What is the Young ICT Explorers Competition?

Young ICT Explorers is a competition for school students to produce their best Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) related project. ICT is constantly evolving and it is considered to be an enabler of different activities and objectives for many areas of societies all over the world.  For instance, computer games can be designed to educate people on a topic and websites are widely used to communicate and inform people all over the world. Whilst the simple mobile phone has evolved from being just a telephone to a multipurpose device with features like touch screens, global positioning and mobile apps etc.  The Young ICT Explorers competition aims to inspire and encourage school students to consider ICT as a career opportunity and gain a greater understanding of the diverse possibilities available through ICT.

Our Entrants…

At the beginning of last term, boys in Years 3 to 6 were invited to enter the Young ICT Explorers competition and join the associated lunchtime club. Over thirty boys expressed an initial interest in joining the club and entering the competition and after some early conversations the number remained high at 28 boys.  Over the past few months, the commitment the boys have had to demonstrate (together with the support of their parents) has been extensive and it has been truly exciting to see the enthusiasm and collaboration that these boys have demonstrated as they have worked in small groups on their projects.

The Projects

In total, nine groups were formed and their chosen projects relate to a wide variety of issues connected with the environment, cyber safety, education and economics.  The boys are currently working on finishing their projects in preparation for the judging event at the University of NSW on August 16.  There will also be a mini exhibition at school later in the term.

The Judging Event

As a part of the competition each group prepared a report outlining their project.  Based on their report, preliminary judging was conducted to determine which groups would be invited to the judging event. The majority of our groups were successful in gaining a place at the judging event, which is an excellent result given the competition for these positions.  The boys are now eagerly preparing for this final stage of the competition where they will get the opportunity to showcase their projects to experts in the field of technology as well the opportunity to see the many other projects that students across the state have prepared.

Pascal Czerwenka

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