It’s that time of year again–time to say mele kalikimaka and hauʻoli… pule kamepiula?
It’s Computer Science Education Week which means that everyone is doing Hour of Code. For real, everyone seems to be doing it. Code.org‘s yearly challenge to students and educators to do an hour of code involves millions of people and 180+ countries.
The idea is that it’s about exposure. Students won’t know if they’re interested in coding and computer science unless they get exposed to it, and the earlier they are exposed, the better. Learning to code is a big, daunting challenge for an adult or even a young adult with no prior exposure, but when you’re a 10-year-old you don’t think about all that. You just figure out what’s fun and run with it. That’s how students get hooked and develop skills early that will serve them later when learning gets serious.
Our after-school students have already been learning in Minecraft this year, so they’ll be doing code.org’s Minecraft Hour of Code program. It’s pretty neat. Students are introduced to Javascript concepts through a game-like platform that’s very visual and fun.
We’re also running workshops. This past weekend our instructor Marion ran a private lesson for the Diane Tom-Ogata’s STEM students at Farrington HS, introducing them to the basics of building mobile apps for apple devices. And this weekend Marion and Bill will be running a mixed workshop on logic gates in partnership with the Queen Liliʻuokalani Children’s Center, Honolulu Unit.
If you haven’t been able to join us for a workshop yet, sign up for our newsletter here to be the first to know when the next workshop dates are announced. And join us in doing an Hour of Code this week! It’s easy and fun to get lost in one of code.org’s many coding lessons here.
