Building Things that Work
I think the best way to understand how something works is to try to build it yourself.
I like coding because almost all technology and apps are created by coding. By learning coding, I can actually make my very own app. When I create something myself, it feels very special because it is my own creation, not something made by someone else.
Coding is also very intriguing because there are so many things you can do with it. You can make a ball move on the screen, create buttons, and make the buttons do many different functions.
阿李二学华语
Ariel Learns Chinese App
Role: UX Designer
I have always found Chinese really hard. The characters would not stay in my head. I kept wondering whether I was the only one who felt this way.
That question bothered me enough that I decided to do something about it. My dad and I sat down together and built an app. Version one was simple: an easy way to revise and review Chinese words on the go, so I could practise anywhere without needing to carry flashcards around.
Try it here: https://ali-er-xuehuayu-v1.netlify.app/
But I kept asking why I forgot things even after studying them. That was when I came to know Hermann Ebbinghaus and his forgetting curve. He discovered that our memory fades at a predictable rate, and that the best way to fight it is to revisit what you have learned at exactly the right moments.
So the second version of the app will remind me to revise after one day, three days, and seven days. Words I get wrong go into a review list and cycle through again until they truly stick.
I designed this for myself because I needed it. But if it works for me, I know it will work for other students who have felt that same wall.
That is the part I am most excited about.
阿李二学佳句
Ariel learns Chinese Phrases
Role: UX Designer
This app started because my Chinese composition was not very good, and I needed a solution. My dad thought that if I learnt more useful phrases, I could improve my composition. But there was another problem. After some time, I would forget the phrases because of the forgetting curve.
So my dad and I decided to create an app to solve this problem. During that period, every day, we learnt one good Chinese phrase and added it into the app. Over time, I managed to collect and practise many phrases. The app helped me revise them again and again, so I would not forget them so easily.
That was when I realised coding is not just about making things move on a screen. It can also be used to solve a real problem in my own learning.
My design process began on a piece of paper:
National Robotics Competition 2024
In 2024, my younger sister and I competed in the National Robotics Competition under the theme Water Heroes.
We called our project Soak it Up: Sponge Cities. We started by asking a real question. Cities like Beijing draw so much water from the ground that the soil beneath them collapses and compacts. Beijing sinks four inches every year. When it rains heavily, the city floods. We wanted to understand why, and what could be done about it.
Our answer was sponge cities, urban areas redesigned with green spaces, permeable surfaces, plants and natural drainage so that the earth can absorb water again instead of letting it run off into floods.
We also proposed making rainwater harvesting compulsory for homes above a certain size, so that households could meet their own needs without drawing further from the ground.
Then we had to build a robot. We planned it together, drew rough models, chose our roles, selected parts, assembled the robot, and then spent hours writing codes. We used modular coding and built in error handling so that the robot could manage multiple sensors and motors at the same time.
Our journey begins only
by making the robot move
along a fixed track.
Apps Built on MIT App Inventor
I built these apps using block coding on MIT App inventor.
Alien Shooting Game
Features a blue robot navigating a world of aliens and a villain, dodging, fighting back, keeping score.
Pokemon Catching Game
Throwing a Pokeball at Pikachu
Bumper Car game
Set on a grassy field, you steer a blue car to collect stars while avoiding trees