Denton ISD Our Impact In Your Community Magazine Winter 2015-2016 | Page 16

the Write Stuff
Schools use games to prep
students on coding languages for
a future filled with technology
s technology rapidly progresses, so too
do the types of jobs available. To help
prepare students for this trend, Denton ISD
schools recently participated in Hour of
Code, a global initiative designed to teach
children basic technology programming.

A

For younger students, McNair teachers used
tutorials that focus on the same types of
lessons with simpler visual cues. Most text
is replaced by symbols, and the general
lessons are laid out more like puzzle games
to explain how coding works.

At McNair Elementary, all students – even
kindergarteners – received training during
the school’s weeklong participation in Hour
of Code. Each class visited the computer
lab at least twice during the week and
tried different coding tutorials, with some
integrated with popular child-friendly
franchises such as Angry Birds, Frozen,
Minecraft and Star Wars.

Dr. Debbie Cano, principal of McNair,
said Hour of Code provides students with
an entry point into advanced subjects
because of how it integrates education with
their favorite games, movies and subjects.

In one tutorial, fifth grade students started
off their coding experience by learning
how to move a character forward with
a simple command. The students later
moved different commands on the screen
in the order they wanted them to occur,
then they pushed a button to run the
completed set of commands to see if their
ideas worked.
Advanced students could even toggle the
tutorial’s options to show the actual code
behind each command and edit them that
way – with text instead of dragging and
dropping preset directions.
“I’m a really big fan of Star Wars, so it’s
really cool how I can play this and also see
how it’s working at the same time,” said
McNair fifth grader Clara Beeks. Seeing
how they actually do the programming
is really neat. I could definitely see myself
doing something like this when I grow up.”
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PHOTOS BY ANTHONY TOSIE

McNair Elementary students take part in the school’s Hour of Code
training sessions on Thursday, Dec. 10, learning how software developers
make programs for computers, smartphones and other devices.

“I want our students to see what’s actually
happening when they play a game, use an
app or browse the Internet – basically for
them to see the mystery of how computers
work,” she said. “For a student to see how
regular things they enjoy work is big. Our
educational environment has to adapt and
be responsive to our students and culture.
It helps our students’ mastery of learning
when they re doing something they enjoy.

“I’m a really big fan of Star Wars, so
it’s really cool how I can play this and
also see how it’s working at the same
time. I could definitely see myself doing
something like this when I grow up.”
lara ee s

c air lementary fi th gra er

Dr. Cano relied on school librarian Noelle
Hill to organize McNair’s Hour of Code
events, which included submitting a
schedule to the organization that runs the
initiative to explain how the school’s time
would be used.
“I think this is a good preparation for our
students, because their future is going to