Carnegie Mellon Qatar holds Programming Competition Coaches Workshop

The workshop was designed to assist teachers in preparing and coaching a computer programming contest team at their respective schools. Teams can then go on to compete against other schools in the High School Programming Contest that Carnegie Mellon Qatar will host in the spring.

'During the High School Programming Competition in March, many of the high school teachers indicated a desire to learn more about programming contests and how to help their students compete in them,' says Nina Cooper, Ph.D., Computer Science faculty member at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. 'So we decided to run this contest now so the teachers would be able to prepare their students to compete in the High School Programming Competition we will run again in the spring.'

Cooper says the field of Computer Science uses algorithmic thinking to solve problems. Algorithmic thinking is the act of breaking down a complex problem into small sections and then breaking it further into very simple tasks. It is a crucial skill in math, science and design. Computer programming contests, such as the one held by Carnegie Mellon Qatar each spring, strengthen computer science problem solving skills and build algorithmic thinking in high school students.

'It's great it is to see how interested teachers are in helping their students excel in technical fields such as computer science,' Cooper says. 'This workshop is yet another way for Carnegie Mellon to share it's world-class computer knowledge with young people in a way that can have a meaningful impact on the future of Qatar.'

Several faculty members as well as students from the Carnegie Mellon Computer Programming Team assisted with the event, which held a mock programming contest to introduce the contest environment to the teachers.