Schlagwort: Coolest Projects South Africa

Highlights from Coolest Projects South Africa 2024

Facebook
Twitter

Reading Time: 4 minutes
Afandi Indiatsi, our Programme Coordinator in Africa, recently attended Coolest Projects South Africa 2024. Read on to hear her highlights.

What happens when creativity, enthusiasm, fun, and innovation come together? You get Coolest Projects South Africa 2024 — a vibrant showcase of students from all walks of life displaying their talent and shaping the future of technology.

Dozens of projects exhibited at the event in Cape Town

Hosted by our partner, Coder Level Up, Coolest Projects South Africa brought together creators, mentors, educators, and industry leaders to celebrate the creativity and ingenuity of young tech enthusiasts from across the country.

With nearly 200 projects submitted and dozens showcased, the event highlighted the impressive talent and potential of South Africa’s next generation of innovators.

Taking place at the University of Western Cape’s Department of Education in Cape Town, the event was a hub of excitement. Right from the start the venue was buzzing with activity, with the South African World Robot Olympiad (WRO) team kicking things off with a fantastic demonstration of their robotic inventions. Their creations came alive to cheers and applause as they performed flawlessly, leaving attendees in awe — what an inspiration they were!

Standout projects ranged from garbage collection to chocolate

The participants then presented their projects, each of which was ingenious in its own way. From hardware and visual programming to game development and website creation, there was a wealth of ideas on display — and a demonstration of the boundless potential of young minds when given the right tools and guidance. Adding to the inclusive spirit of the event, participants from Durban and East London joined remotely, their energy resonating through Zoom.

One standout project was a garbage collection robot created by an all-girls team from Nguzo Saba School. Using a LEGO kit, these creators transformed their idea into a functional invention. What made their project exceptional was their ability to improvise and enhance the kit to achieve their desired functionality. This was a true testament to their creativity, resilience, and problem-solving skills.

Another memorable presentation came from Emma, who used Scratch to tell the story of the history of chocolate. Her engaging narrative spanned the journey of chocolate from the Olmec civilisation in Latin America to today’s chocolate museums. Emma’s research was extensive, and she captivated the judges not only with her presentation but also with chocolate samples for everyone to enjoy — a sweet touch that left a lasting impression!

How Coolest Projects harnesses the power of education, creativity, and mentorship

A recurring theme throughout the event was the importance of mentorship. Many of the young people shared that they had sought guidance from mentors, teachers, and family members while developing their projects. This collaborative spirit underscored the role of supportive communities in fostering innovation and creativity among young creators.

Coolest Projects South Africa 2024 was more than a showcase of talent. It was a reminder of the transformative power of education, mentorship, and creativity. Every project had a story of passion and perseverance, and every creator left inspired to dream bigger.

As we reflect on this event — and the many other Coolest Projects events that took place around the world this past year — we are reminded that the future of technology is in capable, imaginative hands.

Get involved with Coolest Projects in 2025

Coolest Projects will be back and bigger than ever before in 2025.

The Coolest Projects online showcase is open globally to any young person up to age 18. Registration opens 14 January, and we’ll host a celebratory livestream on 25 June.

Thanks to an incredible network of partners, Coolest Projects events will also be hosted in person in many countries around the world. Go to the Coolest Projects website for more event dates and details.

Website: LINK

08/01/2025
Impressions from Coolest Projects South Africa 2023

Facebook
Twitter

Reading Time: 5 minutes
The day after the successful meetup with our Global Clubs Partner organisations based in Africa, our team and some of our partners enjoyed participating in the Coolest Projects South Africa 2023 event to meet young tech creators and help out as project judges. Here are some of our impressions.

A day of Coolest Projects

This is the fourth year of a partner-run, regional version of Coolest Projects — our world-leading showcase for young tech creators — taking place in South Africa, led by David Campey. David is Director of Coder LevelUp, one of our Global Clubs Partners growing and supporting a network of CoderDojos and Code Clubs in the country, and involved in the CoderDojo movement for a whole decade.

There was a buzz of anticipation and excitement at the Cape Town Science Centre as young coders from age 5 to 18 and various backgrounds gathered on this sunny Saturday morning to showcase their coding creations and inventions at Coolest Projects South Africa. From fun games and animations on Scratch, to cool websites created with HTML and CSS, to fantastic Python-based hardware solutions to real-world challenges — every young creator brought along a project they’d created to proudly showcase and celebrate.

Luhle’s language-inspired coding project

While chatting with the creators and discovering what had motivated their projects, we met up with 11-year-old Luhle, who was delighted to take us through the ‘Moon conversation’ animation she had coded in Scratch.

11-year-old Luhle proudly showcases her ‘Moon conversation’ Scratch animation at the Coolest Projects South Africa 2023 event.

The animation involved a Spanish conversation between two people who journeyed to the moon and back. Luhle had created her animation because of her love for languages and in response to a challenge posed to her class by her teacher: to learn 5 languages. While her mother tongue is isiXhosa, she is confident in English, is learning Afrikaans, has started teaching herself Spanish, and would love to learn Korean.

Kayden’s innovative hardware creation

We also met with 16-year-old Kayden, who showcased a project he’d made to address a real-world challenge. He told us he had always struggled to concentrate in class — a challenge that many young people face — and he wanted to build an alternative solution to the established medications. Using vibration sensors and two microcontrollers, he created a digital device to prompt users when they are no longer paying attention in class. With his friend Carl, he successfully tested the device on a meaningful sample of Grade 1–3 learners (ages 7–9).

16-year-old Kayden listens intently as one of the Coolest Projects judges, Akwabi Paul from Kenya, commends his invention and advises him on next steps. Listening in are two other judges, Solomon from The Gambia and Sylvester from Malawi.

Kayden is now developing this low-cost innovative solution to include a heart rate monitor to help to detect when a user loses focus, and he wants this to be a solution that’s widely accessible and affordable for all South African children. One of the judges, our partner Akwabi Paul from Tech Kidz Africa in Kenya, was greatly impressed and motivated by Kayden’s work, and took time to advise Kayden on the next steps to turn his invention into a commercial product.

The coding club at CBC St Johns Parklands

During the event we also met members of Mrs Hill’s coding club and learnt about Mrs Hill’s experience of nurturing a love and interest for coding and robotics at CBC St Johns Parklands in Cape Town.

Since 2020, Mrs Hills has been providing coding lessons to all school classes — learners aged 6 to 12 years — as well as an after-school coding and robotics club. She approaches her lessons by introducing and demonstrating coding skills and then presenting her learners with a problem to solve collaboratively. In her words, ‘Learners find more interest in learning practically.’

That’s why Coolest Projects is the perfect fit for her and her young people. 4 of her club members took part in Coolest Projects South Africa 2022. This year, she was proud to enter 11 participants, 3 of whom were chosen as judges’ favourites.

Here’s to the young creators and more Coolest Projects events

After the showcasing and judging, the Coolest Projects South Africa event culminated in a hearty celebration of all that the young tech creators had presented. David Campey’s passion for nurturing coding literacy, digital making skills, and innovative thinking among learners from different walks of life made the whole day a truly enjoyable, inclusive event for the young creators.

It was inspiring, no doubt, for our other African partners who participated as judges and are now keen to host Coolest Projects events back in their home countries.

Get involved in Coolest Projects

If you and your young people based anywhere on the globe feel inspired to showcase digital tech creations, you can get involved in our Coolest Projects 2024 online showcase! It’s free and open to any young tech creator up to age 18.

Sign up to the Coolest Projects newsletter to be the first to hear all updates, for example when showcase registration opens on 14 February.

Website: LINK

07/12/2023