Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar hosts its third CS4Qatar computer science workshop for high school students

The two-day developmental workshop, held at Carnegie Mellon Qatar's building in Education City, was designed to teach high schools students about computer science and how it is applied to all aspects of life. More than 300 high school students from Qatar applied for the 120 seats in the weekend program.

"In countries like Qatar that seek to become a knowledge-based economy, technological awareness is an inevitable cornerstone that must be achieved. It is also becoming a reality that advancements in most, if not all, areas of sciences, engineering and medicine heavily rely on the constant breakthroughs in computer sciences and engineering,"

says Khaled Harras, Ph.D., computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

"Our goal in CS4Qatar is to help spread this awareness among the younger generations. We do so by reaching out to the students and exposing them to technological and computer sciences basics. We hope that through this work, we plant a seed that continues to grow via the student's interest, motivation and excitement that result from attending these workshops."

CS4Qatar consisted of three sessions. The first one was on Computer Science Puzzles, which focused on solving problems posed as interesting and engaging puzzles and then making the connection to the real world. In the second session, students learned to devise solutions to problems and then programmed and tested their solutions using a programming platform called Becker's Graphical Robots.

In the third session, students learned how to program real mobile robots to achieve some predefined tasks. They also were instructed on how robot Artificial Intelligence works, and were given the opportunity to program a robot to complete a complex task.

Nazar Salim Nazar, a senior student at Doha Independent Secondary School, was one of the students who came to CS4Qatar to learn more about computer science. "CS4Qatar introduced me to a new way of thinking, I learned to simplify problems," says Nazar. "The teachers were friendly and supportive, and worked with us step by step. I encourage students to participate in this workshop because they will have fun and learn new things about programming and robots."
Many people associate computer science solely with programming. This workshop showed students that computer science is a much broader field than that. "Computer science is the exploration, design and innovation of computing and what computers can do. Students learn to apply algorithmic thinking to solve interesting real-world problems," says Majd Sakr, Ph.D., computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

Since beginning in 2007, the CS4Qatar program has been held twice for high school teachers. This is the third time the event was offered to the students directly. "To help Qatar produce the leaders of tomorrow, Carnegie Mellon's computer science faculty will work with the new generation to help give them a sense of the field of computer science and the wide impact it has and will have on many aspects of our lives," says Sakr.

Participating schools in CS4Qatar included: Academic Bridge Program, Ahmed Bin Hanbal, Al Bayan Secondary School for Girls, Al Eman Secondary Independent School for Girls, Al Khor International School, Al Ressala Independent School for Girls, Al Wakra Independent Secondary School for Boys, American Academy, American School of Doha, Amna Bint Wahab Independent School for Girls, Doha College, Doha Independent Secondary School for Boys, Doha Modern Indian School - Doha, DPS-Modern Indian School, Dukhan English School, Global Academy International, International School of Choueifat, M.E.S Indian School, Mohammed Abed AL Aziz Al Manaa, Om Hakeem Girls School, Omar Bin Al-Khattab Scientific Secondary School, Qatar Academy, Qatar International Technical School, Rabaa Al Adawia Independent Secondary School for Girls and The Cambridge School.

Additional computer science workshops for both students and teachers will be held in the future.