Children are being taught how to halt hackers in an exclusive coding event running at Edinburgh Science Festival
Information technology company CGI has been holding the coding sessions in a bid to teach youngsters digital skills to block cyberattacks.
The company has offered these interactive drop-in MicroCoders mini-sessions as part of the Datasphere exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland.
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Supported by Digital Xtra Fund, the event involved giving children five minutes to use a micro:bit programming interface to generate an encryption key to stop hackers from stealing important data.
The fund has awarded grants of up to £5,000 to initiatives across Scotland including MicroCoders to appear at this year's Edinburgh Science Festival.
The charity aims to help children aged 16 and under develop digital skills by offering grants to extracurricular tech initiatives across Scotland.
Teaching digital skills in an engaging and interactive way is at the forefront of the charity's mission.
Since its creation in 2016 Digital Xtra Fund has awarded £725,000 to 102 initiatives to support teaching children about digital fields.
Westaly Duignan, Senior Development Manager at Edinburgh Science, said: “As an educational charity, Edinburgh Science values the importance of providing immersive and thought-provoking STEM opportunities for young people.
“We were delighted to receive funding from Digital Xtra Fund, which is supported by CGI, to develop and run our drop-in MicroCoders activity at this year’s Edinburgh Science Festival, which allows young people to meet and learn from cyber security and digital skills professionals.
“MicroCoders is a taster version of a larger STEM careers event we run in November, designed to inspire 3,000 young people to consider the fields of science and technology, employment opportunities in STEM industries and the many possibilities that studying these subjects can bring.”
The coding event is running until April 24 at the National Museum of Scotland.
