From ages six to eighteen, computer coding has become a worldwide phenomenon.
The Hour of Code has spanned from California to cities in Japan and Russia. The global project presents students with simplistic games that are actually steps to learn coding. With its popularity and pragmatic use, Colonie Central High School decided to join in for a second time.
“It’s a worldwide movement to teach students about coding. Last year, I received an email from the College Board. We tried it last year at the high school, and it went really well with 193 students,” said Michele Famoso, a Colonie Central High School physics teachers and faculty head of the Science Club.
This year, more than 300 students in South Colonie participated in the program. About 200 students at the high school, 42 at Veeder Elementary, 62 kids in the Forest Park fourth grade and 41 in Sand Creek’s sixth-grade math class took part.
North Colonie joined in as well, with Latham Ridge Elementary and Shaker Junior High School participating in early December.
The goal for Hour of Code is to have at least 100 million people participate in the movement. As of late last week, over 79.5 million people, students and adults alike, had already completed at least one hour of coding.
On Wednesday, Dec. 17, students in Colonie Central High School gathered at six locations throughout the school to complete their hour of coding, a make-up date from the snowstorm the week before. Famoso had five games picked out for students to try, although there are several more on hourofcode.com to teach the basics of coding.
“I actually, I know nothing about computers, and I don’t want to go into STEM, but it just seemed like a lot of fun,” said high school junior Hannah Fahy. “No matter what you do, you’re going to have to end up working with computers at some point in your life. And even just, like, even a home, personal computer, you have to know how to work it.”
Fahy’s echoed what many students felt—that the basics of computer programming are going to be necessary in the future. Famoso said she thought the movement was good in order to push more students into a largely growing job field.
“The big push is with STEM careers,” Famoso said. “They’re saying participation with computer science, that the colleges are not graduating enough to fill the jobs. It’s an effort to show the kids an avenue that could be fairly lucrative. It’s not minimum wage. You don’t need a four year or master’s degree.”
While Fahy said she was not interested in a STEM career, other students, like Peyton Heffernan, in 10th grade, and Gabriel Fabian, in ninth grade, both said they wanted to go into engineering careers.
“I just wanted to try it out. I’m not really into any after school programs. I just wanted to see, because it seemed interesting. I want to go into an engineering career,” Fabian said.
“I’m actually on our school’s robotics team,” said Heffernan. “I’m actually a programmer. I’m not really good, so I want to try and get better. I’m not good at Javascript. I want to get better at it.”
Practicing with Javascript is one of the more advanced games on the website. Others include interacting with a robot to get it to complete tasks, even coding with Anna and Elsa from “Frozen.”
The coding games are for students in kindergarten and up. Famoso said her young daughter participated in the Hour of Code in her kindergarten class in North Colonie. Now, her daughter keeps asking to play on Famoso’s iPad. Famoso said she does not realize she is learning coding, but thinks she is just playing a fun game.
More information on the Hour of Code movement can be found at hourofcode.com. There, teachers can find information on how to do a lesson on both desktops for older students and iPads for younger. Students can also find the programs to play, either at home or at school.
