The Amazing Lab

The Amazing Lab, among the engineers

tjcruz — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 23:02:00 +0000

Today we were present at the Order of Chartered Engineer’s headquarters (Zona Centro), presenting our project and taking part in a debate about the Challenges of Teaching Computer Engineering, organized by the Regional Council of the College of Computer Engineering.

Capture the Flag!

tjcruz — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 21:22:00 +0000

Yesterday we challenged a group of third and fourth graders from the 1st João de Deus school in Coimbra (Portugal), to participate in a cryptographic Capture the Flag event, with lots of padlocks, secret boxes with encrypted clues, and real flags.

Everyone got his own cryptographer manual and teams had to collaborate to decrypt the messages and solve the riddles.

A big “Thank you” to the 1st Jardim-Escola João de Deus de Coimbra, to our friends at Feedzai and to the Departamento de Engenharia Informática – Universidade de Coimbra, for supporting the Amazing Lab project.

Finally, a heartfelt recognition to Prof Bill Buchanan OBE from the Edinburg Napier Univeristy, which inspired this activity.

Diploma day!

tjcruz — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 23:12:56 +0000

Today we visited our friends from the 1st Jardim-Escola João de Deus de Coimbra, to deliver the conclusion certificates for our introductory programming course.

We also promised to return next year, with new challenges!

Our visitors from the Colégio de São Teotónio, Coimbra

tjcruz — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 23:03:34 +0000

This time, our guests were from the neighbourhood, more specifically from the Colégio de São Teotónio, in Coimbra. Lots of interested people, with curious minds and the will to set new high scores for our untangible Flappy Bird game.

About functions and blocks

tjcruz — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 08:16:26 +0000

Few things are more fulfilling than to work with kids. This time we learned about functions and blocks, and how to extend the available instruction palette with custom behaviours.

A visit from the Colégio João de Barros, Pombal

tjcruz — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 22:56:34 +0000

This time, our visitors came from the Colégio João de Barros, in Pombal. A wonderful group of curious and interested students, which paid us a visit.

Our guests from the Agrupamento de Escolas de Pombal

tjcruz — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 22:50:04 +0000

This time, our guests came from the Agrupamento de Escolas de Pombal. As always, it was a pleasure to host them at the Amazing Lab – please come back soon!

Decisions, decisions, decisions…

tjcruz — Wed, 24 May 2023 18:54:00 +0000

Today we visited again our old friends from the 1st Jardim-Escola João de Deus de Coimbra, to teach some fundamental programming concepts using our Codey Robots – today’s class was dedicated to learning about conditional instructions!

As usual, lots of (good) energy.

Our visitors from the Escola Secundária da Batalha

tjcruz — Thu, 18 May 2023 16:47:00 +0000

This time, our guests came from the Escola Secundária da Batalha (31 students and 3 teachers). It was a pleasure to host you at the Amazing Lab – please come back soon!

The Amazing Lab goes to the EB school de Portomar

tjcruz — Mon, 15 May 2023 21:24:34 +0000

This time, our friends from the EB school de de Portomar opened their doors to the Amazing Lab. We shared knowledge, answered so many interesting questions and, in the end, it was also incredibly fun!

Thank you so much!