11 June 2007

Pupils' programming comes up to scratch

School pupils from across Tayside and Fife were today [Tuesday 12th June 2007] discovering a new way of computer programming as they took part in the Strathmore Trophy competition at the School of Computing at the University of Dundee. The pupils were using SCRATCH, a new visual programming tool developed by researchers at America's MIT. SCRATCH allows animations and interactions to be easily sequenced using a visual storyboard and programming instructions put together like Lego blocks. Pupils had just two hours to get to grips with SCRATCH and program their animations.

11 teams from secondary schools across the region from Arbroath to Pitlochry took part in the competition, hoping to collect the Strathmore Trophy and £100 worth of computer software for their school. Mary, Countess of Strathmore, donated the magnificent trophy for the competition, which is now in its twelfth year, and awarded the trophy to the winners.

Lecturer Iain Murray, one of the competition organisers, said "Computer programming is still an important skill in industry, and this competition shows that it can be great fun too". The Strathmore Trophy competition is held annually by the School of Computing to get local school pupils thinking about applications of computer technology to help people.

You are invited to a photo opportunity at the School of Computing, University of Dundee on Tuesday 12th June 2007 at 12:45pm for the prizegiving by Mary, Countess of Strathmore, and to see some of the presentations by the pupils.

For further information, please contact:
Louisa Cross, School of Computing, University of Dundee.
(01382) 384151 Fax: (01382) 385509
e-mail: lcross@computing.dundee.ac.uk

For media enquiries contact:
Anna Day
Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: a.c.day@dundee.ac.uk