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Students from Year 10 GCSE Computer Science went to Charter School East Dulwich for a HackJam run by Alan O'Donohoe from the Exa Foundation, which supports outstanding computing in schools.

The purpose of the day was to bring together GCSE students to discover the fun, excitement and power of computer science, through enjoyable, team-based problem solving. 

When we got there, the students had a couple of ice-breaker problem solving tasks to complete. They then worked in teams to choose a program to create during the day.

What was interesting about their challenge was that they adopted a 'paired programming' style approach. Traditional paired programming has students working in pairs whereby one student is the 'driver' doing the programming and the other student is the 'navigator', reviewing each line of code as it is typed in and providing guidance.

Alan has adapted this paired programming to accommodate at least another person - the 'Ada'. This is influenced by Ada Lovelace. Ada was a mathematician who lived from 1815-1852. She became friends with Charles Babbage who was a pioneering mathematician, scientist and inventor of the Analytical Engine. She is known in history books as the worlds first computer programmer because she envisioned the computer as it is today. 

The role of the 'Ada' in Alan's approach is to go and find out what the other groups are doing and to feedback to their own group, to improve their programs, or adapt them. The students then presented their programs to the rest of the group at the end of the day. 

The day was an opportunity for the Year 10s to focus on creating programs and working together in groups. They were able to enjoy programming and try out new ideas that they can then take back to the classroom. 

I'm so incredibly proud of how capable and competent Year 10 are with their programming skills. 

Ms Newell