Technovation Challenge is an international app developing contest held in San Francisco. The purpose of the contest is to motivate girls in primary school, high school and university to code, to show them that coding is not for men only and to find solutions to local problems. In the finals, the first 10 groups among approximately 3000 girls from 28 different countries will have the chance to present their apps in Silicon Valley and the winner will receive $10.000 to develop their application.
The main reason why we participated in this competition is to find solutions to current problems in our country by using technology. This project not only increased students’ social awareness but also made them closer to technology. They had the chance to become familiar with the increasing popular occupation of today and learn coding skills. We started this project with 3 girls who have different interests and it lasted for 12 weeks. They participated each session by giving up their time to stay after school.
The app we developed at the end of 12 weeks is for women who are being abused or harassed. In this project, our students brainstormed to find a common problem that women encounter and they developed an application to help solve it. After designing each screen of the app, they started coding. In this coding part, our students worked like professionals and a perfect product has been produced. They worked carefully both for the app and business plan. We have sent all expected materials to Technovation Challenge and we are excited to see the results. However, regardless of the results, what our students have gained from this project is invaluable and we are excited for the coming projects. We thank everyone who supported us during the project.
