The Challenge
The Challenge is open to all Year 3-6 students at registered South Australian schools.
Find out more here.
SCHOOL REGISTRATIONS FOR 2019 HAVE NOW CLOSED
REGISTERED SCHOOLS FOR 2019 ARE LISTED HERE AND HAVE UNTIL 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 TO COMPLETE THE CHALLENGE.
CHILDREN CAN STILL TAKE PART OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL UNTIL 27 SEPTEMBER 2019.
FOR CHILDREN
2020 CHALLENGE LANDING SOON!
DIGITAL THINKING
STEPS FOR SCHOOLS
Step 1
Find out if your school is already registered here.
If so, go to STEP 3. If not, continue to STEP 2.
Step 2
School registrations for 2019 have now closed.
The Commissioner’s newest challenge, SPACE TO DREAM, a free design thinking challenge, is landing in 2020. Schools can register here for either challenge, or both, for 2020!
Step 3
Schools already registered for 2019, follow these steps:
Every school that has registered will nominate a Challenge Coordinator who will print or share the Coding Record with all students taking part.
Challenge Coordinators are able to run the Challenge however they like. They may choose to run the Challenge via their school’s Year 3-6 class teachers.
There’s no minimum or maximum number of students required for a school to register and take part.
Step 4
Coordinators or teachers can choose any four Challenge activities to work through together or students can choose their own.
Run the activities however suits your school.
Step 5
Look at the Beginner’s Guide if you aren’t sure what activities to choose.
Step 6
Step 7
Challenge Coordinators are asked to collect all students’ Coding Records and retain them for 6 months.
Step 8
Challenge Coordinators will use the forms to complete and submit the Challenge Completion Form before the deadline of 27 September 2019.
The Challenge Completion Form invites each school to provide a student testimonial on taking part in the Challenge. The most creative and insightful entries win rewards.
The Challenge Activities
Not sure what Challenge Activities to select for your students?
Check out the recommended activities in our Beginner’s Guide.
Or explore the full range of free step-by-step activities here:
Access DT Hub™
Activities
Access Hour of Code™ Activities
Access Grok Learning™ Activities
Access CS Unplugged™ Activities
Access MakeCode™ Activities
Access Code Club™ Activities
Rewards (Schools)
Schools taking part are eligible to win enticing digital rewards for the benefit of all students:
- A brand new school website or upgrade
1 winner - Class set of programmable micro:bits
4 winners - The latest programmable camera drones
10 winners - Grok ‘all access’ class subscriptions
6 winners - Data packs with Powerbanks
4 winners
Plus, every school that participates receives access to 3 exclusive 1 hour Digital Challenge webinars written for South Australian teachers by Microsoft.
And every child completing the Challenge earns a certificate from the Commissioner for Children and Young People.
*Terms and conditions apply. Please refer to the Full Terms and Conditions for more information.
Key Dates
SCHOOL REGISTRATION CLOSES
Last day Term 2 (5 July) 2019
STUDENTS RETURN FORMS
13 Sept 2019 (recommendation only)
Schools are advised to ask students to return their completed coding records to their Challenge Coordinator well in advance of the Challenge closing date (27 September 2019) so the Coordinator has plenty of time to submit the school’s Challenge Completion Form.
REMINDER EMAILS
9,16 and 23 Sept 2019
School Challenge Coordinators will be sent reminder emails to submit their school’s Completion Form by the due date.
CHALLENGE CLOSES
Last day Term 3 (27 Sept) 2019
Challenge Completion Forms due from schools.
Coding Records due from children taking part outside of school.
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED
First 4 weeks of Term 4 (14 Oct to 8 Nov) 2019
Forms
Coding Record
Print or share with every student taking part – to be completed by each student and retained by their school Challenge Coordinator
(PDF, 96KB)
Challenge Completion Form
(Link to online form)
EXTEND THEIR DIGITAL LEARNING POWERS
Would you like to take your students further on their digital learning experience?Fact Sheets
Is the Challenge right for my school?
6 simple steps for Challenge Coordinators
Promotional Materials
(to print A4)
(to print A3)
Official Commissioner’s Digital Challenge Registered School Seal to include on social media / website / prospectus material
(A4 and A3)
Commissioner's Message
Children of South Australia asked for more ways to be creative, to prepare for jobs of the future and to start learning the things they are going to need to know, now.
So I’ve launched my Digital Challenge. This year it’s all about computational thinking and basic coding for every level.
When you learn to think and create with a digital mindset you are learning to speak Robot!
Helen Connolly
Commissioner for Children and Young People, South Australia
Benefits
Ally Watson
CEO & Co-Founder at Code Like A Girl
The future is technology. Women are at risk of losing out on tomorrow’s best job opportunities. The situation presents a unique opportunity for females to step up and take action. The future is very much looking to artificial intelligence, and if it’s only men building that intelligence there’s going to be continued bias in the technology of the future.
Paul Clapton-Caputo
Leader at Learning Technologies, Leadership Development, Department for Education ǀ Director at Educators SA ǀ Principal Consultant at EdTechSA
This Challenge opens young minds to thinking technologically. It will grow diversity and inclusion and opportunity for those that will soon lead this work in creating tools and systems yet unimagined. Human, cultural and systems diversity require the chance for every child and young person in South Australia to be part of this thinking and mix.
Professor Katrina Falkner
Lead at Computer Science Education Research (CSER) Group | Lead at Centre for Distributed and Intelligent Technologies - Modelling and Analysis
It is essential for our next generation to not only learn about how digital technology works and how to use it, but also how to create new technologies. Understanding how we create technology solutions empowers people in solving their own problems and those of their communities in ways that truly address their needs.
Dr Rebecca Vivian
Research Fellow at Computer Science Education Research (CSER) Group
Technology increasingly has an impact on every field today – including finance, fashion, agriculture, business, art, medicine and more! Providing opportunities for children to develop computational thinking and digital skills is fundamental to building their capacity to be problem-solvers and solution-creators in a digital world.
Professor James Curran
Academic Director at Australian Computing Academy | Director at National Computer Science School | CEO at Grok Learning
Digital technologies make thoughts concrete without requiring the physical world. Any problem that can be turned into data, you can manipulate and interact with in such a way that you could change the world – and there’s nothing more amazing than that.Partners
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Acknowledgement of Country
We respectfully acknowledge and celebrate the Traditional Owners of the lands throughout South Australia and we pay our respects to their Elders – and to past, present and future generations of their children and young people.
