International Conference on Computational Thinking Education 2017 (CTE2017) is the first international conference organized by CoolThink@JC, created and funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, and co-created by The Education University of Hong Kong, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and City University of Hong Kong.
CoolThink@JC strives to inspire students to apply digital creativity in their daily lives and prepare them to tackle future challenges in any fields. Computational thinking (CT) is considered as an indispensable capability to empower students to move beyond mere technology consumption and into problem-solving, creation and innovation. This 4-year initiative educated over 16,500 upper primary students at 32 schools on computational thinking through coding education. Moreover, through intensive professional training, the Initiative develops the teaching capacity of 100 local teachers and helps them master the coding and computational thinking pedagogy. Over time the project teams target to affect greater change by sharing insights and curricular materials with policymakers and educators in Hong Kong.
“Computational Thinking Education” is the main theme of CTE2017 which aims to keep abreast of the latest development of how to facilitate students’ CT abilities, and disseminate findings and outcomes on the implementation of CT development in school education. It comprises keynote and invited speeches by internationally renowned scholars, panel discussions, academic paper presentation, booth exhibition on STEM/Coding products and solutions, and student and teacher poster presentation and demonstration.