Short coding course for junior cycle pupils

ST GERARD’S school in Bray and Glenart College in Arklow are participating in ‘Junior Cycle Coding in Action’, a collaborative initiative between Intel Ireland; Lero- the Irish Software Research Centre, and Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT), a Department of Education and Skills support service. The two-year initiative is designed to support schools and teachers in their introduc- tion of the short course in coding within their junior cycle programme.

The County Wicklow schools are two of 50 doing the short course across the country. As part of the two-year programme, Intel will donate 500 Genuino 101 development boards across participating schools. The boards, geared to learning environments, are powered by the Curie microchip developed by an Intel Ireland design team.

This donation is supported by both online and elective training events for participating teachers, including an intensive workshop for teachers held recently in the Intel Ireland campus in Leixlip. ‘ This is the biggest involvement by post-primary schools since we began the programme of support for schools interested in including the coding short course at Junior Cycle,’ said Clare McInerney, education outreach manager of SFI-backed Lero.

‘175 schools applied which reflects the growing appetite and enthusiasm in developing teacher and student skills in the vitally important area of coding.’