Seeing how excited these kids were to collaborate and create something in this mystifying language was truly inspiring. While it was extremely cool to witness such enthusiasm for learning, I couldn't help but think about the kind of trajectory these experiences were placing on the students at this activity. More and more industry is focused on technology and in innovation and engineering solutions that drive the other industries. Being able to write and manipulate Code has become a skill that is in high demand these days. Many companies have reported that they have a difficult time finding employees with these skills. The public schools are now being approached by companies who would like their core instruction to include computer programming. This means that the tools to learn these important skills have never been more accessible.  | In the month of December, Canyons School District classrooms (and schools across the state of Utah) will be participating in the Computer Science's Ed Week project called 'Hour of Code.' The Hour of Code project strives to involve all students, ages 6-106, in a "one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code" and show that anyone can learn the basics to be a maker, a creator, an innovator." Teachers and entire schools can sign up to participate and every teacher who completes an hour of code with students will earn an extra 10GB of Dropbox space! Schools in which every student participates are entered to win a mobile computer lab. Tutorials for students to use during the hour of code are available for FREE. Teachers need not worry whether (or not) they know how to code as the tutorials are designed to be self-paced training students that complete on their own! If computers are not available for your class and you still want to participate many activities not requiring computers are ready as well - use the tutorials found at Computer Science Unplugged! Sign up to participate today! |
