December 7-13, 2020 marks Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek), an annual call to action designed to introduce K-12 students to computer science, celebrate the contributions of their fellow students and teachers, and create opportunities to inspire the youth of today to pursue computer science.
With CSEdWeek in full swing, there’s no better time than now to get involved and be one of the 400 partners and 200,000 educators worldwide by hosting your own Hour of Code event! Hour of Code is a self-guided one-hour introduction to computer science that’s designed to demystify “code” at an early age to show students that anyone can learn the basics and participate in this growing field. By exposing K-12 students to computer science at an early age, students are able to improve their problem solving skills as well as improve their logic and creativity which can have a huge positive impact on their lives.
With computer science being a rapidly growing field, an Hour of Code event has the possibility to shape student’s lives and set them up for success in a 21st-century career path –– and you can easily get involved and host your own event! Hour of Code makes hosting your own event easier than ever regardless of your level of knowledge in code and has a wide variety of resources available to help you facilitate. Using the tutorials available on Code.org, those interested in hosting an event can review the how-to guide and choose from a variety of hour-long tutorials for their students. Best of all, tutorials are available for a wide variety of ages and experience-levels so you can find the best hour-long program for your audience as possible.
Tutorials work on a variety of devices including PCs, smartphones, and tablets and are designed to promote teamwork from beginning to end. For interested hosts with limited technology available to them, Code.org has tutorials that allow students to work together on shared devices and even have tutorials that require no PC, smartphone, or tablet at all.
The purpose of Hour of Code is not to become an expert in code in one hour, it’s to show off how fun and creative code can be and convey to students that code is accessible to everyone regardless of their background. When you consider the positive impact an Hour of Code event can have on the lives of the students participating and the fact that no prior code experience is needed to host an event, it’s a win-win for all involved! Take the next step and visit Hour of Code’s How-To page here to get started planning your Hour of Code event to join this extremely beneficial movement.