Troy 30-C Students Celebrate Hour Of Code

Photo 1: Sixth grade students in teacher Heather Giles’ (back, right) Enhanced Technology class at William B. Orenic Intermediate School, with projects they are working on to celebrate National Hour of Code. Here, they are with Principal Kelly Landers (back left).

Photo 2: Seventh grade students in Debra Benson’s Consumer Technology class at Troy Middle School participate in Hour of Code activities.

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Students at two Troy Community School District 30-C schools spent much more than an hour coding technology projects during December’s National Hour of Code.

It’s important, according to Heather Giles, Enhanced Technology teacher at Troy’s William B. Orenic Intermediate School.

“Coding is becoming a literacy all students should know about,” Giles said. “You could compare coding to story-writing. We learn the parts that make a story, but we are not all going to write novels as a profession. Coding can be the same. It’s important to learn the structure of a computer program. We may not all end up being programmers, but it is helpful to know how code is written as we move into this digital age. We all have millions of lines of code in our hands every day.”

In Giles class, students learn how to code robots for such activities as running a maze, and code 3D printers using block coding languages. Their tools include Sphero Robots, LEGO Mindstorms, Hummingbird Bits, Makey Makey and some text-based coding activities.

Two of her students, Robert Malinowski and Jackson Bright, said they are enjoying the challenge of the class.

“It’s a fun way of interacting with technology,” Robert said.

“It’s pretty interesting,” Jackson said. “It’s like putting a puzzle together.”

Troy Middle School Consumer Technology teacher Debra Benson said her Hour of Code activities include creating apps, websites and video games, including coding a dance party. Benson said the annual Hour of Code is a great way to get more students, teachers and schools around the world involved in computer science.

“Students learn programming concepts like loops, conditionals and basic debugging,” she said, “but a much more important goal is for students to learn that computer science is fun. You can start at any age, in any classroom, even if you don’t have a computer.”

“It’s so important to expose kids to what they can potentially do in their futures,” said Dr. Jenna Woodland, Troy’s Director of Instruction. “There are currently many career opportunities for those who are knowledgeable in computer coding, even for those who don’t want a career in the IT field.”

Hour of Code is an international campaign with goals to improve student access to computer science. It is organized by the not-for-profit, Code.org. The campaign provides free computer coding curricula for students and encourages schools to schedule at least one hour of coding into their students’ schedules every year in December.