Navo Middle School reading teacher Tina Simpson watches as sixth-grader Jasmine Gilford begins a programming tutorial for Hour of Code on Wednesday , Dec . 9 . Mrs . Simpson and other teachers integrated coding into their lesson plans for the school ’ s participation in the global technology education initiative .
Clara Beeks , a McNair Elementary fifthgrader , looks at lines of code during her school ’ s programming training on Thursday , Dec . 10 . While she isn ’ t sure what she wants to do when she grows up , Clara said something involving programming or computers is something she may consider .
McNair Elementary librarian Noelle Hill helps a student with a programming tutorial during the school ’ s Hour of Code sessions on Thursday , Dec . 10 . Mrs . Hill helped coordinate McNair ’ s coding lessons by creating a schoolwide schedule and lesson plan . be filled with technology , � Ms . �ill said . “ A great aspect of [ these tutorials ] is that it ’ s like a game to them , but it still exposes them to higher�level thinking � it�s just a good introduction to technology in an easy-to-understand package .”
While elementary students focused on the basic ideas and principles of coding , secondary students integrated tutorials with specific classes . In a math class , for instance , Navo Middle School students learned how to code a character to move at different angles .
The most recent 10-year employment projections from the � . S . government�s Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the amount of computer occupations to grow 17.7 percent from 2012 to 2022 , providing current children with a vast amount of technology-focused careers . Some technology careers are anticipated to significantly outpace the overall computer occupations segment , such as an expected 22.8 percent growth in software application developer jobs .
Though she didn ’ t enter a career focused on technology , Navo math teacher Lisa Smith said early experiences with computers still help her with her job . Mrs . Smith ’ s father was a mainframe programmer , and her family had a Commodore 64 she would use to draw shapes with programming and math .
Mrs . Smith said exposing students to coding at a young age may not mean they ’ ll enter a technology career growing up , but it gives them a better perspective on everyday tasks . It may even help in job re�uirements for careers that aren�t intensely focused on computers .
“ I love seeing how engaged the kids are – it ’ s teaching them how to give commands in a way they can understand , and they can even see the actual [ programming ] language if they want ,” she said . “ This puts things at the right level so they can understand it . I think the biggest impact this will have is the connection to the real world and where we ’ re headed . They need to see the logic behind things we do , such as how an Excel command works .”
Jazlon McGee , an eighth-grader in Mrs . Smith ’ s Algebra class , agreed with her teacher ’ s assessment and said the coding tutorials made difficult concepts easier to grasp .
“ Coding never seemed easy , but this makes it more understandable to where I can see what each command does ,” she said . “ It ’ s still not easy , but now I actually know what certain commands mean and understand how they work .”
Interested in learning more on coding ?
Try it yourself Want to learn about coding yourself ? Visit www . code . org / learn to view a variety of lessons for people of all ages .
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