Events

Athena Research Center, through the dedicated efforts of its Units: "Archimedes" and the "Innovation Unit for Women" (IUW), serves as the official organizer of the international Bebras® (Beaver) Informatics and Computational Thinking Competition in Greece. The competition aims to inspire students, in collaboration with their educator-coordinators, to explore the exciting world of Computational Thinking through engaging and thought-provoking technology topics. With the support of leading scientists, educational associations, and numerous selected volunteers, the Athena Research Center is responsible for organizing the competition, which will be held from November 4-11, 2024, in all grades of primary, middle, and high schools across both public and private educational institutions in the country.

The Bebras® competition, known as “Beaver,” originated in 2004 as an initiative by Professor Valentina Dagiene from Vilnius University in Lithuania, aiming to promote education in informatics. Today, the “Beaver” competition is an international initiative, organized by the Bebras Community (http://bebras.org/), to foster the development of Informatics and, specifically, Computational Thinking among educators, students, and pupils. The competition is open to students of all ages, from preschool to high school, with more and more countries organizing the Bebras competition every year. It has become the largest extracurricular activity in informatics worldwide. In the 2018-2019 school year, the “Beaver” competition took place in 56 countries, with nearly 2.7 million students participating.

That same year, from February 25 to March 8, 2019, the competition was held in Greece for the first time as a pilot project, organized by the Laboratory of Educational Technology and Didactic Engineering (LTEE lab) (http://ltee.aegean.gr/) of the University of the Aegean, with the collaboration of numerous organizations, associations, and volunteers. It was a great success, with 398 schools and over 13,000 students from all educational levels and all regions of Greece taking part. This year, the Athena Research Center, along with the Archimedes Unit and the Innovation Unit for Women, is organizing the event, supported by a distinguished organizational and scientific committee. The competition’s scientific committee includes 22 faculty members from Greek universities, 12 coordinators of Informatics Education Projects, and 20 teacher-researchers with significant contributions to informatics education in Greece and internationally. Participation in the competition is free of charge for students.

Additionally, the Organizing Committee of Bebras in Greece (Athena Research Center for Innovation in Information and Communication Technologies and Knowledge – Athena, Innovation Unit for Women) maintains a dedicated website at https://bebras.gr, where information about the competition is available.

As coordinators of your school unit for Bebras® GR – 2024-2025, in collaboration with your school administration, you will be able to register students in the competition system, allowing them to participate under your supervision. You will also be responsible for managing the results and communicating with the school community and the organizing committee. Participation is free of charge and exclusively conducted within school units under the supervision of an educator. Student participation is anonymous, facilitated by matching codes managed by the school coordinator, ensuring no personal data of students is stored or processed by the competition system. Results can be matched to students by the school’s coordinating educator outside the competition system, strictly within the school for private use. Since the competition topics align with the Greek Informatics Curriculum, participating in the competition is treated like any other use of educational software from the internet, requiring written parental or guardian consent for student participation. We also suggest informing the teaching staff association and the broader educational community about the competition and your school's participation.

The following categories have been set for this year’s competition: Grades 1-2 of Primary School (ages 6-8), Grades 3-4 of Primary School (ages 8-10), Grades 5-6 of Primary School (ages 10-12), Grades 1-2 of Middle School (ages 12-14), Grade 3 of Middle School (age 14-15), Grades 1-2 of High School (ages 15-17), and Grade 3 of High School (ages 17-18).

Details on school registration, anonymous student account creation, competition launch, results issuance, etc., can be found in the “School Coordinator’s Manual for Bebras® 2024-2025” available at https://bebras.gr/instructions/.

For support with participation and any questions regarding the organization process, you may contact the organizing committee via: