The ‘Hour of Code’ Computer Science Movement Is Here for Students

Report by Paula Antolini
January 25, 2017 10:41AM EDT

 

 

The ‘Hour of Code’ Computer Science Movement Is Here for Students

 

“Computer Science is a liberal art: it’s something that everybody should be exposed to and everyone should have a mastery of to some extent.” — Steve Jobs

 

The Hour of Code is 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 45 languages. No experience needed. Ages 4 to 104.

View 164,149 ‘Hour of Code’ events around the world here.

The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify “code”, to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts. Check out the tutorials and activities. This grassroots campaign is supported by over 400 partners and 200,000 educators worldwide.

Bethel Middle School students are using Code.org in a competition to see who can earn all 27 trophies the fastest. Winner gets a stuffed Angry Bird.  Bethel High School students are learning a daily programming course.

Code.org® is a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities. Their vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science, just like biology, chemistry or algebra. Code.org organizes the annual Hour of Code campaign which has engaged 10% of all students in the world, and provides the leading curriculum for K-12 computer science in the largest school districts in the United States. Code.org is supported by generous donors including Microsoft, Facebook, the Infosys Foundation, Google, Omidyar Network, and many more.

The Hour of Code is an international campaign to recruit students to try computer science for one hour. A significant reason to do this is to break the stereotype that CS is only for nerdy boys – by showing students that everybody is doing it.  This stereotype is a prime reason girls avoid CS. The #1 way they’re organizing participation is by recruiting teachers to offer an Hour of Code in their classroom. These are math teachers, english teachers, science teachers, who have a 50/50 balance of boys and girls, and can communicate that anybody can try.  The Hour of Code campaign emphasizes the use of “pair programming,” which has been shown to improve computer science (CS) enrollment (especially among young women), retention, and students’ performance, increase students’ confidence, and develop students’ critical skills.The results speak for themselves, with 100 million “hours served”, and 48% of participants being female, the Hour of Code is the largest-scale effort to introduce computer science to girls.

Try a one-hour tutorial designed for all ages in over 45 languages. Join millions of students and teachers in over 180 countries starting with an Hour of Code.

Want to keep learning?  Go beyond an hour.

Click here to find local classes.

For more information click here.

Learn more online here.

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