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CODE4FUN 2018 Christmas Coding Challenge: Code Your Own Interactive Resume
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Kids from as young as six have started shaping our world with technology,
and they’re loving it.
The 2018 CODE4FUN Winter Coding Challenge proves the next generation
of children are leading the way out of the classroom and creating their own
bright future.
This year’s coding challenge was My First Business App Prototype, a challenge
designed to introduce students to the world of startups, and encourage them to
think as entrepreneurs and change-makers. After months of hard work, 212
students from 26 schools across Sydney submitted their business app
prototypes. This year’s impressive creations included virtual retail stores,
games, time management apps and even a digital wallet to manage cryptocurrency.
The challenge was won by three students – Ava McCann from Wenona School
in North Sydney won with her time management app. Sophia Gionis from
Maroubra Junction Public School won for her virtual cupcake store, and Oliver
Bone from Birchgrove Public School also won for his gaming app. The three
winners each took home a laptop and the top 30 coding students were invited for
an exclusive tour of Australia’s Google Headquarters.
“I love the freedom of coding,” says 11-year-old Ava, who has been attending
CODE4FUN Programming School for three years. “You can do whatever you
like, make whatever you like, be whoever you like!”
“Coding is the most important skill you can have at the moment,” Ava says. “Just
about every job in the future is going to involve coding.”
Coding is increasingly being seen as the ‘4th literacy’ that can be applied to any
industry. As Australia transitions to a knowledge and ideas economy, giving kids
confidence and knowledge through programs like CODE4FUN is an essential
and important part of equipping them with the skills they need for the jobs of the
future. According to the Digital Careers organisation, students need experience
and skills in computational thinking and computer programming (coding), to be
successful in their future careers.
“I’d love to work with tech and software when I’m older, or maybe become an
architect,” says 12-year-old Sophia. “The things I learn through coding classes
can help me in whatever job I decide to do.”
Co-Founder and Director of CODE4FUN, Grigory Punanov says, “CODE4FUN
challenges are designed to get the kids thinking differently. They test their ability
to be creative and inventive, to build business ideas that solve real-world
problems. We are so proud of the prototypes submitted by our students and
would love to see even more kids channelling their passion and energy for
technology into ideas that can change the world!”
About CODE4FUN
One of Sydney’s first coding schools for kids, CODE4FUN has been giving kids
from as young as six the opportunity to express innovative thinking and creativity
by building games, stories and apps. Working with schools and education centres,
CODE4FUN offers coding courses in over 28 locations across Sydney.
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We are excited to announce the results of our Winter Coding Challenge 2018: ‘My First Business App Prototype’.
Our students were encouraged to make their first step into the World of Startups. We wanted them to think as Inventors and Entrepreneurs, and being ready to launch their first business and change the world!
The main goals of this challenge were to:
– Expand our students’ Design Thinking
– Enhance their Creativity and their ability to Invent new things
– Teach our students how to define a problem, find a solution and (this is the most challenging part) how to turn an amazing idea into a working App prototype.
This challenge required a lot of brainstorming, coding and testing. We wanted our students to go through a real software development cycle and to see what an Iterative or Agile software development approach really means.
After 12 weeks of a very hard work, 212 students from 26 schools submitted their business app prototypes. You are very welcome to check out all the projects in the Scratch Studio here: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/4831739/.
All students did very well. We are very excited to see how creative and innovative our students are, what problems they decided to solve, and what solutions they offer.
The Cakery. Bakery Management App
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/212660772/
Coding Teacher: Declan Dwyer (Scratch Intermediate Course)
Thinkchrinicity. Classes Schedule Matching App
Ava is keen to develop her App further, therefore has decided to un-publish her project at this stage).
Coding teachers: Andrew Diggins (Unity 3D course) and Jesse Clark (Crypto Currency Course)
Platformer Level Maker App
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/211423190/
Coding Teacher: Jonathan Serebro (Snap! and Scratch Advanced Course)
Art Stuff. Drawing App
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/223986449/
Bit Cash. Bitcoin trading app
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/207647841/
Do List. Time management app
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/211698021/
What pet to buy app
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/207459488/
Homework making app
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/209843344/
In addition, our top 30 coding students received an invitation to visit Australian Google HQ on 2nd August. This is a very exciting opportunity, and we believe our students will enjoy and learn from that excursion a lot. Parents of the invited students will shortly receive a separate email with all the details.
A big thank you to all CODE4FUN Winter Coding Challenge participants, who put a great effort and submitted their amazing projects. Very well done to all of you!
Keep on coding! We strongly believe that students’ progress much faster when they start practicing coding themselves at home and applying all the skills they learn in class by coding their own projects independently.
