Hour of Code

Students in Princeton have been participating in Hour of Code the past few weeks.

At North Elementary, all students in grades 3-5 participated in the "Hour of Code" during Computer Science in Education week. We held an event called "Let Your Kid Teach You to Code" where students were able to bring a parent and go through a coding tutorial on code.org together. Over 50 families attended! We also were able to provide the opportunity for students to participate in a robotics coding competition using the Dash & Dot robots. We had 71 students join the competition which just wrapped up after 2 1/2 months of after school fun and learning!

Students and parents worked together at North's family coding event.

At South Elementary, students have been using the app Kodable to learn the basics of computer commands and sequences (www.kodable.com).  Students had to use critical thinking, logic, trial and error and perseverance to get their Fuzz through the maze on planet Smeeborg.  Many students commented that it was the "best app ever" on the iPad.

1st Graders coding at South - Programming sequences for mazes is hard work, but they stuck with it and had fun!

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. It is an attempt to expose kids and adults of all ages to the basic ideas of computer coding. It is a worldwide event that takes place in early December. This year alone, almost 200,000 global Hour of Code events registered with the Hour of Code website.

What is coding? Coding is the ability to read and write a machine language and think computationally. Coding can be taught in many ways, including iPad apps, computer websites, and even paper/pencil.

Kids today are surrounded by technology. It is clear that computers and programming are central to most aspects of our lives. Kids who learn the basics of programming can become better architects of their future world. Kids relish the challenge to become “creators” – be active participants instead of passive consumers. In addition, the computational thinking (analytical, logical) skills that underlie coding will be required for future knowledge workers to continuously adapt to our increasingly data-filled world. There is growing recognition that computer literacy is essential for a 21st century workforce.

For more information about why kids should learn to code, read on: http://www.tynker.com/blog/articles/ideas-and-tips/four-reasons-why-kids-should-learn-programming/