Boardman students participate in computer programming event
BOARDMAN
At all seven Boardman schools Wednesday, students spent part of the day learning a skill that teachers say is imperative to their future success: computer programming.
For the first time, the Hour of Code — a global initiative organized by nonprofit Code.org to get students involved in computer programming — took place districtwide in Boardman, led by a group of high-school students.
Many other area schools also are participating in the Hour of Code this week for national Computer Science Education Week. For example, Poland McKinley Elementary students did coding exercises in computer labs Wednesday and Thursday. Austintown students are doing a variety of coding activities throughout the week.
In Boardman, high-school technology teacher Evelyn Stanton organized a collaboration between some of her students and students throughout the district.
Twenty-six high-school students were in charge of class sessions at the middle and elementary schools throughout the day and helped out in high-school classes. About 520 students participated in the event district-wide, Stanton said.
“I thought it was important that people see that computer science and the teaching of computers is important, and also that it’s a great career option
for students in the future,” she said.
Sophomore Cade Santha helped direct classes at Glenwood Middle School, explaining that coding is a set of instructions you give to a device to make it do what you want.
“[It’s] instructions you can do pretty much anything with. It’s endless,” he said.
The high-schoolers helped the younger students use programs on www.code.org.
Middle-school students used programs called CodeCombat and Lightbot, which are games that teach students the basics of coding. Elementary students also learned by playing games.
Middle-school students “had to type in codes to get things to move, and to react, whereas the elementary level, the code was already written. They just had to figure out what block of code went where,” Stanton said.
The Hour of Code was just the start of learning computer code for some students. Tim Harker, a technology teacher at Glenwood Middle School, said he will use Wednesday’s lessons to continue teaching the skill to his seventh- and eighth-grade students.
Harker said he plans to use other websites that use games to teach.
“They’re writing of the code will make the game happen. They’ll love it,” he said.
Justin Olsen, an eighth-grade Glenwood student who participated in the event Wednesday, said he plans to continue with coding.
“It’s a useful skill. If you can code, there’s always a demand for people who know that skill,” Olsen said.
“Society is developing around it. It’s just a cool thing to know how to do,” Santha said.
Santha said he hoped the middle- and elementary-school students came out of the Hour of Code with a better understanding of how prevalent coding is in daily life .
“I don’t want them to think games just pop out of nowhere. It’s a real field. Everyone should know something about coding,” he said.
Santha said he recommends YouTube tutorials as a starting point for anyone who wants to learn coding.
“Anyone can start, no matter what age,” he said.