Kids Lab Students Win Excellence Award in U-16 Programming Contest!

For those who are learning programming, if you hear "programming contest", you know! I have tried! Isn't there a lot of people who say?

at our company“A place to nurture [ability to think] and find new possibilities”Operating the programming class Sanel Kids Lab with the theme of

I want to create a place where people can become familiar with the IT field from an early stage.With that in mind, I teach children the joy of programming every day.

And this time, the programming class "sunel kids lab” challenged the U-16 Programming Contest in Mie!

We will introduce the state of the contest and impressions of the works, so please take a look to the end.

west side of a river

I want to participate in the contest! Thinking about programming for children's lessons! A must-see for those who say!

What is the U-16 Programming Contest?

U-16 programming contestA contest launched in 2011 by volunteers from Asahikawa, Hokkaido, with the idea of creating a place to praise children who love computers.It is.

Children learning programming at senior high schools and technical colleges can grow together by teaching elementary and junior high school students, and it has a wonderful system in which adults who have the desire to "create the future of children" support them. increase.

Also,Through the development of IT human resources, the development of industry, and the creation of employment, we are creating a major trend toward achieving the SDGs in the host region.It is.

With the cooperation of the Asahikawa tournament executive committee, the IT Junior Development Exchange Association introduced the structure of the U-15/U-16 programming contest to aspiring people in 47 prefectures, held local contests, We support the award of

The U-16 Programming Contest is held for the purpose of deepening the interest in IT among students and children under the age of 16 who like computers and programming, and for the purpose of cultivating IT engineers in the future!

Of this timeU-16 Programming Contest Mie Meetingwas held for elementary school students at Toba National College of Technology.

About U-16 Programming Contest Judges

The members of the judges of the Mie Association are company representatives in Mie Prefecture and faculty members in the prefecture.

Company representatives in the prefectureIn addition to FIXER Co., Ltd., Tokai Techno Co., Ltd., Masuya Co., Ltd. (currently IX Holdings), Cosmos Corporation Co., Ltd., Maekawa from the development department of our company (Sunel Co., Ltd.) is in charge.The following is a list of the most common problems with the

Faculty members from within the prefecture were professors from the Department of Information Machinery and Systems Engineering at Toba National College of Technology and professors from the Faculty of Education at Kougakukan University.

Next, we will introduce the Kids Lab students who participated in the U-16 Programming Contest and the results.

U-16 Programming Contest | Contestants and Results

This time, 11 people participated in the 2022 U-16 Programming Contest Miekai.

Three people from Kids Lab participated.

* If you are selected for the highest award, you can proceed to the national competition.

The results of the three major meetings are as follows!

Surprisingly, all three students of Kids Lab were awarded.

Excellence Award Sota Takashi
Technology Award Cosmos Corporation Company Award Mr. Gin Tanaka
Tokai Techno Enterprise Award Mr. Sota Terasaka

All the works were full of ideas and were just wonderful.

Next, I will briefly introduce the works of Kids Lab students.

Introducing the works of Kids Lab students

We asked Maekawa from our development department, who participated as a corporate judge this time, what he thought!

"Shopping Game" by Sota Takashi

This is a shopping game I made for my sister.

Maekawa

They even prepared the game's opening screen and music, and made it fun as an expression of the game.

Gin Tanaka's work "You don't have to drive anymore."

A robot that moves by measuring the distance to obstacles with a sensor.

Maekawa

It was wonderful that it was able to recognize not only the enclosure made of milk cartons, but also the obstacles placed inside the enclosure and move without hitting them.

"Fishing Game" by Sota Terasaka

As the name suggests, this is a fishing game.

Maekawa

It's interesting that the fish you can catch change over time! It was also unusual for me to create my own pictograms.

Covering the U-16 Programming Contest

west side of a river

I actually saw the contest and there was a work that I was interested in, so I will introduce it!

As I looked around the booth this time, since the theme of the U-15/U-16 Programming Contest is SDGs, every entry was conscious of those viewpoints.

The most impressive work wasA work by a student at Kougakukan High School on the theme of learning BrailleIt was.

A work that even blind people can learn about the prefectural capitals of the 47 prefectures.

A map of Japan is written on the entire surface of the styrofoam, which is about 50 centimeters in height and less than 1 meter in width, and the prefectural capitals of each of the 47 prefectures are written as landmarks.

There is also a button at the location of the prefectural capital, and when you press the button, you can hear a voice that shows the characteristics of the prefectural capital.

The 4th item of SDGs, “Quality education for all”

So this isProvide equal opportunities for everyone to receive education regardless of country, family, gender, physical disability, or age.I'm doing it.

The contents conveyed that the work was intended to enable people who have not had the opportunity to study due to their visual impairment to have fun while learning.

When the judging starts, multiple judges are divided into groups and go around each booth where the students are waiting.

Students in each booth will demonstrate their work in front of the judges and answer questions from the judges.

Each booth was judged by a group of judges for about 10 minutes.

All of the students had stiff expressions because they were presenting to experts, but there were moments when they were friendly, and I was impressed by how they tried their best to convey their ingenuity.

I think it was a good experience for the children to think about programming, which they always enjoy learning, according to the theme, create works, and have them evaluated by experts.

Working toward a goal leads to growth.

Kids Lab's Future Initiatives

Future activities of Kids Lab include:To increase the number of places where more children can experience the fun of IT skills and programmingIt is.

Currently, Sanel Kids Lab has students from the 3rd grade of elementary school, but many people have said that they would like to start from the lower grades.

Therefore, from April 2023, we have decided to start an introductory course starting at the age of 5.

In the future, we hope that through this "Kids Lab", we will be able to accompany the children while creating a place where they can repeat trial and error and challenge themselves!

If you are interested, firstthis way (direction close to the speaker or towards the speaker)Please feel free to contact us.

Summary｜Kids Lab's student won an award for excellence! Challenge the U-16 programming contest

How was it?

As various IT advances, the existence of children with programming knowledge will be necessary in the future.I think.

At Sunel Kids Lab, as many children as possible can learn programming by touching it, broadening their horizons,“I have many possibilities in the future and I can acquire the ability to realize them.”We aim to create an environment where you can feel that.

I hope that this article has piqued your interest in programming.