The inaugural Computer Science (CS) Challenge in Hong Kong will be held on 21 May 2016. The CS Challenge is a one-day contest jointly organized by the Computer Science Department of the City University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Digital Game-based Learning Association and Ming Pao Education, and is open to all upper primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong. Three CS-related themes have been designed to challenge the young students to a battle of wits at the Amphitheater of the City University of Hong Kong.
We are very excited to have the Algebra Game Challenge being one of the three CS Challenges. The Algebra Game Challenge will feature the Algebra Game and Algebra Maze with some of their new puzzle levels. The other two challenges are digital games - one a computer game to move animals across hurdles via abstract thinking skills required in computer coding and the other to program a cute robot to solve a physical maze.
The CS Challenge also plays a dual role as part of the Claude Shannon Centenary, 2016 Hong Kong, whose purpose is to mark the life and ideas of Claude Shannon, an American mathematician and engineer, who was a visionary pioneer in the fields of computing, information theory, communications and machine intelligence. Among his many genius creation is Shannon's Maze-solving Theseus Mouse in 1951. This machine ushered in the age of machine intelligence when a computer (using telephone relays) is capable of searching for a solution by trial and error and then remembering the solution. It was also Shannon's Theseus Mouse that inspired Paul Baran, the Internet pioneer to come up with the packet switching principle and dynamic routing underlying our Internet technologies.
During the CS Challenge, educational exhibits of Claude Shannon and replicates of his fun and thought-provoking robotic machines will be on display. We hope the younger students get to know more about Claude Shannon and his marvellous creations as they bravely enter the Maze as Theseus did.
