Hour of Code

   For the past several years, Gill St. Bernard's School has been an active participant in the Hour of Code program. (It's a key part of Computer Science Education Week, December 9-15 this year.) The program is huge, and growing. Tens of millions of students in dozens of countries participate. And each year, participation grows by leaps and bounds. What's the attraction? Why are so many schools promoting the program?
   Computer Science as a fundamental academic course of study is late to the curricular canon. About a century ago, the Carnegie Foundation funded a prominent study that articulated the structure of the modern curriculum. English, History, Math, Science and Language were to be the key components. Computer Science, of course, was yet to be developed as an area of study. That would wait until computers were developed.
   Over the last decade or two, Computer Science has increasingly become part of students' studies though it often is not part of a graduation requirement for high school students. So conceivably, for a great many students, they might go through their schooling with no exposure to the computer programming that drives software. Given an awareness that computers are inextricably linked to virtually all areas of modern life, and given the fact that a great many jobs depend on computer literacy, the Hour of Code program was developed to insure that increasing numbers of students have at least minimal exposure to computer coding and the ways in which it powers computer behaviors.  The assumption is that through exposure, some will be inspired to learn more.

A certificate can be earned by completing an activity.

    To access the Hour of Code tutorials that teach students about coding, one begins at code.org. At the site, there are coding tutorials for students as young as kindergarteners.  Many of the tutorials are in object-oriented code programs like blockly which simply involve moving blocks that represent commands into a certain order to control movement.  A blockly editor would look like this:

The rectangular blocks on the right that say "move right," "move left," etc. will control the movement of BB-8 droid.

   Older students might use Hour of Code to get introduced to JavaScript, a coding language that looks more familiar to many observers. With JavaScript, coders write lines of code to command the actions of computer software. The Hour of Code site partnered with Khan Academy to offer the JavaScript tutorials.  Khan Academy also produced a short video to introduce learners to the exercise. It provides an excellent explanation as to why coding matters.

    During our Hour of Code week at GSB, students from all three divisions participated.  Jill Fedon ran the program for all lower school students K - 4 in the Cox computer lab.  Carrie Petkiewich did the same for middle school students in the Conover computer lab. In the upper school, a variety of approaches help insure widespread participation. Ninth grade students participated through their seminar classes. The library held an open Hour of Code session during meeting time. Computer Science, Statistics and other classes offered Hour of Code sessions during class times.  In short, GSB student participation in Hour of Code activities was widespread and well received.

    This year, for the first time, upper class Tech Team students volunteered to be peer assistants in the lower school Hour of Code sessions. During available times, upper school students would help Jill in answering questions and offering pointers to students K - 4.  Because of the Tech Team connection and because young children are always entertaining, I visited the Hour of Code classes for the lower school. Below, a gallery of photos from the week.