[This is one in a series of blogpost about the need for a greater focus on science and maths education in our schools. For more you can read: "Australia: from the consumers to the creators of technology".]
At the end of my first year of study (back in the distant past of 2004) I was invited to help tutor at a camp for high school students. The National Computer Science School Summer School is a week-long intensive course that brings talented young people to develop their computer programming and website development skills.
Many students who have a passion for computer science are often just part of a small group at their high school. At smaller or regional schools, they may be the only one. This NCSS Summer School aims to help by giving students the opportunity to network at a national level as well as super-charge their skills.
For me, camps like NCSS are an unparalleled opportunity for students. They provide a well-tested framework for building interest and finding like-minded people for them to work with. Over the years of being involved in the camp, I’ve seen students grow their high-school curiosity into studies at university, and then into reaching their career or research ambitions.
Google has a long history of supporting the NCSS and initiatives like the summer school. In addition to financial support we provide significant in-kind support through Google engineers participating as tutors, site visits and more.
In August, the NCSS, in conjunction with the University of Sydney, will hold a programming competition. The NCSS Challenge is open to school students across Australia and New Zealand (in fact, you can take part from anywhere).
The five-week Challenge involves being sent instructions to code, but it’s unlike any other programming competition because it’s designed teach students how to program along the way, rather than expecting you to be an expert coder already. Seasoned coders will also be catered for with advanced tasks. Google has been a long time supporter of this initiative and registrations for the NCSS Challenge are now open. You can sign up here.
Many engineers at Google have a passion for helping people understand computer science. Initiatives like NCSS are an excellent opportunity for us to share this passion - I only wish I was aware of it when I was in high school!
Posted by Nick Cooper, Engineer, Google Australia and volunteer tutor at the National Computer Science School.
