The hour of code is in its third year of existence, and I am proud to state that my classes have participated in it every year, meaning that of the millions of students who have participated, I have contributed over 1,000 kids to the initiative! The goal of the hour of code is to expose kids to code, and to showcase it as an important skill, and not one to be intimidated by. Last year, President Obama participated in the hour of code in the USA, and this year, Prime Minister Trudeau took part in Canada. “In the 21st century, computer science is just as important to a well-rounded education as chemistry, biology, or physics,” says Hadi Partovi, CEO of Code.org and creator of the Hour of Code campaign. I could not agree more.
We always start by watching this video:
Following the video, we discuss the reality of the economy in the Province of Alberta (heavily tied to oil), unemployment rates and peak oil (we have used up more than half the earth’s oil reserves, and once the oil is gone, it’s gone). We talk about what the jobs of the future are going to be in this province if not oil, and then we talk about coding as a skill set that everyone should have at least some knowledge of. Then students go to www.code.org and spend about a half hour learning a bit about code writing using the blockly interface.
