Innovation Centre advances city-wide Hour of Code

All area elementary and high schools are invited to take part in the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code is not just a local movement, but a global movement reaching 15 million students across Canada and the United States last year alone.

 

This year’s goal for Hour of Code is to reach 100 million students worldwide!

"The Hour of Code is designed to demystify code and show that computer science is not rocket-science, anybody can learn the basics," said Hadi Partovi, founder and CEO of Code.org. "In one week last year, 15 million students tried an Hour of Code. Now we're aiming for 100 million worldwide to prove that the demand for relevant 21st century computer science education crosses all borders and knows no boundaries."

Together we can teach our students critical 21st century skills, and to ensure that our students are at the forefront of creating technology for the future--not just consuming it.

“New jobs and opportunities continue to arise in the ICT sector and we need to increase the number of young people with awareness of this promising career path,” said Tom Vair, executive director, SSMIC. “The jobs are quite diverse and offer opportunity for people with a diverse skill sets.”
 
What is Hour of Code and How to Get Started?

Hour of Code is an opportunity for every student to try computer science for one hour (or less).

Hour of Code couldn’t be simpler:

Get your students excited about Hour of Code by asking questions or providing relatable information: "Think about things in your everyday life that use computer science: a cell phone, a microwave, a computer, a traffic light… all of these things needed a computer scientist to help build them.”

Both school boards are in support of the Hour of Code event and encourage area teachers to register their classes.

“The ‘Hour of Code’ initiative is a wonderful way to engage our students in an aspect of technology that they might not realize is explorative, exciting and even a possible career choice,” said Lucia Reece, Director of Education, Algoma District School Board. “The widespread, global participation in this event is also a great way to remind our students of the power of technology to connect them to the world.  We hope to have students from across our district participating.”

“The Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board (HSCDSB) is excited to be included in the Innovation Centre’s Hour of Code initiative.  As the Board enhances student access to technology in our schools, this initiative will give students an opportunity to learn what goes on in creating the various programs and applications they regularly use and perhaps inspire them to pursue a career in technology,” said HSCDSB Director of Education, John Stadnyk. “I anticipate that many of our teachers will also learn much from this initiative which will in turn allow them to better integrate technology into the classroom.”   

Why is Hour of Code Important?

 

Research shows that kids pick up programming concepts before they know how to read and write.

 

In fact, their brains are more receptive to computer languages at a young age, just like foreign languages.

In China, every student takes computer science to graduate high school.

 

It’s time for us to catch up to the 21st century.

Hour of Code even provides prizes to some participating classes, including:  

Celebrity spokespeople involved in promoting the Hour of Code include: Nobel Peace Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai; Bill Gates (Microsoft founder); Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO); Ashton Kutcher (actor and tech investor); Jack Dorsey (Twitter co-founder, Square CEO); Karlie Kloss (model, learning to code); Usher (Recording artist); JR Hildebrand (NASCAR racecar driver) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO).
 
Excited about Hour of Code? Register your class by contacting Diana Medaglia, Marketing and Communications Manager, at [email protected] or 705.942.7927 x. 3138.

 

If you don’t have a host school to participate with, let us know!
 
Have you registered for Hour of Code? Let us know by tweeting to #HourOfCode @SSMICnews.
 
About Code.org

 

Code.org® is a 501c3 public non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color.

 

Its vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer programming.

 

After launching in 2013, Code.org organized the Hour of Code campaign — which has introduced millions of students to computer science — partnered with more than 30 public school districts nationwide, and launched Code Studio, an open-source, online learning platform for all ages.

 

For more information, please visit: code.org.

 

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