NEW Intro to Cybersecurity
Explore in a straightforward and practical program using activites for learning and understanding.
It’s that time of year again: Computer Science Education Week is just around the corner! CSEdWeek first started back in 2009 and takes place every year around December 9th, in recognition of computing pioneer Grace Hopper’s birthday. In 2013, the founder and CEO of Code.org, Hadi Partovi initiated Hour of Code. He explains, "Hour of Code is designed to demystify code and show that computer science is not rocket science—anybody can learn the basics."
Having given workshops in hundreds of classrooms across Canada, the KCJ team has run into their fair share of technical difficulties and obstacles. Keeping those in mind, as an international partner of Code.org, KCJ has created two Hour of Code projects —a Scratch project and a micro:bit project to accommodate anyone, anywhere. No matter where you are located, what resources you have, and regardless of your previous coding experience, our projects will help guide you through it all—one step at a time. Still have questions about how to introduce Hour of Code to your students? We have answers.
Have your students work in pairs. Working with their peers encourages collaboration, builds trust, and fosters creativity. If your classroom doesn’t have any micro:bits, you can use the micro:bit emulator on MakeCode. You can also choose to do the Scratch activity instead, which requires no extra tools apart from a computer.
Pair your students up again. Working together can help students maximize shared knowledge and learn new skills. Let’s not forget that two heads are better than one!
If you have a poor wifi connection, try finding a classroom closer to the school’s router. You can even try using the landline connection. As a precautionary measure, you can download the instructions and install the Scratch and MakeCode apps, as both of these activities can be done offline - without any internet at all!
You are in luck: both of these projects are totally accessible to complete beginners. The instructions for each project are designed with visual, hands-on elements to help walk you through the projects step by step. After all, the goal of Hour of Code is to show that anyone can learn the basics. So, when it comes to Hour of Code, we have got your back against any challenges you may experience.
Brush up on your coding skills and join over 100 million students participating in this year’s Hour of Code event by completing KCJ’s Hour of Code projects. Don’t forget to share your experience by tweeting your photos to @kidscoding and tagging #kids2030.