Marking its second year, Swift Explorers Singapore (SES) stands as a seven month long app development program, arranged by Crescent Girls’ School in collaboration with the esteemed education partner, Tinkercademy. Their combined efforts have been at the forefront of empowering young learners with digital literacy skills and fostering a passion for coding, spanning from primary school to junior college students, achieved through the utilization of Swift, Apple’s exclusive coding language.
The 2023 Swift Explorers Singapore edition witnessed an impressive participation of more than 60 schools and thousands of enthusiastic students. This year’s SES saw participation from Pathlight School, Singapore’s pioneering autism-focused school, and International School UWSEA joining alongside the local public schools.
Pathlight’s app prototype, named iSight, highlighted the prevalence of childhood myopia in Singapore that affects around 65% of 12-year-old children. The purpose of the app is to identify early signs of eyesight problems in young people and facilitate timely treatment. The app features include a colour blindness test, visual sharpness assessment and eye care tips to maintain eye health.
While Dunman High School’s submission, named Peace of Mind, focuses on how journalling has long been established as a powerful tool for improving memory, mindfulness and communication. Tapping on “Mind Palace” method, this app reimagines a new alternative to journaling. In this app, user can add customisable objects into their virtual home and link them to their memories and journal.
Jurong Secondary School’s notable submission, Marty, was developed to help migrant workers learn English to help them better integrate into the community. The app teaches common English phrases and enables workers to connect with peers who share similar experiences. Pre-made flashcards are also available to facilitate the learning of new phrases.
The apps presented diverse themes, focusing on Personal Wellness, Student Education, Environment & Sustainability, and supporting minority communities. Many teams displayed their creative prowess by hand-drawing their entire suite of digital visuals using Procreate or Keynote, infusing their projects with artistic flair beyond coding.
Throughout the past seven months, students from 20 schools dedicated their efforts to transform app prototypes into fully-functional applications, with some teams comprising students as young as 11 years old. Additionally, there was a strong emphasis on enhancing the technical proficiency of teachers in schools through various professional development workshops on coding, which received enthusiastic response from educators eager to learn and upgrade their skills.
