Students across the Bryan-College Station area -- and the country -- are participating in the annual Hour of Code program this week, as educators work to promote access and education about computer science to as many students as possible.
While the College Station Independent School District had previously been involved in the annual Hour of Code event, which began in 2013, this is the first year for the Bryan school district to officially participate.
For Arian Rutkowski, a first-grade teacher at Bryan's Henderson Elementary School, the experience of bringing computer coding into her classroom has been "amazing."
"They love it," Rutkowski said. "It's been one of the most engaging activities for my kids."
She added one of the biggest benefits has been that students are able to progress through the program at their own pace.
"It's taught them to be problem solvers," Rutkowski said. "They're OK with getting it wrong, because they're seeing what they're getting wrong and they're able to work on that code until they master it. It's been incredible just to see how dedicated they are to learning and bettering themselves."
In addition to their teacher, students in Rutkowski's class received help from Texas A&M University Mays Business School students who volunteered their time.
Apratim Mukherjee, who is earning his master's degree in the management information systems program at Mays, compared the Hour of Code program to learning the piano.
"Whatever gets drilled into your brain at the beginning of your life stays with you forever," Mukherjee said. "When you talk about somebody learning the piano, usually they start when they're 6 years old or so and continue as they grow into an adult. That's the same way that it is with coding."
He added that another important component in encouraging students to continue and flourish as they learn to code is the involvement of their parents.
Mukherjee said while many parents may look at coding as a "really difficult" subject to learn, he believes if more took the time to learn a little bit about it, most would recognize how accessible it really is.
"If somebody is logical, they'll be able to figure out how to do it," Mukherjee said.
Henderson Elementary Principal Danielle Legg said incorporating skills like coding into the education of students is an important way schools can help prepare the children for their futures.
"I think we're preparing kids for jobs that probably don't even exist yet," Legg said. "They love video games and all sorts of technology. This is just tapping into what they know and love and want to do even in their spare time. We're incorporating it in school to make it more meaningful and hopefully preparing them for those jobs that will be available one day."
Julea Johnson, executive director of instructional support for the Bryan school district, said the district has been impressed by the response that it has seen from teachers so far this year and is planning for a more comprehensive initiative next year.
"Right now it might be a little spotty, but we've had so much buy-in that we definitely want to push forward with doing a district-wide initiative next year," Johnson said.
She said that at least 16 Bryan schools will participate in Hour of Code throughout the week.
A College Station spokesperson said that each of the district's schools will also participate in some way throughout the week.
No comments:
Post a Comment