Take an Hour to Code During Computer Science Education Week

Earlier this week Computer Science Education Week kicked off with a challenge to students of all ages to spend an hour coding (details on how to participate for free below). Coding has long been the high value secret handshake of computer scientists and engineers – the magic behind the smartphone apps and computer software we rely on to get stuff done.

But coding isn’t just for software engineers, as NASA’s Amy Mainzer observed in a recent OneDublin.org interview, “…scientific programming is the language we all speak. Use of the computer is probably the single most important technological advancement that’s driving astronomy research” and as musician Thomas Dolby advised in a OneDublin.org interview, “if you are a musician looking to join a band you can tell them you can also build a website or manage their social media, it will make you just that much more attractive.”

While coding may not be for everyone as a career, an hour of coding is valuable for everyone because coding teaches structured problem solving which is useful in many different careers. Hopefully someday coding will be a mandatory course in a K-12 curriculum; for now, however, find an hour to get a small taste of coding.

Here are several fun, free and easy ways you and your family can invest an hour coding:

• Install the CodeAcademy Hour of Code app (available here)
• Watch the Khan Academy Hour of Code instructional videos (available here)
• Read about free terrific teaching tools for kids: So Your Child Wants to Create Computer Games (and you’re not sure where to start)
• Read about why coding is a creative exercise: The Poetry of Programming (How I Created my First iPhone App)