How to Inspire a Future Generation of Computer Scientists

With a £100m investment in last year’s Budget to create a new a National Centre for Computing which will train 8000 new teachers in computer science, it's clear that the government is keen to invest in the future of computer science. This will be a welcome intervention after computer science teachers were placed on the shortage occupations list last January; the centre aims to ensure that teachers “have the specialist training and support they need to educate the next generation of British computer scientists”. A hopeful outcome of this injection of money and attention is ensuring that every secondary school pupil can study computing, by trebling the number of trained computer science teachers to 12,000.

So that's what's happening on a national level, but what can individual schools do to inspire a future generation of computer scientists? Figures published by Ofqual in June 2017 showed entries into computer science GCSE rose from 61,220 in 2016, to 67,800 this year, demonstrating the increase in interest. There’s a real opportunity for schools to start expanding on the ways in which they teach computer science and here at Adaptable Travel we've got a wide range of computer science school trips to choose from to help feed this new computer science appetite!

Here we've listed a few of our favourites:

Silicon Valley Computer Science  

What would a list on computer science school trips be without a mention of the world’s foremost area for computer technology and innovation? Silicon Valley is home to all the giants of the tech world: Google, Apple, Facebook, Visa… We could go on and on. With tours including the California Academy of Sciences and the world famous Googleplex, students can become totally immersed in the world of computing. All of this can then be capped off with a bit of sightseeing around San Francisco - the perfect way to inspire your students to continue onwards and upwards with their computer science careers!

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Berlin  

With the Berlin Computer Science Trip we hope that students really get a feel for the history of technology and how this is still affecting our lives on a day to day basis. Your trip can include visits to some of the giants of German manufacturing such as BMW and Volkswagen as well as seeing how technology is influencing manufacturing. Students can also watch the production of Volkswagen's premium class car the Phaeton at Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory.

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London Computer Science  

For those looking for something a little closer to home, a computer science school trip to London is just the ticket! With a wide range of activities available from a trip to the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, to the Making of Harry Potter at Warner Brothers studios, there's something for all students’ interests. One experience we're particularly proud of here at Adaptable Travel is our Sky Skills workshop at Sky Studios which lets students experience the cutting-edge technology behind video production.

Beijing and Shanghai  

With China fast becoming one of the global leaders in computer technology, now is the perfect time to visit and soak up the Chinese culture and all their technological innovations. The Shanghai Science and Technology Museum is a real gem and houses 14 separate exhibitions. From there, students can visit the Yùyuán Gardens which were created in 1559 and during the Ming Dynasty, were declared a national monument in 1982. Covering 5 acres, the gardens are laid out in the traditional Suzhou style - a perfect opportunity for students to combine both technology and Chinese culture.

Above are just a handful of the computer science school trips we offer at Adaptable Travel. Whatever your plans to encourage the next generation of computer scientists, there are school trips for every age range showing students that computer science really is the industry of the future.