“Trash Ball”
Finalist
Creators: Matthew & Shauna
Middle School Students from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ I.S. 27 Anning S. Prall
Type of Project:
- Game Design,
- Social Media
Themes of Project:
- Education/Schools,
- Environment/Sustainability,
- Entertainment
About this Project:
Our app addresses the problem of kids being stuck inside and trash being all over the place.
The reason we created this app is because a member of our team was walking in the park and they looked around and they saw trash everywhere. Then they also saw kids on their phones in the park! This is when our idea for Trash Ball began. Our team wanted to get kids outside but off their screens. Did you know that middle school students spend over 7.5 hours a day looking at a screen? Trashball is here to fix this problem.
Our app is Trash Ball
Our app gets kids outside while making it fun and cleaning the world. Just to add that little bit more fun you can compete with friends. The way we get kids outside is by asking for proof of cleaning up trash.
TrashBall started as just a game but then we added a point system and an effect the app does. The tools we used were figma and our computers.
It would help kids go outside and help clean the world
Project Media
Slides
Video
Share this project:
Twitter
FacebookCommunity Feedback:
Fun
Innovative
Helpful
Great Design
Makes Me Think
Feedback from the Judges:
👏 Associate Professor, Art & Design at Kutztown University — Emoti-Con Judge
I love the idea of combining a game AND trash pickup! I agree this would help students engage with their community more actively and in a positive manner. I wonder if the leaderboard could also be broken down by neighborhood or zip code? That way users can see their impact on both a large scale (the earth) and a small scale (their direct community). Great job!
👏 IT Infrastructure Support at ArcherPoint — Emoti-Con Judge
Even the most boring ( but necessary) tasks could be turned into fun when it's a game...and you want to beat your friends. I see a bright future for you as game developers. I love the concept and your presentation. I think you would benefit if you rewarded recycling with more points to teach its importance, but other than that, you did a great job!
👏 Senior Software Engineer at Gusto — Emoti-Con Judge
This is an excellent idea. Making social work fun helps not only solve issues but also gives the joy of doing that social work. Y'all are also making the social work gamified which also helps with retention of the users. It has a great social impact as well as mental health impact. Two of the most important issues currently.
👏 CEO at Girls Who Hack — Emoti-Con Judge
This app is an amazing idea that tackles multiple problems at once! It's very reminiscent of the Pokemon Go app that was popular a few years back. Taking some inspiration from that game, adding a map portion on the app would be a useful tool! It could highlight areas in the kids towns that have more trash than others, allowing them to tackle the bigger problems first. I also wanted to mention just how great your team is at public speaking! You truly made this an enjoyable project to view.
Feedback from the Community:
👏 a Middle School Student from Staten Island
Amazing spin on using technology to get kids outside and off technology!!
I love it!
I love it!
Ms. Sepulveda 👏 a Teacher from NYC DOE
What a fun way to give back to the community while having fun =)
Ms. Zaki 👏 a Teacher from NYCDOE
Love this concept! A a motivating and fun way to get children to care for the environment.
JOHN 👏 a Community Member from NY
This is the best app i have ever seen I can't believe you guys did this with just 2 people in the sixth grade. Bravo Bravo i hope you win. amazing love that you're getting kids outside and making it fun. AND cleaning up the world.:]
Ms. Haire 👏 a Teacher from NYC, DOE
I love that this uses technology to get kids outside and help out in their own communities, great idea!
Thank you for your support! Comments are closed for this year. Join us to look forward to next year's projects!