Students in elementary school to high school students participated in “The Hour of Code” at the YOUmedia lab and classrooms in The Dome. The Hour of Code is a worldwide initiative to teach youth the basics of computer science and computer programming.
It’s a skill set that is an ever growing need in virtually every industry and field that is hiring said Rene Stratton, the coordinator of Hour of Code.
“Computer science is really broad,” she said. “It falls under any category that they are ever going to want to do. Whether it is gaming, energy, designing, it all falls under computer science.”
Elementary students were seen Wednesday night playing with Ozobots and littleBits, sophisticated toys that allow younger kids to learn the basic of coding.
Emanee Wright, a junior at Springfield High School, was working with the students and said Ozobots teach kids coding by drawing.
“They read codes by color,” she said. “There are different patterns you can put down and have the Ozobots read them.”
LittleBits are coded blocks that connect to each other. Beth Lenze, a senior, was working with children with the littleBits.
“You can do a lot of things with these,” Lenze said. “It is fun, a lot of kids really enjoy them because they can connect them and do different things, they can do whatever they want.”
The students were instructed to try different things, but were also allowed to keep doing something they enjoyed.
“They can just keep learning specifics to what they like,” Stratton said
High school students were also participating in the Hour of Code at The Dome. They were asked to try to accomplish four tasks. The first was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
However, to do so, they had to direct a student helper by giving him codes to make the sandwich. The students had to instruct him to pick up a knife and retrieve peanut butter with it to spread on a slice of bread — the command “put peanut butter on bread” would lead the helper to place the jar of peanut butter directly on top a loaf of bread.
Another activity was a video game that prompted players to command a figure to achieve goals, command lights on a circuit board to light up and to code a drone to start its propellers.
“It gives them at least some exposure to computer programming,” Thompson said.
Students said they enjoyed the Hour of Code week.
“The experience of hands-on learning was great,” Jesse Morris a freshman said.
He enjoys toying with electronics to see how they work.
“This is something I want to do for the rest of my life,” he said.
Continuing coverage
The Springfield News-Sun is devoted to reporting on how local schools are preparing students for the 21st century work force and has covered the subject in-depth.
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