Bebras beckons
IF you have been following this column you will have read of the importance placed on Computational Thinking and the necessity for students to develop skills in the organisation and analysis of data.
These are skills that facilitate a student’s ability to develop solutions to open-ended problems through the development of a series of ordered steps (or algorithms).
Computational Thinking is one of the three pillars of the Digital Technologies Curriculum along with Design and Systems Thinking that have been identified as essential for the development of computer applications. Sean Anthony is a UTAS journalism student.
It is also a skill that supports problem-solving across all areas of the curriculum, in particular maths and science.
The Bebras Challenge is an international initiative that has been running for a number of years, supporting and promoting Computational Thinking.
It runs in more than 30 countries with the aim of supporting teachers and students to develop their understanding of computing through a series of online challenges.
In just under a fortnight the challenge will be opened for teachers to engage their students in this important learning area of the curriculum.
This is an engaging and valuable resource and runs for two weeks from August 28 to September 8.
Queensland educator Sarah Hobson has been recently appointed as a member of the International Committee to further develop the Bebras Challenge, providing a perspective and voice for Australian educators and students.
Teachers are able to register as a co-ordinator for their school or class in preparation for the challenge which can be held at any time over the fortnight of the event.
The challenge is comprised of a set of 15 questions delivered online in the classroom.
Students have 45 minutes to complete the challenge in one sitting. The questions can be answered without prior knowledge about Computational Thinking or ICT.
To solve the tasks, students are able to work alone or as part of a team and are required to “think in and about information, discrete structures, computation, data processing, and algorithmic concepts.”
Each Bebras task can both demonstrate an aspect of computational thinking and test the talent of the participant.
Tasmanian schools have been very active and supportive of the challenge in recent years. Per head of population, Tasmania has one of the highest participation rates nationally.
The benefit for teachers is the identification of the computational thinking skills of their students that may not otherwise be demonstrated in other areas.
Teachers can also introduce their students to Computational Thinking using the Bebras 365 Challenges from previous years.
As this is not a competition but a challenge where students can collaborate, this is a unique opportunity to engage in an essential component of the curriculum. In Australia the Bebras Challenge is managed by the CSIRO.