This week is Computer Science Education Week, and like many schools around the country, Charles Wright is celebrating by participating in the Hour of Code. In December 2013 the folks at Code.org started the first ever Hour of Code event, described as “a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. Anyone, anywhere can organize an Hour of Code event. One-hour tutorials are available in over 40 languages. No experience needed. Ages 4 to 104.” Sounds amazing, right?
Though the history of this movement is brief, it has had a major impact, bringing computer science into the classroom in such a way as to spark interest, promote learning, and really show kids what coding is all about. How is all of that accomplished in just one hour, you may ask? Code.org has a number of different tutorials designed to walk you through the steps of learning to code by starting with basic commands and advancing through a series of challenges until you reach the point of creating your own program based on the tools you have learned thus far. No experience necessary! For example, this year you can build blocks of code in the Minecraft world, create your own Star Wars video game, code with Anna and Elsa of Frozen, or even make your own Flappy Bird game. Code.org uses visual programming, but if you already have coding experience, there are more advanced options as well.
Students in our Lower School Tech Club have been practicing their coding in Scratch and Blockly. With Mr. Newton’s help, they are now ready to assist any interested students in the Lower School participating in the Hour of Code this week during lunch recesses Tuesday through Thursday. Fourth graders got a head start last week trying their hand at the Minecraft tutorial, and students in our Middle School will be participating as well, notably during seventh grade science.
Does your child have an interest in computer science? Coding is really something they can learn at their own pace, through a variety of different classes or options online. For more resources, please visit the CWA programming/coding site initially created for our Middle School Coding Club but now expanded to include resources for all ages. Of course, Mr. Chissoe offers AP computer science in the Upper School, and many of our students have advanced their coding expertise through the Robotics Club (competing this weekend, go watch!), but the purpose of the Hour of Code is to make coding feel more accessible to all kids, and adults, so jump in and get started with us! While coding certainly gets more complicated the more advanced one becomes, the computational thinking, sequencing, and problem solving that comes with building a program and then figuring out where it needs tweaking when it doesn’t work as planned is learning from which we all benefit.
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