The Hour of Code – Join the Movement

We live in a computer powered world. Coding is the language our computers speak. As an educator or a parent, have you ever introduced students to coding?
Computer science is a top-paying college degree. Jobs in this market are growing at 2 x’s the national average, yet the number of students pursuing computer science degrees has dropped in the last decade. In fact, it is estimated that by 2020 there will be 400,000 computer science students in the United States and 1.4 million computer science jobs. Women and minorities are extremely underrepresented in this group. Why such an enormous gap?
 

Why Introduce Students to The Hour of Code?

What is The Hour of Code?

The Hour of Code is a weeklong global awareness endeavor to introduce students to the world of coding in as little as one hour. More importantly, it is designed to encourage schools to offer students opportunities to learn this important language. Currently 9 out of 10 high schools don’t offer computer programming classes. In fact, in 36 states, computer science doesn’t even count towards required math and science requirements. The goal is to involve 10 million students. 

I learned all of this and more from the resources found on The Hour of Code website and it is my hope is to encourage readers of this blog to check them out and participate too. If you don’t have an hour to spare next week, perhaps you can schedule one hour at another time this winter. Our students deserve to be introduced to The Hour of Code and the activities provide us with a fun way to help students develop problem-solving skills.