Students from the Elementary School "Marko Nuculovic" from Ulcinj, Irena Selcanin, Nora Selcanin and Anabela Radulovic, won the third place at the regional competition in programming by pocket computer micro: bits, which was organized by the British Council at the Digital Summit of the countries of the Western Balkans. Led by the teacher Alfredo Marinkovic, they created the project "Smart parking" - an automated system that detects the number of empty places and opens ramps and signals when the parking is full. Participants were asked to make a solution with the help of a pocket computer micro: bit that would be a response to a real problem.
"The idea for this project originated from where we live because there is no parking in our city that operates according to this principle. The ramp rises even though there are no vacant seats, so the drivers circle two or three times inside the parking lot. We have programmed that the micro: bits show the number of vacancies before the ramp itself, so the drivers immediately get the information they need," explains Irena Selcanin, a 9th-grade elementary school student from OS "Marko Nuculovic".
At the regional programming competition, held within the British Council project "Schools for the 21st Century", students from 13 primary schools throughout the region participated.
"Today we had the opportunity to see the projects of the pupils who were involved in the pilot phase of the program implemented in the previous two years. Thanks to the £10 million investment of the British government, now all the schools in the Western Balkans will have their own micro: bit devices. In this way, the British Council will enable millions of students to acquire new digital skills and basics of programming required by the modern labor market," said Vanja Madzgalj, director of the British Council in Montenegro. In evaluating the works, the jury took into account the critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as the teamwork and programming skills.
"A smart house, parking sensors, a timer for medicines are just some of the projects that kids showed today as possibilities of working with the micro: bit. The biggest benefit of this device is that technology is no longer present only in STEM cases, but it also has applications in language learning, music, history, and geography," said Magda Wood, president of the jury and head of the micro: bit foundation study.
"We are very proud that together with the British Council we work on the program "Schools for the 21st Century". This is our biggest international project that incorporates students from the Western Balkans into the same platform that is applied in the top ten countries in mathematics and science," she added. The stand with the exhibited works of the primary school students from Montenegro was also visited by the Minister of Education Damir Sehovic.
"The most difficult is to change rooted stereotypes, and we need a new system where students will not memorize the material, but where innovation will be encouraged. One of the ways to change the concept of teaching is the digitalization of education. We are grateful to the British Council because now all schools will have micro: bit pocket computers as part of the project "Schools for the 21st Century." Pilot experience is great, and micro: bit coding clubs are expanding. I appreciate that Great Britain has recognized that this project is needed for everyone and what enters our country," said Sehovic.
The three-year program "Schools for the 21st Century" in Serbia and across the Western Balkans is being implemented by the British Council, and in our country is realized in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. It will cover all primary schools in all cities.
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Text by Vijesti online, on April 8th 2019, read more at Vijesti
