Bebras Challenge gives students a fun, stimulating computing contest
Challenge your campus or another school on Twitter using #Bebras
UPDATE: The Bebras Challenge has been extended to Wednesday, Nov. 23.
The Bebras Computing Challenge is a fun and interactive 45-minute contest that introduces students to computational thinking to get them excited about computing and improve their problem-solving skills.
The challenge, which is open to 5th- through 12th-grade students worldwide, will take place on Nov. 7-23. HISD was the largest 2015 participant nationwide with more than 7,000 students taking part in the challenge last November, and the district hopes to continue to lead the nation in participation this year.
In addition, HISD hosted an invitational round of the Bebras Challenge this past month in partnership with Rice University Mathematics Scholastic for the highest scoring students from last year’s challenge.
The Bebras Challenge provides a unique opportunity to:
- Expose students to computational thinking as a fundamental way of thinking, problem solving, and understanding of people and the world around them
- Get students excited about computing and improve their problem-solving and critical thinking skills in order to prepare them for tomorrow’s competitive job market
- Familiarize students with the tools of formal logic that computer scientists perform on a daily basis
- Increase student engagement and interest in computer science and computational thinking which are indispensable in preparing students for in-demand, highly-paid career opportunities in computer science
- Develop student skills, such as critical thinking, communication, adaptability, and decision-making
- Help all HISD CS teachers gain a deeper understanding of computational thinking. (HISD invited all CS teachers to attend the event in addition to student parents)
- Serve as impetus for more engagement and participation in this year’s worldwide Hour of Code, as the challenge comes just a few weeks before Computer Science Education Week (December 7-13).
Go to www.bebraschallenge.org for more information and to register your class. All students between ages 8-18 can join, but they do need a username and password for the November challenge. Instructions for generating student accounts can be found at http://challenge.bebraschallenge.org/admin once you have crated your account.
You will also find answer sheets there for the 2015 task set if you want to familiarize yourself and your students with the challenge.
If you have any questions or need help with your student accounts, email jtahiri@houstonisd.org.
