Second grader Madeline R. struck her arm out to her side as instructed by classmate Evelyn Y. Then she pushed her hip out on the opposite direction from her arm, mimicking a disco-style dance move.
In another part of the classroom the soft tones of Harry Styles’ “As it Was” could be heard playing.
Elsewhere, small groups of students clustered together, intently focused on the computer screens in front of them.
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It was hard to imagine what the music and the dancing Madeline was doing had to do with computer coding, but it did not take long to find out.
“We’re trying to make a dance party,” second grader Kent K. said matter-of-factly.
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“Coding is when something electrical happens in the computer,” he explained. “A coder is a programmer, someone who programs stuff.”
The students were learning how to become programmers themselves during Computer Science Education Week’s Hour of Code. The second graders were having fun while learning how to manipulate an avatar they had created to dance. They were being assisted by members of the Tech Titans, a middle school club that focuses on teaching technology to younger students.
Practicing dance moves helped the younger students decide what kind of dance they wanted their character to do. They then learned how to input the appropriate code so the character did what it was supposed to do. Every single movement the character made had to be coded, whether it was waving their arms or kicking their legs into the air.
Carla M. added her own definition of coding.
“Coding is when you make a character dance by using your keyboard,” she said.
The activity supports the second-grade students’ STEM rotation, said Alana Winnick, Pocantico’s Education Technology Director. She added that the Tech Titans had come in to assist during their recess.
“I think that’s really amazing,” she said of the older students.
“It’s really fun,” eighth grade Tech Titan Clover G. said, adding that it’s even more special to be assisting because her sister was in this class.
“They’re learning what they need to do in order to make their character move,” she said. “It’s a great way to learn to code, and they’re doing it in a fun way.”
Coding, Clover said, is something that is “learning, dressed as fun.”
“I really like the idea of teaching the younger kids how to be more tech savvy,” Clover said. “They will be online all their lives.”
