The Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge has passed the halfway mark, but it’s not too late for teachers and students to sign up. Since the fall, CoderZ and Amazon Future Engineer have been bringing real-world industry to Title I classrooms with this free, three-hour virtual learning experience. Students can sign up for the challenge to learn the basics of computer science at any time until the end of the current school year. They will also uncover how Amazon uses computer science and robotics daily to deliver customer goods.
Schools that support students from underserved communities who finish the challenge will have the chance to keep learning on CoderZ’s cloud-based platform with its virtual robots and game-like “missions.” For teachers who want to continue with CoderZ, Amazon will also sponsor free access to the yearlong curriculum for 100,000 students from underserved communities within the United States for a full semester during 2020 – 2021.
“We’re truly delighted to be partnering with Amazon Future Engineer,” said Ms. Yaarit Levy, VP Business Development at CoderZ. “This challenge has proved to be an excellent way to keep students engaged and learning even if they can’t be together with teachers at this time.”
The Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge provides a unique learning experience for students in grades four and up where they can explore and practice coding skills while taking an inside look at real-world industry. Participating students will see how what they learn in class relates to future job opportunities. That makes this challenge a great bonus unit for any STEM/computer science class or curriculum.
Aligned to CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards, the Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge can be broken into four, 45-minute or three, 60-minute lessons for any class (Introduction to Computer Science, AP Computer Science Principles, science, math, etc.). As part of the experience, two Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship recipients introduce the challenge and guide participating students. As students make their way through the competition, the Scholarship recipients share details about their own personal journeys into computer science, which is helpful for younger students to hear firsthand.
Aside from the sponsorships, students’ cyber robotics learning doesn’t have to stop once they have completed the Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge. They can continue their coding journey via CoderZ’s comprehensive offerings such as CoderZ Adventure for elementary students, the Python Gym course for students in grades seven through 12, and the middle school curriculums Cyber Robotics 101 and Cyber Robotics 102. Teachers can even register their classes for the all-new CoderZ League Sprint Challenge that will be played in March.
Throughout the year, Amazon Future Engineer is committed to providing access to high-quality computer science education for hundreds of thousands of students from underserved and underrepresented communities. In addition to sponsoring continued access to CoderZ for more than 100,000 underserved students, the Amazon Future Engineer program more than doubled its own reach to more than 5,000 schools, benefitting more than 550,000 K-12 students across the country.
For more information about the Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge, go to https://gocoderz.com/amazon-cyber-robotics-challenge.
About CoderZ
CoderZ is an innovative and engaging online learning environment. Developed for students in grades 2 and above, the gamified STEM solution allows students to work at their own pace, easily programming real and virtual robots from anywhere in the world. The platform enables students to acquire computational thinking, problem-solving and creativity skills, together with coding and STEM learning, all via a flexible and scalable virtual solution. For more information go to www.gocoderz.com.
