Waukee Brookview Elementary Students Get Involved with The Hour of Code

In honor of Computer Science Education Week, December 5-11, Waukee Brookview students participated in the Hour of Code event.

The Hour of Code is a movement reaching millions of students from all around the world with over 161,710 events. The program gives students a one hour self-led tutorial that teaches basic computer skills to help familiarize them with computer technology and coding.

“Although Computer Science Education week is only seven days, students are able to apply what they learned from the hour of coding to other aspects of their lives,” said computer teacher, Cindy Herren, “They gain essential learning skills like problem solving, logical thinking and how to be collaborative.”

Every year the Hour of Coding creates their tutorials with specific themes in mind to reach the interests of younger students. This year they chose Disney’s new animated movie, Moana. In previous years they have chosen themes like Star Wars, Minecraft, Frozen and more.

The Moana tutorial consisted of 19 levels that got increasingly harder. The player moves Moana and controls what she does by creating different coding instructions for each level. Once a student completed a one hour tutorial they received a certificate to show they finished successfully.

After completion, the students moved on to the online program, Scratch. This is where they were able to apply their learning and create a game on their own or with a partner.

“I like doing Scratch because we can make whatever we want,” said 5th grade Averi Bergman.

Fifth-grade students Averi and Olivia worked together to create their own game on Scratch. The player of their game was instructed to use the arrow keys to move a bowl back and forth to catch falling donuts. Each time a donut was successfully caught it counted on a scoreboard.

“We chose donuts because we thought it was creative and unique,” said 5th grade Olivia Mills.

Another fifth-grade student, Charlie Cross, developed a game similar to Averi and Olivia’s. The player controls a crab at the bottom of the screen, which has to dodge falling sharks. He entered his game into the school’s technology fair, which won a purple ribbon and qualified for the State Technology Fair.

“I’m proud of the creativity students bring into coding and developing their games. Each student is unique and they are able to show it through the games they create,” Herren said.

Students participating in the Hour of Coding also have the opportunity to program robotics. The Hour of Coding offers robotic tutorials that include concepts like coding, programming, controlling, and more. Some titles of tutorials are, Program Drones and Robots, Creating a Game with a Hummingbird, The Ozobot Tutorial, Dance the Loopedy- Loop and much more.

Over 322,591,165 hours have been served for the Hour of Code by schools, businesses, individuals and more. To get you or your team involved visit the Hour of Code’s website here.