Bebras wins Informatics Europe 2015 Best Practices in Education Award
The winner of the Informatics Europe 2015 Best Practices in Education Award announced during ECSS 2015, Vienna, Austria is the Bebras "International Challenge on Informatics and Computational Thinking".
@Photo From left to right: Judith Bishop, Microsoft Research, Wolfgang Pohl, BWINF, Valentina Dagiene, Vilnius University and Carlo Ghezzi, Informatics Europe. © Faculty of Informatics, Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien)
The Award, organised annually by Informatics Europe and sponsored by Microsoft Research, was presented at a special ceremony held in Vienna, Austria, during the 2015 European Computer Science Summit, where the award winner commented the impact and results of their project. The project was submitted by Prof. dr. Valentina Dagiene (Vilnius University, Lithuania) and dr. Wolfgang Pohl (BWINF, Germany) on behalf of the Bebras community.
Bebras is an international initiative organising an easily accessible and highly motivating on-line contest to promote computational thinking with teachers, pupils and the general public. Founded in Lithuania in 2004, it has grown rapidly to attract over 900,000 participants in 24 European and nine other countries around the world. “The Bebras community was selected for the tremendous success the project has seen in increasing awareness and encouraging positive attitudes towards Informatics at school across many countries,” comments Steve Furber, Professor at the University of Manchester and Chair of this year`s Award Committee. Click here for more information on the project.
The Award winner was selected from ten outstanding award nominations. “We have been particularly impressed by the quality of the nominations and the vibrant and diverse initiatives they describe aimed at promoting Informatics in schools”, mentions Steve Furber. Honourable Mentions were given to two further projects:
- The ALaDDIN working group in Milano, Italy, also part of the Bebras community. Click here for more information on the project.
- The PLAN C (Professional Learning and Networking in Computing) project in Scotland. Click here for more information on the project.
The winner and honourable mentions were selected by a prominent team of international experts in an evaluation process that ran from March to August 2015.
About the Informatics Europe Best Practices in Education Award
In line with its mission to foster and promote teaching quality in Informatics, Informatics Europe presents the annual "Best Practices in Education Award". The Award recognises outstanding European educational initiatives that improve the quality of Informatics teaching and the attractiveness of the discipline, and that can be applied beyond their institutions of origin.
The 2015 award program focuses on initiatives promoting Informatics education in primary and secondary schools. “Microsoft is proud to be associated with this initiative." says Judith Bishop, Director of Computer Science, Microsoft Research. "Involving children in all aspects of computing early on is the best way to ensure that they will continue in the discipline as a career.”
Visit http://www.informatics-europe.org/awards/education-award.html to learn more.