Learners from schools in the Kouga region participated in an international coding tournament, as part of the 2023 Mayor’s Cup.
Along with close to 30 other sporting codes – from fishing to bowling – the young coding participants from local schools competed using the RANGERS App.
TANKS and RANGERS are Tangible Africa’s flagship coding applications that are played offline, using minimal resources.
Tangible Africa Founder, Professor Jean Greyling, said that this was the first time ever that tangible coding had formed a part of the Mayor’s Cup Tournament, a highlight on the Kouga Municipality’s calendar.
“What made today even more special was that the local teams participated with teams from the Kenya National Library Service (KNLS), who joined the tournament virtually,” said Greyling.
Signing in from Thika, Kenya, KNLS senior library assistant, Catherine Maina, said around 15 children, aged between 11 and 13, had participated in the virtual tournament.
“The children were very excited to participate in the tournament against South Africa. They were introduced to tangible coding less than a week ago, when our schools closed. They did well; one of our groups finished all the levels in just over 22 minutes,” said Maina.
Hosted at Father’s House Church in Jeffreys Bay, the local children were as excited about the coding tournament as their Kenyan counterparts, according to a teacher from one of the schools that participated in the tournament, St Patrick’s Primary School in Humansdorp.
St Patrick’s entered three teams of 13 learners in Grade 5 and Grade 7, according to teacher Jazolene Beauzick. s
“The children love coding, and while our resources are limited, they really enjoy practising at school. I would love to teach coding to the entire school, as the children learn so many important skills through playing the games,” said Beauzick.
Tangible Africa regional co-ordinator, Janine Olivier, an organiser of the coding tournament, said that based on the results it was a successful tournament for the sponsor, organisers, teachers and learners.
Play-offs took place in the form of mini coding tournaments held as a build-up for the final.
“During these mini coding tournaments learners engaged and explored ideas and strategies to improve their overall coding game. These skills have been proven to bear fruit today at the Kouga tournament. Kouga coding gamers – the Global Learning Academy learners – recorded the fastest time ever for completing all 35 levels. This is a new record, which stays in Kouga,” said Olivier.
St Patrick’s Primary School in Humansdorp was the international winner of the coding tournament.
The 2023 Mayor’s Cup Tournament activities took place in different venues across the region, to allow as many community members as possible the opportunity to participate and support the programme.
– ISSUED BY TANGIBLE AFRICA
