Think it.
Sketch it.
Make tech useful.

Say: “Tonight you’re the designers. Your job is to make one small problem easier for a group—not to build the fanciest app.”

1. Minute 0–1: Explain the goal and agree on respectful turn-taking.
2. Minutes 1–4: Ask pairs: “What is one everyday job technology makes easier?” Invite two or three examples.
3. Minute 4–5: Form patrols and assign the first reader, sketcher and speaker. Roles can be shared or changed.

Transition: “Before designing something useful, let’s make a few good digital decisions.”

1. Minutes 5–6: Explain that each patrol chooses an answer and a reason; this is discussion, not a speed contest.
2. Minutes 6–11: Run the three-question quiz below. Allow about a minute per question, then discuss the explanations.
3. Minutes 11–12: Ask: “Which choice might be hardest to make in real life?”

Paper option: Read each question aloud and have patrols hold up one, two or three fingers. Leader answer key: 1 → B, 2 → A, 3 → C.

Transition: “A useful app needs good decisions built into its design.”

Setup: Write “Input → Rule → Output” on the board. Use an invented packing helper.

1. Minutes 12–14: Explain: input = a choice entered; rule = what happens next; output = the result shown.
2. Minutes 14–17: One Scout chooses “rainy” or “dry” as the pretend forecast input. Another reads the paper rule: “If rainy, add a rain jacket to the checklist; otherwise show the regular checklist.” A third writes the output. Rotate roles.
3. Minutes 17–19: Ask patrols to invent another input, rule and output for their chosen challenge.
4. Minute 19–20: Invite one example and ask whether the rule is clear enough for someone else to follow.

Leader note: This is a simplified logic exercise, not live weather advice or an actual packing plan. Provide a written or spoken role for anyone who prefers not to act.

Transition: “Now put a useful rule behind a screen you design yourselves.”

Mission: Design a simple app that helps a fictional patrol choose a campout activity and see a packing checklist. Use invented examples, not real trip details.

1. Minutes 20–23: Agree who the app helps and one problem it solves. Give the app a name.
2. Minutes 23–30: Sketch the paper screen or screens. Label the buttons and what happens when someone chooses one.
3. Minutes 30–34: Add one input → rule → output example. Decide what information the app does not need.
4. Minutes 34–36: Test the paper app: a Scout from another patrol points at a button; your patrol shows or describes the result.
5. Minutes 36–38: Prepare a 90-second demonstration. Rotate the speaking role if useful.

Starting scope: One paper screen, three buttons and a clear next step.

Facilitator prompts: “What happens next?” “Can someone understand this without your explanation?” “Could you do this without a name or location?”

Finished artifact: A paper prototype, a simple rule and a short explanation of its purpose. This meeting does not produce a deployed app.

1. Minutes 38–39: Ask patrols to show the problem, one button and the result, then explain one privacy choice.
2. Minutes 39–48: For up to six patrols, allow 90 seconds each. If there are fewer patrols, use the remaining time for questions. For more than six, use simultaneous paired demonstrations and rotate partners.
3. Minutes 48–50: Each patrol receives one “This was clear…” and one “I wondered…” observation. Give feedback on the design, not the person.

Participation options: Demonstrate by speaking, pointing, reading a prepared note or asking a patrol partner to present.

Transition: “Good designers use feedback to make one thing better.”

1. Minutes 50–52: Choose one observation from the demo feedback.
2. Minutes 52–55: Revise one part of the prototype: clearer button wording, readable contrast, a spoken alternative or less information requested.
3. Minutes 55–57: Trade with a neighboring patrol and ask whether the change helped.

Leader prompt: “If someone had difficulty reading the screen or using a small button, what could you change?”

Transition: “Explain the one change you’re most glad you made.”

1. Minutes 57–59: Invite one sentence per patrol: “Our app helps ___ by ___, and we improved ___.” Ask Scouts to name a good digital decision from the evening.
2. Minute 59–60: Recognize teamwork and thoughtful revisions, collect materials and use your troop’s usual closing.

Optional next meeting: A leader can choose a fictional concept to develop further or invite a technology professional to discuss how prototypes become working software. Do not publish children’s work or identifying details without your organization’s appropriate permissions.