Student Tech Zone

15 - 27 Jul 2024

EPGL (Summer Program 2024)

The Enrichment Program for Gifted Learners aims to nurture high potential students by providing them with opportunities to explore different interdisciplinary areas of study, so as to broaden their knowledge and let them experience the teaching style and learning environment of a university under the guidance of HKUST’s faculty and professional instructors.

Organised By The Center for the Development of the Gifted and Talented (CDGT) / The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Official Website About Enrichment Program for Gifted Learners:
https://cdgt.hkust.edu.hk/epgl-overview

Programme Information:
https://cdgt.hkust.edu.hk/epgl-courselist
Online Application Form https://ust.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5Bm52QXShxpJQhw
Application Period 25 March - 18 April 2024
Delivery Mode Face-to-face mode
Venue HKUST Campus
Enquiry Email: cdgt@ust.hk
Tel: 3469 2006 / 3469 2643
Attachment(s) Poster

(1) Programming Fun with mBot x Scratch

Target Participant Primary students (P5 – P6)
Pre-requisite - Suitable for students with no or less background in Scratch.
- Each student must bring their own Makeblock mBot 2 for lessons, or purchase through CDGT at a cost
Description Scratch is a programming language developed by MIT Media Lab. With drag-n-drop, learners can easily create projects with audio and video effects, and share creations with others. mBot is a do-it-yourself educational robot kit created by robotics experts.

The first half of this course will focus on sharpening the basic logical skills of the students through Scratch while the second half will concentrate on teaching students to develop their own software to control the robotic device mBot. Students will build the mBot robots themselves from separate mechanical pieces in the first class. Then they will learn the basic skills for putting the intelligence into the otherwise dumb mBot and transforming the robot into an intelligent self-driving autonomous vehicle. This involves putting advanced abilities like dynamic sensing, dynamic decision-making, and inter-vehicle communication into the mBot robot and utilises them to do self-driving – which is one of the hottest topics in the industry today.

Basic programming concepts, e.g. variables, arrays, controls, loops, data abstraction and objects, are infused into the course too. These are universal principles for any modern programming language, and will be beneficial if kids want to go further in coding.

The course will conclude with a rally competition of teams of mBots on a “line-chasing” map to practice what they have learnt from this course.
Programme Schedule Robot Assembly, Lectures & Practice
Date: 15, 17, 19, 22 & 24 July 2024
Time: 2:00pm - 4:30pm

Project Demonstration & Presentation
Date: 26 July 2024
Time: 2:00pm - 4:30pm
Language Cantonese supplemented with English
(Lecture notes in Chinese)


(2) Python for Everyone

Target Participant Senior Primary / Secondary students
Pre-requisite Students with basic computer skills and interested in computer science and programming.
Description This course is a programming course for everyone, teaching the popular Python programming language. No pre-requisite knowledge in programming is needed. The course introduces programming fundamentals, such as variables and expressions, program control flow with branches and loops, functions, strings, and lists. Via lectures and programming exercises, students will be able to write simple Python programs to solve practical problems. Learning to program is ultimately about learning to think logically and to approach problems methodically. Such abilities can be carried ahead and prepare students for any advanced programming courses in the future.
Programme Schedule Date: 16, 18, 20, 23, 25 & 27 July 2024
Time: 10:00am - 12:30pm
Language English


(3) Python: Beyond the Basics

Target Participant Senior Primary / Secondary students
Pre-requisite Students who have completed “Python for Everyone” or with basic programming knowledge, such as variables, control flow and functions.
Description This course is a continuation of the introductory course “Python for Everyone”.

In this course, students will learn how to utilise functions in different ways to make the code more manageable and flexible. Advanced topics include basic file I/O, creating Graphical User Interface (GUI) using the turtle module, recursive functions (recursion) and introduction to object-oriented programming. Via lectures and programming exercises, students will be able to create an interactive program and visualise their creative ideas with file processing and GUI programming.
Programme Schedule Date: 16, 18, 20, 23, 25 & 27 July 2024
Time: 2:30pm - 5:00pm
Language English