From December 3rd to December 9th, schools across the world celebrated Computer Science Education Week. Each year during this week, Chesterfield County Public Schools celebrate the Hour of Code event by encouraging all K-12 teachers and educators to have their students participate in at least one hour of coding during the week. Assistant Principal Robert Gifford sent out an email encouraging Midlothian High School teachers to participate in this activity during the week, sharing the importance of the spread of coding knowledge.

Teachers from a variety of subject areas, including: Mrs. Beckman, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Burns, Mr. Gibson, Mrs. Hill, Mrs. Vessley, Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Giddings, Mrs. Mazzola, and Mrs. Boer, all participated in the Hour of Code. The Department of Innovative Instruction organized many resources to help teachers to implement Hour of Code. According to freshman Natalie Maher, “Hour of Code really helped me understand a lot about Computer Science.” 

The official Hour of Code website offers tips and advice for teachers on how to incorporate coding into their lessons. For example, coding officials advised World Language teachers to go to the Hour of Code website and change the “Language” drop down to whichever language the class entails. This way, the coding exercise provides a lesson on computer science, as well as a practice of the criteria taught in class. “The Hour of Code event is meant to raise awareness of and interest in computer science,” comments Mr. Robert Gifford. “It looked like some people had fun giving coding a try, and it was nice to see students helping and sharing with each other.”

The following lessons are examples of coding activities practiced during the Hour of Code:

1)  TYNKER 

2) Emoji Maker

3) Character Building 

4) Minecraft Hour of Code

5) Star Wars Hour of Code

For more information about Computer Science Education or the Hour of Code, visit the Official Computer Science Website, or speak to Mr. Benjamin Java, Midlothian High School’s Computer Science educator.

For additional stories highlighting Midlothian High School’s Hour of Code effort, read Boer Brings Coding Into the Classroom and  Java Codes With AP Computer Science Classes.