Hour of Code is child-friendly coding projects for students to create their own games by using a series of ordered steps to tell the computer what to do.

I was first introduced to HoC at my placement where my associate teacher would try to dedicate one period a week to HoC. I found that, even though I didn’t know what it was or what students were suppose to do with HoC, students were highly engaged because they had an opportunity to be creative with technology. Students had many options to chose from at various grade levels to create their own computer games.

When trying to create my own game with hour of code, I found that I was using computer and thinking skills I don’t normally use. It was an interesting experience telling the computer what to do from the inside, instead of using the computer from the outside. I had to think very logically to organize the steps I wanted the computer to do.

I would implement Hour of Code in my future classroom because students are introduced to the field of computer science right in the class room. It is also easy to use across all disciplines – of course math and science – but with visual art as students are creating digital art pieces, as well as language arts, as students are writing orders for the computer. Students are engaged as they practice computational thinking and skills that will be highly beneficial in their future careers. Being able to code is a 21st century skills that will open many doors in our students’ future.

I could see implementing Hour of Code in my classroom in a cross curricular lesson with math and language arts. Here in Ontario, math and language periods are usually doubled as they are two subjects that are highly emphasized. How of Code can easily be implemented in a math lesson as computational thinking and problem solving is often required in completing mathematical tasks. Students are to use a very short and concise language with coding as they are giving the computer orders to follow. I would have students to continue practicing giving orders during a language period when computers are unavailable to use. For example, students can pretend they are a GPS giving orders to someone driving as they have to follow a series of orders to effectively get to the destination.

Do you use coding in your classroom? How would you implement coding?