15 children got the chance to take part in a fun coding tournament recently after learning the skill just one week earlier.
Kouga, South Africa (28 April 2023) – 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 Prof Jean Greyling said this was the first time ever that tangible coding 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 years 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 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 Primary School entered three teams of thirteen learners between the ages of Grade 5 and Grade 7, according to teacher Jazolene Beauzick.
“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 Coordinator Janine Olivier, who was one of the organisers of the coding tournament, said that based on the results it was a successful tournament for the sponsor, organisers, teachers and learners.
Playoffs 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 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 winners of the coding tournament.
Kouga Municipality Special Programmes Co-ordinator, Elvina Felix, said the aim of the Mayor’s Cup – themed Breaking Barriers – was to encourage participation among people from all walks of life.
The 2023 Mayor’s Cup Tournament activities took part in different venues across the region to allow as many community members as possible the opportunity to participate and support the programme.
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