Be A Computer Scientist for a Week

McGill Computer Science Summer Camp 2013

July 8-12 2013

Registration is Open until May 16 2013

School Information

In July 2011, McGill University's School of Computer Science is hosting its seventh "Be a Computer Scientist for a Week" camp. The intention is to get high school students in Grades 10 and 11 (ages 15 to 17) interested in science and in particular computer science and software engineering. The camp focuses on introducing students to the field, giving them an overview of the study of computational systems through lectures, and developing their problem solving and analytical skills through projects and exercises derived from the real-life application of a mission to Mars or the design a real video game system.

This will be a free event for students with high-grade standings. We ask you to identify students whom you deem to be qualified, and most suited for the camp. The selection of students is left to your discretion, however, the following criteria should help you in making this decision:

Does the student have solid knowledge in mathematics, science, and/or computer systems?
Is the student a team player?
Does the student work well in groups?
Is the student creative? Can the student come up with original solutions to problems?
Is the student interested in participating? Does the student have motivation to take on a new challenge?
Is the student available throughout the week of the camp?

The Camp Organizing Committee will randomly select 15 male and 15 female students from the pool of entries that it receives for each camp (MISSION TO MARS or GAME PROGRAMMING GURU). The student must select the camp they prefer to attend. Notifications will be sent to all applicants in the month of June, and selected students will be asked to confirm their attendance by a certain deadline.

Our intention is to promote science to all interested teens between the ages of 15 and 17, five applications will be retained for students coming from sources other than high schools. We strongly urge any clubs, camps, or institutions, which have teen members, to actively promote and register for this camp. The Camp Organizing Committee will select at most five of these applicants.

Attending students will be exposed to the McGill University campus and atmosphere. They will get familiarized with the equipment possessed by the School of Computer Science and the learning opportunities it offers. Most importantly, the camp is not gender-biased: we intend to encourage female participation in the camp.

The daily schedule is divided into five units, two morning and three afternoon units. The morning units are lecture-based while the afternoon units are organized as: lab time, project development time, and a daily tour of an interesting site at McGill. The camp is structured to allow students to have time where they can learn on their own as well as time where they work and socialize in a group.

The morning units will begin with a special keynote speaker, either a professor from McGill or a visiting speaker. The keynote speaker presents the theme of the day using an audiovisual presentation and interactive talk. This talk is followed by a classroom lecture. Different material is covered every day, and the afternoon sessions extend this material by labs, a practical mini-project and a tour of a McGill site related to the topic. Research Groups of 2 or 3 students are formed to solve a series of progressively more difficult computer problems. Research groups function from Monday to Wednesday. On Thursday, the students are organized into Competition Teams. A competition is held on the last day of the camp during which the competition teams must develop a non-trivial program. The weeklong experience ends on Friday with a BBQ during which the competition results are revealed and prizes are awarded to the winners.

Teachers and parents can attend the competition and award ceremonies.

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Information

Important Doc.

The following documents are available in PDF format.

These documents are also available in French.