After winning first place in our first Online Coding Challenge, we spoke with our winners about their motivation for being part of the competition, what are their plans for the future, and how micro:bit devices have changed their classes. The students Ermira Oruchoska and Sead Rustemoski prepared the project called "Vacuum cleaner Mirina v1.0", under the mentorship of the teacher Risto Kolarovski.
Can you tell us what your project does?
EO: Our project enables automatic cleaning of surfaces in our home.
SR: Our project is a model of a stand-alone vacuum cleaner that avoids obstacles or follows the given path.
What do you think are the advantages of teamwork?
EO: The advantages are that when you work as a team we can exchange more ideas and experiences and complement each other, remove the negatives, and accept the positives.
SR: The advantage of teamwork is that more ideas are considered, experiences are exchanged and solutions to the given problems are easier to find.
What new skills did you acquire after you started working with micro: bit devices?
EO: We have acquired programming skills and new knowledge of electrical engineering.
SR: We gained skills in the field of informatics, programming and electronics.
Are you thinking about which profession you will choose in the future? Will critical thinking and problem solving be useful to you in that work?
EO: My profession I want to choose is a programmer, but programming and working with computers will help me choose any other profession. Yes, of course, positive critical thinking helps in every improvement.
SR: I see the future in economics, and programming, critical thinking and solving any problem in any profession in my opinion is very helpful.
How did your family and friends react to the news of the victory?
EO: When we won the competition my family and friends were very happy, delighted and very pleasantly surprised and in any case the support continues with greater intensity.
SR: The reaction was certainly positive and admirable, because the victory is a reward for the effort and an incentive for new challenges.
What would you say to your peers who are considering whether to apply for the next match?
EO: I would recommend them to be brave and apply for the competition because it is really a wonderful experience.
SR: Apply, realize your ideas, it is very important for the public to see your projects that will make their daily lives easier in the future. Really worth it.
Questions for the teacher Risto Kolarovski:
1. What changes did you notice in the children when they started working with the micro: bit devices?
In the previous hours where the micro: bit device was used, the changes were felt in the thinking of the children. Immediately the ideas start how to do it, where to start, so wait I will start with this and so they entered the world of micro: bit with a smile at the end if it works as they imagined the project.
2. How does schooling change if you apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills in class?
Students are freer to discuss problems because of problem solving using critical thinking.
3. What are your impressions of working with students when creating your project?
During the creation of our project we had interesting classes, sometimes we stay a little longer, sometimes we worked from home, but it was worth seeing how the vacuum cleaner works in the end, and the joy and emotions of the children were immeasurable.