It may look like the majority of Ellen Smith’s students were playing the popular video game Minecraft. To an extent, they were. But, perhaps more importantly, the fourth-graders were learning.
The children were coding instructions to games – determining how, where and when would characters would move, among other instructions. While this was not C++ or Java-level coding, it’s a start, especially at a young age.
Take the case of Brody Grosenbach. He programmed a code, only for his world to explode with fires and zombies. His shouts from his classroom workstation quickly caught the attention of his friends and teacher.
“So you must be able to code in something to fix it,” Smith told him. Eventually, he did.
“I like that you can code it to do whatever you want,” said Grosenbach, which in his case included hordes of zombies and flames.
Every Thursday morning, Smith and her class spend an hour working on basic computer coding skills. On a recent week, the rest of the school and its 562 students participated in at least one hour of coding during the school week.
“It makes your brain hurt,” said fourth-grader Makayla Garcia. “But it is a lot of fun. Once you get it, you feel like you can do anything.”
The schoolwide effort of Streamwood’s Glenbrook Elementary School is part of the Hour of Code, a global weeklong celebration and participation of computer science by millions worldwide. According to Hour of Code, the global event during Computer Science Week, which falls on the first week of December; included more than 300 million participants.
It is the third year the school in Elgin-based District U46 has participated in Hour of Code, said Smith. According to the Hour of Code website, other U46 schools who have participated on a schoolwide basis include Streamwood’s Sunnydale and Heritage elementary schools, and Elgin’s Otter Creek Elementary School.
In Smith’s classroom, though, the instruction is a weekly occurrence. While she is no computer science major, she understands the importance of students grasping at most a basic understanding of computer science. According to a summer report from the Oracle Academy, seven million job openings last year were in areas valuing coding skills. The report said these openings amount to one out of every five openings in jobs paying more than $15 per hour. The demand will only grow as more jobs depend on the digital side of things.
“You know it’s something they need to know,” Smith said.
The class usually works from either hourofcode.com or Scratch, another free computer programming destination. Unsurprisingly, most of the options available to the class align with fourth-grade favorites like video games or movies.
“(These students) seem to enjoy it a lot this year,” said Smith. “I can access their online accounts, and I can see that they’re working on it from home.”
During the school year, the students have a number of other options to code some more. There already is a STEM club after school and a coding club starting in January, Smith said. During school hours, Smith’s class may be called to assist others. Earlier in the week, the fourth-grade students helped out kindergartners and first-graders with some basic coding exercises intended to help the youngest learn cardinal directions.
All the coding has students thinking careers. When asked what jobs they could get with coding skills, students gave several suggestions: computer science, web design, engineering, military, video game production, mapmaking.
“I think computer engineering would be kind of fun,” said fourth-grader Lillie Svendsen.
