, I end up buying too many books. That is when I decided to create an app, which will help like-minded readers connect and exchange books. It's an effective way to save money and the environment," he says.
How it works: Once you register, you can choose to either offer or borrow a book. This is followed by filling in basic information about the book along with a picture, which is saved in the database. The user can click on the book's image, requesting to borrow or exchange it with another person. The app then prompts them to send an email to the lender.
Light Bag
Creator: Jishnu Baruah, 14
Rating: 4.2
Jishna Barua's app helps students and teachers assess the weight of the school bag
Lugging heavy backpacks to school is torturous for children, and parents who worry for them. This was a long-standing problem for 14-year-old Jishnu Baruah from Assam. "We had to carry all books, whether we needed them or not. My aim was to get our teachers to reduce the load," he says.
How it works: Once the teacher logs in, s/he can share the names of books required for the day's class. Both students and teachers accordingly estimate the weight of the bag. The app notifies the teachers about what the students feel about the estimated weight via images, enabling them to decide whether to go ahead or reduce books.
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