Pine Rivers students rise to coding challenge
Students from Samford State School have been named as winners of the 2019 Premier’s Coding Challenge.
Luis Satrustegui is the Years 3/4 Open Platform champion, and Philip Kienast and Harper Wohlsen won the Years 3/4 Open Platform team.
Twenty-four students across Queensland shared $10,000 worth of robotics and electronics prizes either as individuals or members of teams.
Coding is essential in the development of websites, apps, games and computer software and is the act of creating step-by-step instructions, informing a computer of what it needs to do.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk praised the digital literacy of the next generation of Queenslanders.
“Digital literacy is a skill that is essential to equip our students to successfully navigate the emerging economies of a globally connected world,” she said.
“For the students of today, and for all Queenslanders, cybersafety is a critical element of our online engagement.
“That’s why the 2019 theme, #cybersafeqld, builds and expands on last year’s Stand Up to Cyberbullies competition message.
Member for Pine Rivers Nikki Boyd MP said that she was thrilled to see Luis, Philip and Harper’s skills recognised, and congratulated all students for their participation.
“This is the third year of the Premier’s Coding Challenge, which goes from strength to strength,” said Ms Boyd.
“The inaugural challenge in 2017 attracted 140 registrations. That increased to 257 in 2018, and this year entries were almost triple that at 762.
“That’s a tribute to our schools’ implementation of the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies, and students’ enthusiasm for the subject.
“This coding challenge is just one initiative in our Advancing education action plan, which equips our students with the skills they’ll need for jobs of the future.”
For more information including the list of winners visit the #codingcounts website, https://advancingeducation.qld.gov.au/codingcounts.
Detail:
Years 3 to 4 – Open Platform Individual Category Winner: Luis Satrustegui of Samford State School
Luis has used the Unity platform to create a prototype quiz to help users improve their cyber safety.
His initial user interface shows areas for future development to assist users in navigating their way through learning how to be safe online. We look forward to seeing how this prototype may be developed further into a student accessible application to promote cyber safety.
Years 3 to 4 – Open Platform Pairs Team Category Winners: Team safetycrew – Philip Keinast and Harper Wohlsen of Samford State School
Philip and Harper have used the Unity platform to create a prototype quiz to educate and inform users about cyber safety.
They used nested decision-making and relevant student contexts to create a way for users to select what personal information to post online. We look forward to seeing this prototype developed further to support and engage more users about cyber safety.