BEACONS - Bebras for Engagement and Advancement of Computational reasoning Skills
Year Awarded
2025
Amount
€289,868.79
- Organisation:Irish Computer Society
- Co-funded with Dept of Education:Yes
Project Summary
Bebras for Engagement and Advancement of Computational reasoNing Skills (BEACONS) is an ambitious project led by the Irish Computer Society with support from University of Limerick. Through consultation and co-creation with qualified teachers at both Primary and lower Secondary level as well as pre-service teachers, this initiative will support excellence in the integration of computational thinking skills in both STEM and non-STEM subjects. Consisting of nine distinct workpackages delivered over two years, BEACONS will support computational thinking education while also significantly increasing participation in the Bebras competition, primarily in areas underserved by STEM interventions and in DEIS schools.
Engaging over 12,000 students and teachers across the broad scope of activities planned, BEACONS will foster increased teacher confidence and competence in delivering computational thinking activities, improved student computational thinking skills and attitudes, as well as improved national distribution of opportunities with respect to computational thinking education. The initiative will also enhance awareness of computer science and IT sector careers.
In the longer term, BEACONS will contribute to a systemic improvement in computational thinking education nationally while also contributing to best-practices in this field. The outcome of the initiative will be a sustainable, scalable model for computational thinking education that can be applied by teachers in any context nationally.