THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW ENDED.
We are running our first pan-Wales virtual Game of Codes programming competition. The competition will allow pupils to develop their problem solving, communication, and teamwork skills while improving their knowledge of computer programming in a fun and inventive way.
The challenge is to create a piece of software following the theme of Education of the Future. Examples could include robots to replace your teachers, apps to help people with learning difficulties, Scratch games to teach Maths, a world in Minecraft to teach us History, or something that helps us learn in a fun new way.
Your software must have an original design that could be in the form of a game, website, app, quiz or animation. Any coding language can be used to create the software e.g. Scratch, Python, Java, Visual Basic, App Inventor or HTML, and you can make use of the Raspberry Pi or BBC micro:bits that you may have in your school.
During the build-up to the competition, groups in your school class, pupils from your local primary school or your entire Technoclub can contribute to the development of your software. However, for the competition final, you will need to nominate a team of two to six people from the school who could attend the final competition and prize day. It is important that this is a mixed ability group. Only team entries can be accepted into the competition and all team entries must provide a teacher (or club leader) contact and have the support of their school, before entering. There is no limit to the number of teams a school can enter into the competition.
Remember when creating your software, it is essential to consider the following:
- Is your software innovative? Will people want to use it? Can you access similar software on the market? What makes your software different? Why would someone want to use your software?
- Who is your software aimed at and how will you target them? For example, if your software game is targeted to teenage girls, how will you make sure they want to use the software?
- Does your software look fun? Be creative!
Team entries are made up as a PowerPoint presentation and cover the following:
- Name of the project
- Aim of the project
- Team members
- How did you create the software (e.g. what language did you use)?
- Include evidence of your software e.g. screenshots, software file or photographs of the final product
- Design of the project (What did it look like before you started coding? Did you have any characters? How did you decide what the project was going to achieve?)
- Reflection (How did you make decisions as a team? Discuss the responsibility of each member of your team. What steps did you take to make the software? Did you make any changes, if so, what changes did you make? What did you learn when creating the final project?)
Applications are now open and completed entries should be emailed from the teacher’s registered email address to gameofcodes@technocamps.com with the subject line ‘Technocamps Game of Codes Competition’ no later than 4pm on Friday 26th March 2021.
Shortlisted teams will be invited to attend the Virtual Game of Codes Competition prize day hosted by School of Computer Science and Informatics at Cardiff University at 4-6pm on Thursday 22nd April 2021, where each team will be given the opportunity to showcase their entry to academics and special guest judges. The best entries will receive Amazon vouchers and goodie bags, and every team will receive a Certificate of Attendance.
For any advice, questions or support on the competition, contact the team on gameofcodes@technocamps.com