During the five-day computer science project week, which took place in cooperation with the Hochschule vor Ort, twenty pupils from Anne-Frank-Gesamtschule demonstrated particular (programming) fluency. With the support of the StudyScouts, they ventured into the world of coding on the premises of Fachhochschule Dortmund.
For the second time this year, pupils from Anne-Frank-Gesamtschule are gaining practical insights into the courses offered by(Opens in a new tab) Fachhochschule Dortmund during a project week.
A successful start
How long does a semester actually last? To kick off the project week, the students tested their knowledge of higher education in a quiz.
Hasan Kamisli, a medical informatics student and StudyScout at the Hochschule vor Ort, also answered questions about his personal educational path at Fachhochschule Dortmund.
The next day, the students got a taste of real university life by sitting in one of the large computer science halls on Emil-Figge-Straße. Accompanied by the StudyScouts, the pupils explored the campus extensively on a campus tour. In the presence of library staff, they curiously examined the places where students pore over books. Where students take a break from reading books, the pupils experienced first-hand during a trip to the canteen.
Whispering with robots
With the support of the StudyScouts, the students playfully programmed a small video game on an online learning platform. An adventurous hero character was controlled via code typed into a text field in the selected programming language. The programming languages available were JavaScript, HTML and Python. Successfully solved puzzles were rewarded with gems, which in turn unlocked new functions. But not only online characters can be programmed: In small groups, the pupils made a robot cat out of Lego bricks meow. In a free experimentation phase, they gave free rein to their creativity.
Computer science is the mother of invention: on the following day, the pupils designed race tracks for particularly agile Ha-Ro robots using tunnels and ramps they had made themselves. The students then headed up high: the practice-oriented project week came to an end just below the clouds with a ride on the H-Bahn.
On the fifth and final day, the students proudly presented their self-built racetracks and their newly acquired knowledge to the other project groups at the school. The practice-oriented teaching methods of the StudyScouts make science tangible in a playful way.