Abu Dhabi University has organized the SCRATCH schools competition, conducted under the theme of ‘Conserving the UAE’s Natural Resources’ and held on ADU’s Khalifa Campus. The second edition of the competition is in line with the UAE government’s visionary initiative to officially make 2015 “The Year of Innovation”.

SCRATCH is a visual programming environment that teaches students about computer programing in a visual, entertaining and engaging way, and is used by top schools all over the world. The overall goal of SCRATCH is to encourage students to learn essential programming and coding basics from an early age through STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education.

The competition was launched under the patronage of the National Electronic Security Authority, with the attendance of Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) officials. The judging committee included a panel from the Technology Development Department in Abu Dhabi and lecturers from Abu Dhabi University.

In its second edition, the competition witnessed overwhelming participation from 220 students and 63 teams from over 50 schools under ADEC, supervised by their Information Technology teachers.

The teams presented their work to the judging committee which evaluated the innovation of all projects, in addition to the SCRATCH programing techniques used to develop them.

First place went to Liwa International School while second place went to Merryland International School, and third place went to GEMS Cambridge International. All projects were designed using the SCRATCH tools under the natural conservation theme.

Dr Ashraf Khalil, Director of Research at ADU said: “The long term goal of this competition is to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education in particular and to equip students with the skills to excel in a knowledge-based economy.”

The event was opened with remarks by ADU chancellor Dr Nabil Ibrahim, who thanked the participants and outlined ADU’s role in promoting STEM education. Dr Ashraf Khalil then discussed the importance of IT in the future job market. The competition was attended by Dr Masood Badri, ADEC's Head of Research and Planning, reflecting ADEC’s commitment to innovative STEM education.

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