Scottsdene Library is among 17 other libraries in the City sharpening up their coding skills during practice rounds to ensure they are battle ready for the Coding4Africa Tournament later this year.
Coding4Africa is a continent-wide unplugged coding tournament run by Tangible in partnership with the Leva Foundation. Tangible is an engagement project of Nelson Mandela University’s computing sciences department and the Leva Foundation.
Teams participate virtually, using the tournament app. Once they are ready to compete, they enter their participation code, solve the challenges and their scores are automatically uploaded to the leaderboard. Teams with the highest scores in the different categories progress to the national tournament.
Seventeen of the City’s libraries will compete, and teams are already being put through their paces at in-house practise coding sessions.
Problem-solving skills
The tournament aims to build computational thinking, teamwork and problem-solving skills in young people through hands-on, game-based coding activities that require no computers or internet access.
“Tangible has formally expanded the tournament to lower primary school grades. Grade R–3 learners take part in age-appropriate interactive coding and problem-solving activities supported by the Coding4Africa WhatsApp Chatbot. Grade 4–6 learners participate in interactive activities and compete in the tournament using the Tangible Tournament App, while Grade 7–9 learners take part in interactive activities and tournaments aimed at strengthening coding and computational thinking skills,” says a City spokesperson.
“It’s wonderful to see so many learners participating in the tournament. Not only does it confirm their interest and willingness to learn, it also shows that our libraries are places where young people can have fun and make new connections, while broadening their knowledge and skills in a safe environment. We wish our library teams, and all participants the very best of luck and we cannot wait to see the results and who will progress to the national tournament,” said Mayco member for community services and health, Francine Higham.
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Other participating libraries are Athlone, Bellville, Bishop Lavis, Fisantekraal, Gordon’s Bay, Kensington, Kusaya, Masiphumelele, Moses Mabhida, Nyanga, Ocean View, Parow, Pinelands, Scottsdene, Southfield, Valhalla Park and Wynberg, with more than 300 young people taking part in the different games.
The results will only be announced after 18 August, with the date for the National Tournament to be confirmed soon thereafter.
