The PACT team at Maynooth University Department of Computer Science develops resources and supports to allow teachers to teach topics in computer science at both primary and secondary school.
We specialise in computational thinking resources and supports. Computational thinking is a set of problem solving skills that computer scientists use when they do their everyday work. It intersects with all STEM fields because computational solutions have proven to be useful in many scientific fields.
Our PACT team in the Department of Computer Science at Maynooth University have been training teachers in how to teach computational thinking skills since 2012. We have engaged over 30 000 teachers and students in computational thinking activities, with funding from Maynooth University Department of Computer Science, the Google CS4HS programme, and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
With SFI Discover funding through 2024, we are able to expand these efforts.
News: We have a number of Bebras tasks in all three languages 
Ukrainian, English, Gaeilge for teachers to use as ice-breakers in the classroom. We have developed a TY module on computational thinking for transition year teachers (more details in the teacher resources section). Also, see our seasonal teacher resources (Seachtain na Gaeilge, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter tasks are our latest additions). More teacher workshops will be announced in 2024. Hope the 10,000 students who participated from Ireland (and the 3 million worldwide) enjoyed the Bebras Challenge (bebras.techweek.ie) during 13th-26th November 2023 organised by the Irish Computer Society. Hope to see some of those students at the Bebras National Finals at Maynooth University in April 2024!
Ukrainian, English, Gaeilge for teachers to use as ice-breakers in the classroom. We have developed a TY module on computational thinking for transition year teachers (more details in the teacher resources section). Also, see our seasonal teacher resources (Seachtain na Gaeilge, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter tasks are our latest additions). More teacher workshops will be announced in 2024. Hope the 10,000 students who participated from Ireland (and the 3 million worldwide) enjoyed the Bebras Challenge (bebras.techweek.ie) during 13th-26th November 2023 organised by the Irish Computer Society. Hope to see some of those students at the Bebras National Finals at Maynooth University in April 2024!
