Back in my Microsoft days I was actively promoting the Imagine Cup competitions. Realistically, while a couple of high school teams did well, its really hard for high school students to compete with college.university students. This year there is an Imagine Cup competition just for younger students – specifically events for students 6 to 18 years of age. Imagine Cup Earth which is run with help from NASA. This one I am passing along to my own students.
Here is some of the information from the Imagine Cup Earth home page:
Imagine Cup Earth is a new contest for students ages 6-18 in which you’ll use computer programming to create a game, simulation, or story inspired by the kinds of earth science that NASA and other researchers do every day. 18 winning students will win prizes totaling $36,000! You can read the official rules here.
Do I need to know coding?
We have two skill level brackets so you can compete in the one that’s right for you:
Beginner: No coding experience necessary! You can learn to code with free online coding kits from Microsoft Imagine and make your first game, app, or science project in about half an hour using our free learn-to-code tools Kodu Game Lab, Microsoft Touch Develop, or Project Spark. After doing a couple of those coding kits, you should be ready to start thinking about your project for Imagine Cup Earth.
Intermediate: For this bracket, you’ll create a web app in the language of your choice such as HTML5/CSS/Javascript, or Python, or anything else. The only requirement is that it run in a web browser. You can either host your project on your own website or use our free-for-students Microsoft Azure cloud hosting service. Your web app will use real earth-science data provided by NASA to explore the role of chlorophyll and algae in our world’s oceans.
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