Cedar Hill ISD Longhorn Insider November 2017 | Page 7

CODING IN THE CLASSROOM
WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY
Students code lessons at Waterford Oaks and a
robot at middle school STEAM academies.
A
ccording to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, computer occupations are
projected to generate more than
1 million job openings from 2014 to 2024. Cedar
Hill ISD is preparing students for college and
employment with new and fun technology.
Code to the Future
Kindergarten through fifth-grade game players
become game creators with Code to the
Future, a computer science immersion program.
Launched in September, the online program will
be integrated into all core classes at Waterford
Oaks Elementary later this semester.
Fourth-grade teacher Shawana Hunter says her
students took to the program quickly. “Students
are still learning the basics,” she says, “but
they’re already completing projects.” Erica Molett
says her 9-year-old son, Tyler, has used coding
software since first grade, but the fourth-grader
now has even more enthusiasm. “His interest has
been reinvigorated.”
JettLingo
Students enrolled in the new middle school STEAM*
academies learn to code with JettLingo, a visual
programming language. They create animations as
well as programs and control Jett, a friendly-faced
robot that can move and emulate emotion. Learners
write the code in a web-based platform, so they can
work on projects anywhere that has internet access.
By learning to code, students gain in-demand job
skills. What’s more, they experience an alternative
approach to critical thinking.
In order to create simple actions with code, students
are forced to reduce those actions into smaller
steps, says Clayton Mills, W.S. Permenter Middle
School Entrepreneurship & Design Academy
teacher.
*Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math
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