ALTON – Just 60 minutes could change a student’s life forever.
Riverbender.com Community Center is joining nearly 100,000 groups around the world to present an Hour of Code Tuesday, December 10 during After School programming. The event begins at 3:30 p.m. and is limited to 30 students in grades 3-8. The cost is $10 per student. Students enrolled in After School participates free of charge. Students should call 618-465-9850 to enroll.
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“With technology changing every industry on the planet, computing knowledge has become part of a well-rounded skill set,” said Riverbender.com Community Center Executive Director Jeff Allsman. “If you heard about the Hour of Code last year, you might know it made history. More than 100 million students have now discovered how accessible and fun computer science can be by doing just one Hour of Code.”
Former local computer science educator David Morris will conduct the session. Morris, a member of the Computer Science Teachers Association, said “We will join students all around the world for our Hour of Code. For children wanting to program robots, build websites, or create the next big video game, it all starts with an hour learning to code the basics.”
Morris said the group will use Tynker, a program that allows you to learn to make robots move or even build contraptions in Minecraft!
The Hour of Code, which takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week, 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 one-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts supported by 200,000 educators worldwide.
Technology is transforming every industry. In 2015, 7 million openings in the U.S. were in occupations—including art and design—that value coding skills. But 55 percent of schools in the U.S. don't teach computer science.
“While all of us know that it’s important for students to learn how to navigate today’s tech-saturated world, many students aren’t experienced in computer science and don’t know where to start,” Allsman said. “We know that regardless of what our students do when they grow up, whether they go into medicine, business, politics, or the arts, knowing how to build technology will give them confidence and a competitive edge. This event is a chance for all of us to see what computer science is about. We hope it’ll spark interest in students to keep learning. Having exposure to computer science helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity. By starting early, students will have a foundation for success in any 21st-century career path.”
Morris said “the goal of the Hour of Code is not to teach anybody to become an expert computer scientist. One hour is only enough to learn that computer science is fun and creative, that it is accessible at all ages, for all students, regardless of background.”
