Teaching Kids to Code
By Rebekah Kinney - Faculty
Technology has transformed education. Daily, students at Darlington are learning how to use technology, but they also need to learn how and why technology works. Teaching children how to code will give them a skill for life.
According to the programming advocate Code.org, only one in 10 U.S. schools is teaching kids to code. ComputerWorld.com forecasts that computer-related employment will increase by 22 percent by the year 2020.
Steve Jobs once said, "Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer because it makes you think". Darlington believes this is an essential skill for students to learn at a young age.
Recently, Mrs. Miller’s 3rd through 5th-grade and Mrs. Pieroni’s 8th-grade science classes learned basic programming and coding skills by completing a 20-hour course on the website Code.org. This process was challenging, meaningful, and at times frustrating. The 3rd through 5th-grade students also solved puzzles on the website Lightbot.com. You should visit these websites and try to complete the challenges!
Please view the video Why Our Kids Must Learn to Code to learn more about why we must teach our kids this important skill.
