Update - December 2016: The Youth Apps Challenge program is currently on hiatus. This time off will allow us to develop a new, longer-term funding structure for the program and ensure that we have a sustainable approach moving forward. As soon as we have more information to share about the future of Youth Apps, we will post details here.
In the meantime, please continue your committment to introducing young people to coding and building their computational skills. FIRSTWashington (https://www.firstwa.org/) has great programs that expose, engage, and excite young people ages 6-18 in science, technology, engineering, and math skills. Others like Girls Who Code, Techbridge, and TEALS may operate chapters in your communities - so please explore these otions.
Thank you for inspiring Washington youth to explore computational thinking, computer science, and hands-on problem-solving. We look forward to working with you in the near future.
Youth Apps Challenge Teacher Resources
The Youth Apps Challenge provides students with an opportunity to gain computer science and entrepreneurship skills through app development. The Technology Alliance offers curriculum, training, and resources that enable teachers to help students develop apps as part of an in-school course or an after-school or summer program.
Curriculum
Through the Youth Apps curriculum, students gain hands-on experience in computer science, entrepreneurship, and business by developing their own app. Teachers can attend training to offer curriculum on the app development process, including; 1) Idea generation and screening; 2) User and market research; 3) Prototyping and wire-frame development; 4) App programming; and 5) Pitching the app for a competition.
Programming concepts are taught through use of Scratch and MIT’s App Inventor tools, which are free. App Inventor can be used to create apps for Android-based devices. The curriculum is mapped to Computer Science Teaching Association standards and the Common Core Standards for Math.
Check out the curriculum here and additional resources in the Youth Apps Dropbox.
Supplementary Resources for Teaching App Inventor:
Columbia Basin College Instructors Tym O’Brien and Debbie Wolf developed this short App Inventor course to help teachers get a deeper understanding of App Inventor. Concepts covered include: Event-Driven Programming; Input, Variables and Conditions; Texting and Location Sensing; Informational Apps with Multiple Screens; Procedures; and User-Generated Data (TinyDB); and Web Apps.
App Inventor 2 Tutorials on Vimeo
These short videos demonstrate individual App Inventor capabilities such as Text to Speech; TinyDB; TinyWebDB; Spinner; ListPicker; and ListView.
Training
The Technology Alliance builds teacher capacity to teach app development to youth. Middle and high school teachers can sign up to receive a full-day of training to lead the app development process with their students. No programming experience is required. If you are interested in teacher training, please contact apps@technology-alliance.com.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Become a Youth Apps Challenge sponsor!
Contact apps@technology-alliance.com or 206-389-7261 if you are interested. Benefits of sponsorship include company recognition and logo visibility.
Sponsorship and donations are tax deductible.