National game design and coding competition showcases students’ computational thinking, design and coding skills

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 27, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- More than 100 national student finalists, teachers and principals from across the U.S. came together on Saturday, Sept. 24 at the Texas State Capitol for the 2016 Globey Game Design Competitions and Awards, a national game design and coding competition that celebrates students’ year-long efforts in the Globaloria computer science program. Forty-seven national finalists—selected from 274 regional finalists—competed in this weekend’s final competition where 19 winners were recognized for their outstanding achievements across nine categories.

Globaloria is a provider of K-12 computer science education founded on the mission that all students should have access to courses to create a computer literate generation in order to drive the global, digital economy, close socioeconomic digital divides and reduce gender gaps in STEM careers. As the largest program of its kind nationwide, Globaloria generated more than 700,000 hours of design thinking in classrooms in 2015-16, led by 650 educators in 150 schools across 15 states.

“Welcome to the future of education, where computer science is a human right that should be accessible to all students,” said Dr. Idit Harel, CEO and founder of Globaloria. “It is our collective responsibility to educate the next generation of change makers and innovators by providing accessible computer science resources for teacher training, and programs that allow students to fully thrive in an increasingly digital world. Committed to the White House Computer Science for All initiative (#CSForAll), Globaloria empowers America’s students with the skills they need to be creators and leaders in the digital economy.”

The Globey Awards competition was judged by a panel of 18 notable industry professionals from companies and institutions that prioritize STEM initiatives, including Google Education, Rutgers University, BazaarVoice, iCivics, Filament Games and New York Hall of Science.

“Computer science and computational thinking are an important new literacy required to solve important challenges in the world,” said Megan Smith, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, in a letter congratulating students for their computer science learning achievements at the awards ceremony. “Today we have over 600,000 high-tech jobs open in the United States, in all different fields—and they pay 50 percent more than the average private sector job.  It is important to prepare everyone with skills to be a full participant of the 21st century and help all Americans gain creative confidence.”

The Globey Awards also featured two primary keynote speakers: Robert Scott, former Texas commissioner of education, and Jennifer Lopez, commercial innovation technology development lead for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), where she develops breakthrough innovations for the International Space Station. Both speakers are native Texans and graduates of the University of Texas, and they are inspirational role models for leadership in science, technology, education and government.

About Globaloria:
Globaloria is a leading national provider of computer science education. Its blended-learning platform, course catalogue for students, and teacher training courses, enable K-12 students to become socially-minded, innovative change makers through computer science learning programs. The Globaloria pathways (for CTE, STEM and Core integration) offer effective and adequate methods to teach computer science using industry-standard programming languages and professional digital media tools. For more information: www.globaloria.com

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