Celebrating 10 Years Engaging Students in STEM Learning
Attention Georgia Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Teachers!!
Registration ends Feb. 10, 2012
Earn Scholarships for your Students and Money for your Supply Budget!
Download the Web Challenge Template
In this year’s challenge, each team will build an application of their choosing (simple game, tutorial, etc…) that will teach other students a topic of the team’s choice related to science, technology, engineering or math (S.T.E.M) in a new and engaging way. Teams will develop a Web-based application optimized for use on a mobile device. Students should use a systems development process that is typical of a real-world development, on a smaller scale, developing plans and tracking progress in the planning, constructing, testing, and implementation phases of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
· Mobile Website – Develop a website optimized for use on a mobile device.
· Marketing Challenge – NEW in 2012 – Teams will have the opportunity to market their site with the most success receiving a new scholarship award
· Develop a site to teach a STEM related topic – Subject of each team’s site must be related to teaching a topic related to Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) to a specific age group of students.
Participation Criteria
· Teams will consist of 2-4 students and must have a primary contact person.
· Each team must represent a school or approved school organization; home school and after school programs are welcome.
· A faculty advisor must represent each team. This may be anyone who represents the school organization.
· Students from different schools may participate on a single team (in this case the “primary” school will be the Faculty Advisors school
· Faculty advisors may represent multiple teams from the same school.
· The teams’ web solution must be accessible via the Internet for use and for evaluation by the judges.
· Teams entering the Marketing Challenge must include a counting mechanism in their solution.
What is the difference between a Mobile App and a Mobile Website?
A mobile website is similar to any other website in that it consists of browser-based HTML pages that are linked together and accessed over the Internet (for mobile typically Wi-Fi or 3G or 4G networks). The obvious characteristic that distinguishes a mobile website from a standard website is the fact that it is designed for the smaller handheld display and touch-screen interface.
Like any website, mobile websites can display text content, data, images and video. They can also access mobile-specific features such as click-to-call (to dial a phone number) or location-based mapping.
Resources
One of the key learning objectives of the WEBChallenge is for students to identify resources and learn new tools. Teams are encouraged to seek additional tools and resources to complete their entry. Faculty Advisors and other resources are also encouraged for collaboration and training purposes. The best results have come when the Faculty Advisor can provide direction and training for the students. However, students are expected to be held accountable for completing all aspects of their project.
There are a wide range of tools, resources, and technologies that will support the design of an application. Your WEBChallenge team is allowed to only use resources and tools that they currently have or resources they can get for free. Teams must include a listing of all resources used to complete their website
Each team is responsible for providing hosting of their site throughout the Challenge and Judging period. Teams are expected to forward a single link that leads to all of the information submitted by the due date. No changes are allowed after submittal of the link. The Link must be available during the entire Judging and Award times. Any team needing assistance with hosting their application should contact mrobertson@tagonline.org for assistance.
Award Categories and Judging Criteria
The ‘Best Concept’ will be judged on the following elements:
· Description of Concept – Complete description of the Application.
· Does the Application work? Can the intended audience and judges operate the site as designed?
· To what degree do the learning concepts provide the greatest educational benefit to the target audience?
· Functional Design – Did the team create a challenging Functional design and make it work on a mobile device?
The ‘Best Implementation’ will be judged on the following elements:
· Originality of Content – Implement original content (learning/training materials) including, but not limited to, graphics, animation, images, etc.
· Effectiveness of Learning - How well can a student of the intended age learn the material that was presented? Present any performance data that the team has gathered in the development phase.
· Full Realization - The solution clearly meets the objectives stated in the Application Goals.
· Complete Implementation - The implementation is complete and fully functional.
· Interface Design – The solution shows appropriate and effective use of tools used. The solution has appropriate interactions, content and navigation.
· The Judges evaluation of the scalability to implement the Application across a Broader Audience.
'Best Documentation Package' will be judged on the following elements:
· The application submitted must be Operational.
· Completeness
· Quality and Clarity of the writing
· Spelling and Grammar will be considered
· Ease of Use for an inexperienced person to participate in the Application with only the Documentation Package.
‘Judges Prize’ will be based on Judge’s view of the Overall Creativity of the entry.
'Successful Marketing Award' will be based on a quantifiable metric during the marketing period.
‘Grand Prize’ will be based on the Judge’s view best overall entry.
Rewards
· Over $150,000 Awarded – Since the inception of this program over $150,000 has been awarded to students. The size of awards in 2012 will be determined by the size of the Scholarship Pool.
· Student Scholarships – Student Scholarships will be awarded to winning teams for post secondary studies. Scholarships will be awarded by team and all students on a winning team will receive an equal portion of the award. Payments will be made directly to the post secondary institution where the student is attending in the student’s name.
· Teacher Stipends – Faculty Advisors of winning teams will receive a stipend for their supply budget. Payments will be made to the educational institution the Advisor represents in the name of the winning team. Advisors are responsible for providing payment information.
MORE INFORMATION:
WEB CHALLENGE GUIDELINES:
Download the 2012 Web Challenge Guidelines
CRITERIA:
- Teams will consist of two to four student team members and each team must have a primary contact person.
- Each team must have a name.
- Each team must represent a school or approved school organization; including home schools. Students from different schools may participate on a single team (in this case, a ‘primary’ school needs to be designated).
- Each team must be represented by a Faculty advisor. This may be anyone who represents the school organization.
- Faculty advisors may represent multiple teams from the same school.
- The Team’s Web solution must be accessible via the internet for use and for evaluation by the judges.
TIMELINE:
- Registration ends Feb. 10, 2012
· Marketing Challenge February 10 – Noon, February 29, 2012
· Finalists Announced March 5
· Awards Program week of March 19 Location TBD
