OHS Marks Annual "Hour of Code" with Programming, 3D Printing, Robotics

In the library at Ossining High School one December afternoon, students in the Game, App Design and Coding course helped out peers who were trying their hand at computer coding for the first time.

The budding computer programmers were participating in the annual “Hour of Code” event at Ossining High School, whose goal is to get more students interested in computer science and technology careers.

The students watched a video tutorial about the programming that went into the making of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” They solved a number of coding challenges, including how to use block code to get BB-8, a spherical droid, to pick up scraps of metal. The school screened “Star Wars Episode I -- The Phantom Menace,” “Episode II -- Attack of the Clones” and “Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith” in the library.

“I’m taking coding class the next quarter, so I figured I’d get a head start,” said 10th-grader Christopher Love.
OHS has held Hour of Code activities for several years. It started very small in the computer lab, said Glenn Goldberg, a mathematics teacher who helped organize the Hour of Code at OHS. This year the activities spanned two days – Dec. 9 and Dec. 11 -- and included a screening of the movie “Code Girl,” 3D printing, robotics demonstrations and other activities.

Schools around the world celebrate the Hour of Code each year as part of Computer Science Education Week. It is organized by Code.org, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science and increasing the number of women and minorities in the field.

While 67 percent of all new jobs in science, technology, engineering and math – STEM – are in computing, only 8 percent of college graduates in STEM are in computer science, according to Code.org. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by 2022, there will be more than one million job openings in computing.

This is the first year OHS has offered a Game, App Design and Coding course, and 80 students signed up for it. Mr. Goldberg, who teaches the classes, said he’s amazed by the amount of creativity the students have.

“I’ve been a teacher for 23 years and, after looking at students’ programming projects, I’m saying, ‘That is so cool,’” he said.

Next year, the school will be adding a class on Computer Science Principles to further enrich OHS’ current Engineering and Computer Science Curriculum, Mr. Goldberg said.

Alec Santiago, a senior, said Game, App Design and Coding is a “really fun class to be in.” He used to want to go into gaming and code design after high school but now he’s focusing on structural engineering.

In Doug Albrecht’s engineering 2 class, the Hour of Code week coincided with a unit on Arduino, a platform for building electronics projects. It includes a circuit board and computer software for writing code to program the circuit board, also called a breadboard.

David Arias and Jhaneth Vivar, both 16, partnered on rebuilding a circuit board and programming the computer to get multiple LED lights to flash. Both said they’re enjoying the challenge of the higher level engineering class. David said he’s interested in getting into an architecture program after high school. Jhaneth said she wants to pursue architecture of structural engineering.

“We actually have to think in this class,” Jhaneth said. “You have real-world problems that you have to solve and use in your actual life.”