Edu-hackathon with Google in collaboration with Code Week

Publication date: January 3, 2023

From 1 to 3 December, 17 educators from 10 different countries got together in Brussels for the short training course Edu-hackathon with Google. These were three days full of activities including exchange of practices, group work and a final pitch!  

Are you wondering why celebrate the Edu-hackathon with Google? Read on! 

Google, in partnership with European Schoolnet and in collaboration with Code Week, wants to make Computer Science (CS) more accessible for teachers to include in their classroom, and more interesting for students to learn about it. Between 2022 and 2023, we are bringing to life a project with this goal in three phases: a MOOC on CS (launched in Spring 2022), an Edu-hackathon to develop pedagogical materials, and a school-level competition. 

The Edu-hackathon with Google gathered educators who had participated in the MOOC. 17 teachers met in Brussels to develop Learning Scenarios, which aimed to integrate CS in the classroom, with a focus on sustainability and diversity & inclusion. The event followed the structure of a hackathon, with a first day to exchange and form teams, a second day of group work in stages, and a third day to finalise and pitch the work.  

Planning: 

On the Day 1 of the course, we dedicated the programme to get to know each other and to exchange good practices for teaching CS; teachers shared how they teach coding and computational thinking using a variety of approaches: from Artificial Intelligence-animated characters, to teach History and Literature, to 3D modelling to teach Geometry!  

Day 2 focused on group work, and the development of the Learning Scenarios was divided into 3 stages which included reflection, brainstorming and different exercises, just like a hackathon! The day included an in-depth feedback session by the teams.  

On the Day 3, and last day, each group pitched their idea to the rest, and we laid the foundations for the follow-up work. 

Conclusions: 

The result? Four advanced Learning Scenarios ready-made and adaptable for students of all ages, from primary until Secondary education and Vocational Training. Each lesson plan covers a different approach to teach CS: 3D modelling, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, programming, etc.  

Code Week will collaborate in the implementation of these Learning Scenarios at school level, and once the Scenarios are fully developed and have received feedback from school implantation, you will find these in the Code Week Repository of Resources.  

Leading Teachers of Code Week will have a chance to participate in the next online phase of the project. Stay tuned!