project-proposal.md

Project Proposal

Critter Club: A Science Learning App for Kids

What tech stack will you use for your final project?

Postgres-Express-React-Node

Is the front-end UI or the back-end going to be the focus of your project? Or are you going to make an evenly focused full-stack application?

Full-stack

Will this be a website? A mobile app? Something else?

A website designed with a mobile-first approach

What goal will your project be designed to achieve?

To help students learn science content in a fun and engaging way

What kind of users will visit your app? In other words, what is the demographic of your users?

Students in grades 2-5

What data do you plan on using? How are you planning on collecting your data?

• Parent data (username, password, first name, last name, email) will come from form submission
• User data (username & password) will come from form submission, then build as users collect cards
• Basic animal data will come from Animals API
• Animal photos will come from Unsplash API
• Animal videos will come from YouTube API

What does your database schema look like?

What kinds of issues might you run into with your API?

• For the Animals API:
  • There is only one endpoint for each animal
  • The keys are not consistent within the data
• For the Youtube API:
  • Search requests are costly against the quota limits; I'll need to figure out a way to stay within the quota while accessing the data I need

Is there any sensitive information you need to secure?

Each user will have a username and password that will be stored securely. I would also like to set up safe and child-friendly signup and login practices

What functionality will your app include?

A parent will be able to:

• Create an account
• Be informed about the app their child will be using
• Get an access code that will enable their child to create an account The user will be able to:
• Create an account
• Log in and out
• Search for information about animals
• Answer questions about animals including classification, habitat, characteristics, etc.
• Collect cards for successfully answering questions
• Earn badges and status based on the number of cards they collect

What will the user flow look like?

What features make your site more than a CRUD app? What are your stretch goals?

• The interactive nature of the challenges and the opportunity to earn cards takes it beyond being a basic CRUD app. Stretch goals include:
  • Avatars that users can select from, scaled according to their player status level
  • A feedback feature where users can interact with each other in a safe and positive way (i.e. thumbs up, "great game", etc.)
  • Inclusion of a geolocation API so that the animal habitat data displays a map instead of just text
  • A parent portal that allows parents to check their child's progress
  • A teacher portal that allows teachers to track student progress