Tech Week, a week-long festival of science and technology aimed at primary and secondary schools student, is underway.
Organised by the Irish Computer Society, and part-funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the week will see more than 100,000 primary and post-primary pupils all over Ireland taking part in a range of fun activities including the finals of tech competitions that have been running throughout the past year.
The highlight of this year’s Tech Week will be a showcase which takes place in Dublin’s RDS on 28 April. The showcase will include the F1 in Schools finals, where pupils use CAD to design and race model F1 cars, the Scratch Coding Final and workshops.
Students from Limerick Institute of Technology and St. Patrick’s Girls National School in Limerick will demonstrate the use of Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, Meccano Robot, Tobii Eye Movement, along with more exciting technologies, to the young people attending on the day.
Activity packs have also been sent out to all schools nationwide to ensure as many young people as possible will enjoy Tech Week 2016, and regional events will take place around the country such as the Old Tech Exhibition in Tramore; a Robot Build Week hosted by Colaiste Chill Mhantain in Wicklow Town; and a Sonic Pi Workshop at Dublin’s Digital Hub.
Other events include a re-enactment of the world’s first radio broadcast, a radio transmission on Tuesday 25 April 1916, during the Easter Rising at Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland in Galway, and the Science Gallery in Dublin will hold a meet-up of the CodEd Club, a community of coders run by educators and developers.
Togher Girls National School in Cork will hold a Parent Internet Safety Night as part of their efforts to build a generation of responsible digital citizens whose online behaviours demonstrate media literacy, safety and security, ethics and community.
Jim Friars, CEO, Irish Computer Society, said: “Ireland needs an additional 45,000 new ICT professionals by 2018 to fuel economic growth. Tech Week is about experience. It’s about giving students and society a chance to reflect on technology and interact with it in a fun and positive way. The current generation of children and teens are ‘digital natives’ but instead of just using technology it’s important for them, and their parents, to understand that careers in technology are creative, rewarding and enriching.
“Tech Week provides hands-on opportunities for young people to learn about how computing and related technologies are shaping every area of life. The aim is to stimulate thinking around future opportunities for study and careers in technology, through learning in the wider areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.”
Tech Week runs until 30 April.
Find out more by downloading the Tech Week App, visiting www.techweek.ie, facebook.com/techweekirl or following @TechWeekIRL.
Mary Cleary of the Irish Computer Society previewed Tech Week on Tech Radio, listen here.
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