Coding as an Avenue for Creative Thinking
In a New York Times December 3, 2014 Motherlode blog, KJ Dell’Antonia wrote about how kids across the country have the opportunity to program light patterns for the state holiday trees that stand around the National Christmas Tree at The White House in Washington, DC. Your family can go on Google’s Made with Code website, click on the “Code the Holidays” link, and use Google Blockly Code language to create your light pattern for the California tree. You will notice there is a particular emphasis on and invitation for girls to participate in this activity.
What does this mean? Coding represents an opportunity for students to bring value into their lives and the lives of others as well as an opportunity to live out our mission of making a contribution to our world. Certainly, our own agency to exercise our creativity is at stake in the matter. Daniel Rushkoff’s 2010 book, Programmed or Be Programmed, says it succinctly if not rather bluntly. It means there are incredible opportunities out there for our kids, and it starts with an Hour of Code. Parents, you can also explore additional tutorials with your child over the break at Code.org.
To close Assembly, I shared the introductory video for the 2014 Hour of Code http://hourofcode.com/us and offered this quote from Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College, as we sat in silence together: “Coding is today’s language of creativity. All our children deserve a chance to become creators instead consumers of computer science.”
Ask your fourth through eighth grade students this week about learning through coding!
Brad Weaver, Ed.D
Head of School
Back
Kids learning to code is certainly receiving a great deal of attention. When Make movement founder Dale Dougherty spoke in the Jackson Theater at ieSonoma 2013, he said that coding helped kids to be active producers of technology as opposed to passive consumers. Tina Barseghian of KQED Mind Shift reported in 2013 that coding, making, and the arts are essential skills for young people to cultivate creativity and innovative thinking. I’ve remarked that learning the language of code is as important to a young person’s future as learning a second language.
The national Computer Science Education Week is this week. Code.org, an organization founded by brothers Hadi and Ali Pavroti, encourages school children all across the world to participate in an Hour of Code. Last year, to promote the first year of the initiative, Code.org enlisted the help of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and even President Obama, who suggested in his weekly blog address, “Don’t just play on your phone, program it.”
Our stuldents joined over 15 million students in 170 countries who participated in the inaugural Hour of Code. The children who used the Code.org online tutorials wrote over 500 million lines of code. This is an astounding number! By comparison, the Microsoft Windows operating system has only roughly 50 million lines of code. Of particular note, given how imbalanced computer science fields are by gender, more girls experienced computer science during the one-week Hour of Code last year than in the last 70 years.
Our students reported that Hour of Code was among their favorite activities of last year, and we are thrilled to participate again. Last year, as I visited rooms, students shared with me their excitement and their discoveries. Some of the work wasn’t easy and all students experienced challenge no matter their prior experience with coding. Hour of Code activities included learning to code for the first time, introduction to Javascript and Python programming languages, and even designing games and iPhone apps. Everyone found the opportunity to stretch themselves and to grow in their knowledge of coding. Ms. Sorensen, Mr. Fitzgerald, and Ms. Gaab all joined in on the fun and learned alongside their students.
The national Computer Science Education Week is this week. Code.org, an organization founded by brothers Hadi and Ali Pavroti, encourages school children all across the world to participate in an Hour of Code. Last year, to promote the first year of the initiative, Code.org enlisted the help of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and even President Obama, who suggested in his weekly blog address, “Don’t just play on your phone, program it.”
Our stuldents joined over 15 million students in 170 countries who participated in the inaugural Hour of Code. The children who used the Code.org online tutorials wrote over 500 million lines of code. This is an astounding number! By comparison, the Microsoft Windows operating system has only roughly 50 million lines of code. Of particular note, given how imbalanced computer science fields are by gender, more girls experienced computer science during the one-week Hour of Code last year than in the last 70 years.
Our students reported that Hour of Code was among their favorite activities of last year, and we are thrilled to participate again. Last year, as I visited rooms, students shared with me their excitement and their discoveries. Some of the work wasn’t easy and all students experienced challenge no matter their prior experience with coding. Hour of Code activities included learning to code for the first time, introduction to Javascript and Python programming languages, and even designing games and iPhone apps. Everyone found the opportunity to stretch themselves and to grow in their knowledge of coding. Ms. Sorensen, Mr. Fitzgerald, and Ms. Gaab all joined in on the fun and learned alongside their students.
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While we highlight coding during this special week, it is not the only coding our students experience during the school year. Other lessons include:
- Sixth graders complete a 20-hour computer science course from Code.org back to back with Lego Mindstorms Robotics Unit 1.
- Seventh graders code in science during a Lego Mindstorms Robotics Unit 2 and in history when they use Minecraft to build a virtual medieval village.
- Eighth graders code in math using Wescheme during first quarter. Programming is used to teach key algebraic concepts. Our eighth graders shared the computer games that they had designed at the Assembly.
- In early December, we also announced new enrichment classes for the spring, which include a coding class for students in grades 2-4. The afterschool program is being offered at a very nominal fee, thanks to a gift from an SCDS family.
What does this mean? Coding represents an opportunity for students to bring value into their lives and the lives of others as well as an opportunity to live out our mission of making a contribution to our world. Certainly, our own agency to exercise our creativity is at stake in the matter. Daniel Rushkoff’s 2010 book, Programmed or Be Programmed, says it succinctly if not rather bluntly. It means there are incredible opportunities out there for our kids, and it starts with an Hour of Code. Parents, you can also explore additional tutorials with your child over the break at Code.org.
To close Assembly, I shared the introductory video for the 2014 Hour of Code http://hourofcode.com/us and offered this quote from Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College, as we sat in silence together: “Coding is today’s language of creativity. All our children deserve a chance to become creators instead consumers of computer science.”
Ask your fourth through eighth grade students this week about learning through coding!
Brad Weaver, Ed.D
Head of School
Sonoma Country Day School
We are…
The premier, fully accredited, independent TK-8 college preparatory school in Sonoma County. Located in northern Santa Rosa and proud home of The Jackson Theater, SCDS offers a challenging academic program rich in fine and performing arts, music, world languages, and social and emotional learning. For more than thirty years SCDS has been the school that brings learning to life.
