This exciting event was supported by established technology sector companies the Raspberry Pi Foundation and ARM. The children tried out Scratch, Python, Sonic Pi, Minecraft and BASIC on Raspberry Pis and historic machines from the 1980s. Each child had a coding ‘passport’ and at the end received a free Raspberry Pi computer, courtesy of Google, to enable them to develop their coding skills at home.
“What a great event! It was so encouraging to see so many young people sharing and enthusing about computing and the code they were creating,” said Lance Howarth, CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. “In a world where technology plays an increasing part of our daily lives, we feel it’s vitally important for all our children not only to be competent users of technology, but also to have an appreciation of how computers work. With the introduction of the new national computing curriculum** in September of this year the event was a great opportunity to talk to parents and teachers to help build their confidence.”
Image: Mike Fish, Headmaster of Over Primary School, and Suzanne Oliver of ARM, who co-organised the event, with some of the Coding Extravaganza participants.
* Local schools involved in Coding Extravaganza: Over Primary, Histon and Impington Junior, Oakington C of E Primary, Fen Drayton Primary, Swavesey Primary, Cottenham Primary, Swaffham Bulbeck C of E Primary, Orchard Park Primary, St Luke’s C of E Primary, Girton Glebe Primary, Hatton Park Primary.
** See the changes to the Computing Curriculum from September 2014
The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a registered educational charity (registration number 1129409) based in the UK. Our Foundation’s goal is to advance the education of adults and children, particularly in the field of computers, computer science and related subjects. See our website (www.raspberrypi.org) for more information about the Foundation’s charitable work.
The Centre for Computing History is a pioneering educational charity and computing museum that opened in Cambridge in 2013
(www.computinghistory.org.uk). Its core purpose is to increase understanding of developments in computing over the past 50 years
through exploring the social, cultural and historical impact of the Information Age. It is open Wednesdays to Sundays, from 10am to 5pm.
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For further details contact Elaine Symonds on elaine@computinghistory.org.uk or 07733 179293.
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