[Yr7-10it] Python coding competition for Australian High School students

[Roland Gesthuizen]

This sounds  interesting .. particularly the part where they will teach you
programming with Python for free as you participate. Go for it! :-)

Regards Roland

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Paul Reid <paul at paulreid.id.au>
Date: 2008/7/28

Has this come up b4? If not it should have! http://challenge.ncss.edu.au/

I'd say this coding competition would be of interest to students interested
in a career in the IT industry.  Google in particular uses Python for many
tasks including the backend of it's web apps.  This would be a engaging way
to give students with an interest in programming an introduction to Python -
an extremely good career kick-start IMHO.

The Challenge is being run by the School of Information Technologies, at the
University of Sydney as part of the ACS National Computer Science School
(NCSS).

*Learn to program in Python while you compete!*

The School of IT at the University of Sydney is running a programming
challenge for high school students over 5 weeks in term 3, 2008.

For 5 weeks starting on Monday, July 28, we will email you a short Python
tutorial containing the information you will need to complete the week's
programming challenges. If you would like to take part, please register.

Unlike existing competitions, the NCSS Challenge is designed to cater for
both beginners and advanced students. Each week, a set of Python teaching
resources for either in-class or *self-directed learning* will be
distributed to participants via email and online. A set of challenge
questions testing this material will also be distributed. Each week's
challenge set will range from relatively easy to extremely challenging
*allowing
beginners to progress at their own rate* whilst extending gifted students.
The challenges will increase in complexity as more and more programming
concepts are covered over the 5 weeks.

The Challenge is *unlike any other programming competition because we will
teach you how to program as we go along* rather than expecting you to be an
expert coder already. However, if you are a seasoned coder, we have
something for you too because the problems will range from relatively simple
through to mind-bendingly hard.

For 5 weeks starting on Monday, July 28, we will email you a short Python
tutorial containing the information you will need to complete the week's
programming challenges. If you would like to take part, please register.

The NCSS Programming Challenge will run from Monday 28 July 2008 to Monday
25 August 2008.

ELIGIBILITY
   1. The challenge is open to all primary and secondary students in
Australia, including students studying via distance education and home
schooling.
   2. All entries must be individual: no team entries are permitted.
   3. Results of the NCSS Programming Challenge will be taken into
consideration in assessing applications for the National Computer Science
School (NCSS).

It's $11 per student.  Registrations here:
http://challenge.ncss.edu.au/accounts/register/

Have fun :-)
Paul

http://paulreid.id.au


-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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