The Hour of Code is Here!

by Maggie Wunderlich, Senior Associate, Achievement Team

This week, students all over the world will participate in coding games and tutorials to build knowledge of and participation in computer science. The Hour of Code is put on by Code.org, a non-profit dedicated to spreading awareness of computer science. Their goals are to increase availability of computer science content in schools and participation of women and historically underserved student populations in the content. Code.org believes (as does Rocketship!) that computer science and programming should be part of the core curriculum, alongside other STEM content.

As of now, 49 million students in 57,000 classrooms have tried the Hour of Code. Our 6,000 Rocketeers will join the learning and fun this week! Here’s how it works:

1. Be sure each student has a device or students are in pairs.
2. Teachers choose a tutorial to present to their students from the list on the Code.org website. Some tutorials are available on browsers, while others are available on browsers, tablets, and even smart phones. Code.org also provides activities that don’t require a computer.
3. Students click on the tutorial to get started and code for an hour. It’s that easy!

Tutorials are kid-friendly — students can learn to code with Anna and Elsa from Frozen — and represent a variety of coding websites, like Tynker, Scratch, and Lightbot. Teachers can also generate and print participation certificates to give to students after they finish their hour of code.

Last year at Rocketship, this event ignited interest in coding across campuses, grade-levels and genders. Students who are intrigued can participate beyond an hour, and teachers can use the coding tutorials to supplement STEM content in the classroom.

Let’s get coding!

Share your hour of code experiences ➟ @RocketshipEd

Maggie Wunderlich is a member of the National Curriculum & Assessments team at Rocketship. She grew up on the East Coast and attended Gettysburg College, where she studied English and Theatre Arts. After graduation, Maggie joined AmeriCorps, where she delivered one-to-one literacy tutoring to elementary school students. She then managed an after-school reading program in East Oakland and earned a Master of Arts degree in Education before teaching upper elementary and middle school for three and a half years. When she’s not at Rocketship, Maggie likes to cook, read, travel, and spend lots of time outside.

Published on December 8, 2014