Highlights: Hour of Code

The following article was written by Bethany Ferrall.

South Carolina students participate in national Hour of Code

Code.org’s nationwide effort paid off in a big way, exceeding expectations

IT-oLogy led the way during the week-long Hour of Code by providing daily workshops at IT-oLogy and 24 instructors and volunteers at 14 area schools. Over 1,000 students in the Columbia area and 69,000 across the state of South Carolina participated in the Hour of Code.

Workshops were held December 9 – 13 at IT-oLogy. “These workshops were a great opportunity to engage middle and high school students in the basics of computer programming. The hands-on workshops covered the basics of a variety of programming languages and tools. And, no experience was necessary!” said IT-oLogy Promote IT director, Alicia Thibaudet.

The Hour of Code was part of the annual Computer Science Education Week (CSEd Week), a celebration geared to encourage interest in the field and show anyone can learn the basics. Nationally, 15 million students participated in the Hour of Code.

For more information about the Hour of Code visit their website or visit Venture Beat.

DID YOU KNOW*

• Children who learn introductory computer science show improved math scores

• 90% of K-12 schools in the US do not teach computer science

• Software jobs outnumber students 3-to-1. The gap is 1 million jobs over 10 years.

• In many countries, (including China, UK and Australia) computer science is – or will be- required.

• Anyone can learn the basics, starting in elementary school, but fewer than 10% of students (and just 4% of females, 3% of students of color) take computer science classes.
*from CSEd Week

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