The BEACONS Project (Bebras for Engagement and Advancement of Computational Reasoning Skills) is a collaboration between the Irish Computer Society and the University of Limerick funded by Research Ireland and the Department of Education & Youth under the Discover Programme.
Through consultation and co-creation with qualified teachers at both Primary and lower Secondary level as well as pre-service teachers, this initiative will support excellence in the integration of computational thinking skills in both STEM and non-STEM subjects. Consisting of nine distinct work packages delivered over two years, BEACONS will support computational thinking education while also significantly increasing
participation in the Bebras competition, primarily in areas underserved by STEM interventions and in
DEIS schools.
Engaging over 12,000 students and teachers across the broad scope of activities planned, BEACONS will
foster increased teacher confidence and competence in delivering computational thinking activities,
improved student computational thinking skills and attitudes, as well as improved national distribution of
opportunities with respect to computational thinking education. The initiative will also enhance
awareness of computer science and IT sector careers.
In the longer term, BEACONS will contribute to a systemic improvement in computational thinking
education nationally while also contributing to best-practices in this field. The outcome of the initiative
will be a sustainable, scalable model for computational thinking education that can be applied by
teachers in any context nationally.
For further information, or to get involved email BEACONS@ul.ie.
