Bebras® Challenge in Greece
The Bebras® Challenge in Greece is a free Student Informatics and Computational Thinking Competition. This is an international educational initiative aimed at developing Computational Thinking for students of all ages (1st to 3rd grade) with special group names (Squirrels, Hedgehogs, Beavers, Foxes, Deer, Wolves). Through creative and fun problems, children are encouraged to deal with problems that require logic, resolution, analysis and synthesis, without requiring them to have programming knowledge or previous experience.
International level
The competition was founded in Lithuania in 2004 by Valentina Dagienė of the University of Vilnius. Since then it has expanded to dozens of countries, including Greece, with millions of students annually: in 2018-2019, around 2.7 million students from 56 countries participated!
National level (Greece)
In Greece, the Bebras International Informatics and Computational Thinking Competition was piloted, for the first time in 2019, by the Learning Technology and Teaching Engineering Laboratory of the University of the Aegean (LTEE lab). The first Greek event was attended by more than 13,000 students of all educational levels from about 398 schools across the country.
In recent years, participation has increased significantly with the 2024-2025 Competition attracting around 28,000 students,700 schools and 500 teachers.
The 4th Competition 2025-2026 in Greece will take place between 10-21 November 2025!
What do participants gain?
The participation alone has value and is recognized by a special certificate of participation. The increased performance in the competition is distinguished by special awards. More specifically, for the participants of the competition, the following are provided: Certificate of participation, Commendation, Distinction Award and Award for best performance in the school unit.
Why is it a good practice?
The Bebras Contest is a good practice for many reasons:
- Enhancement of Computational / Logical Thinking:
The competition problems are designed to require critical thinking, strategy development and problem-solving, not just memorisation or programming knowledge, thus promoting young people’s advanced digital skills. - Accessibility and inclusion:
The tendering procedure has no cost of participation. Students of all levels, even without prior experience in computer science, can participate. Also, the age groups cover elementary, high school and high school, so that the experience is shaped in accordance with age. - Incentive and recognition:
Students receive certificates of participation, praise, distinction, awards. This creates motivation, boosts self-confidence, highlights talents. - Educational value for teachers and schools:
Teachers assume the role of coordinator, there is educational material, old topics & solutions and manual coordinator for guidance. This helps both to prepare students and to integrate computational thinking into teaching practice.
Large scale and positive account
Participation in the Competition is constantly growing, demonstrating that there is growing interest in the initiative, which at national level has also advanced in the collection of detailed statistics (for the 3rd Competition 2024-2025):
- A total of 28,000 pupils participated, of which the gender breakdown was: 37% boys and 31.5% girls. 31.5% did not supplement the gender as it was not mandatory, but assuming that the distribution of these students was 50% boys and 50% girls, the total distribution would be 52.75% boys and 47.25% girls.
- The average score, taking into account each age group, was 36.65 points with an excellent 116 points. The average score by gender was: 36.68 (boys) and 36.41 (girls).
- The median score, taking into account each age group, was 34 points. That is, 50% of the students scored less than 34 points while the remaining 50% scored more than 34 points.
More statistics can be found here.
*For more information, please visit https://bebras.gr/ or the competition website https://greece.cuttle.org/. To support participants in the competition in Greece: support@bebras.gr
