IIIT- Hyderabad to conduct annual Student Technology Education Programme

NEW DELHI, MARCH 27: IIIT-Hyderabad will be conducting its annual Student Technology Education Programme (STEP) for school students in Grades 7-10 between 7 May – 1 June 2018.

The goal of the program is to spread the concept of computational thinking within the larger community. The computational thinking is the thought processes involved in formulating a problem and expressing its solution(s) in such a way that a computer—human or machine—can effectively carry out.

With a strong focus on computational thinking, the program will equip young minds with fundamental computational skills that are increasingly pertinent in today's world.

This unique outreach program by IIIT-Hyderabad is the first of its kind and a harbinger of the institute's goal for spreading the concept of computational thinking within the larger community.

Computational Thinking is a fundamental mental skill, which should be ingrained in a child as early as possible. The STEP curriculum has been designed to help build logical thinking, problem solving and analytical skills through theoretical as well as hands-on sessions.

These programs are based on the premise that whichever career the student chooses to pursue later in life, computational thinking will be an essential element.

Majority of the sessions will be conducted by IIITH faculty as well as some visiting faculty. The institute has also tied up with Sciensation, a Hyderabad-based outfit that specialises in after-school initiatives that focus on learning by questioning and problem-solving in a unique manner.

The success of this School Outreach activity is visible in how children who’ve participated in the program have been able to use computational thinking in all aspects of their development, and some of the former students have performed very well in and qualified for the National Olympiads.

Admission to the course is open to any student who meets the age criteria on a First-Come-First-Serve basis. The only prerequisite is an interest in analytical thinking and a desire to develop such a thought process.

For middle school students (Grade 7-8), the course (Computational Thinking and Applications, CTA) will be introductory in nature and deal with applications of CT. The course material has been developed based on the curriculum of Code.org.

For high school students (Grade 9-10), the Computational Thinking and Problem Solving (CTPS) course is exploratory in nature, dealing with various aspects of how CT can help in problem solving.

All students will receive a certificate at the end of the course. Classes start from 7 May -1 June 2018.