Middle and high school students from around the country showcased their programming skills during the Alice Middle East computer science competition at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q).
This was the first Alice event under the umbrella of the Hamad Bin Jassim Centre for K-12 Computer Science Education.
Jassim and Hamad Bin Jassim Charitable Foundation, ExxonMobil Qatar and Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) partnered with CMU-Q for the event.
The competition was the culmination of weeks of preparation by the teams, who used the Alice Middle East educational software to create interactive games and animations. The original Alice software was developed at Carnegie Mellon University and adapted for Qatar by CMU-Q, with support from a National Priorities Research Programme grant from QNRF.
With the support of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Alice Middle East is now part of the curriculum in all Qatar government schools that teach information
communication technology.
A total of 132 students from 13 schools created animations in the categories of space exploration, global warming, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, health, social responsibility or video games. They were judged for programming skills, creativity, oral presentations and teamwork.
The winning teams represented Doha College, Al Khor International School, Al-Arqam Academy, Mesaieed International School and American School of Doha.
Saquib Razak, associate teaching professor of computer science and director of Alice Middle East, conducted a workshop to demonstrate to the students how computer science is important across many industries.
“All of the teams here today demonstrated great work on their projects, and I’m really optimistic for the future of computer
science in Qatar,” he said.
Saeed Mathkar AlHajri, board member and CEO of Jassim and Hamad Bin Jassim Charitable Foundation, said: “Based on the quality of the projects shown by students, there is great potential for the next generation of
computer scientists.”
Dr Abdul Sattar al-Taie, executive director of QNRF, a long-time supporter of Alice Middle East, noted: “The Alice Middle East programme is helping create the technical know-how that will enable the country to address its needs across all aspects of life.”
Aysha Fakhroo, regional business development manager at ExxonMobil and a 2008 CMU-Q graduate in computer science, spoke to the students: “By participating in this competition, you learn how to solve problems, work in teams and present your projects. Sometimes we fail, but in return we learn more than we expected.”
The judges’ panel included representatives from Alobaib Primary Independent Girls School, CMU-Q, College of the North Atlantic – Qatar, Education Above All, Qatar Computing Research Institute, QNRF and Teach for Qatar.
Participants of the first Alice event held under the umbrella of the Hamad Bin Jassim Centre for K-12 Computer Science Education.
