'Hour of Code' More Than Minutes for High School Students
"Don't just buy a new video game. Make one. Don't just download the latest app. Help design it. Don't just play on your phone. Program it."
That's the message President Barack Obama had for students in a video kicking off Computer Science Education Week on Dec. 9.
[See photos of the 2013 Best High Schools for STEM.]
Computing in the Core and Code.org, both nonprofits, held the nationwide event to honor the birthday of Rear Adm. Grace Hopper, a computer programming pioneer. The campaign, which wrapped up Friday, encouraged kids of all ages to get a taste of computer science by coding for an hour.
Many teens did far more than write code for a mere 60 minutes. High school students at Foshay Tech Academy in Los Angeles taught parents how to code. At Augustus Hawkins Critical Design and Gaming School in Los Angeles, students participating in Exploring Computer Science, a yearlong college prep program, taught their own teachers how to code.
[Find out how to hook girls on STEM.]
While Computer Science Education Week is officially over, the push to teach students high-tech skills is far from complete. The Obama administration also announced last month a $100 million grant campaign to help high school students become proficient in computer science and other science, technology, engineering and math fields. Those grants will be awarded in early 2014, according to a White House press release.
To get inspiration for teaching computer science in your classroom, scroll through the tweets, Instagram posts and even videos of high school students getting into the spirit of Computer Science Education Week. Then share your own Hour of Code activities with U.S. News on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
Read more on this story at U.S. News Education on Storify
