Many District 58 students got hands-on with computer science and coding activities last week for Hour of Code.
Hour of Code is a global movement to inspire students to take interest in computer science. It encourages children to spend at least one hour during the week learning about coding. Here in District 58, many teachers opened the Hour of Code with an introductory video starring the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and President Barack Obama. The video stresses the importance of learning computer science.
Some O’Neill students learned coding basics from a special guest: Ti Leggett, a computer scientist at Argonne. Leggett asked the students how they would build a house on Minecraft, and then collaboratively went through the steps of coding such a house. Leggett was joined by Emily Cantu, Argonne’s educational outreach lead.
“Computer science is the science of the future, so it’s really important for students to get a good foundation,” Cantu said. We visited Deanna Bloom’s sixth grade class at Fairmount and Katherine Padilla’s fifth grade class at Highland to learn more about what students are learning.
Bobby, Fairmount
"I’m learning Javascript and HTML. I think coding will be useful for a job when I grow up."
Catrina, Highland
"I think these coding tutorials can be used by kids and adults. Anyone who wants to learn how to code!"
Francisco, Highland
"I want to design soccer video games when I grow up. As a game designer, I’ll need to know how to code."
Gabriel, Fairmount
"Coding is really cool. By typing in codes, you can actually make your computer screen do stuff."
Grace, Fairmount
"I think coding is really important to learn. If you want to make games or apps, coding is a really big part of that."
Marley, Fairmount
"I like the Minecraft and Star Wars coding tutorials. It makes coding fun."
Morgan, Highland
"I like all of the choices I have on the Hour of Code tutorial page. There’s a lot of different coding challenges to try."
Nadia, Highland
"It’s fun to learn how to make games."
Nazarus, Fairmount
"I used coding to create my own game."
Will, Highland
"I want to be a computer engineer someday, so I really like learning all about coding."