Hour of Code

On December 14th and December 16th, Underhill School first and second graders will have the opportunity to explore coding with the support of Mrs. Overmeyer, Mrs. Tremblay, 
Mrs. Landsman and Mrs. Heuer. 

We are excited to be joining the "Hour of Code" Community!

For more information, check out code.org   

The following is excerpted from code.org:

 What is the Hour of Code?

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. 

Who is behind the Hour of Code?

The Hour of Code is organized by Code.org, a public 501c3 non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science by making it available in more schools, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color. An unprecedented coalition of partners have come together to support the Hour of Code, too — including Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the College Board.

How much can one learn in an hour?

The goal of the Hour of Code is not to teach anybody to become an expert computer scientist in one hour. One hour is only enough to learn that computer science is fun and creative, that it is accessible at all ages, for all students, regardless of background. The measure of success of this campaign is not in how much CS students learn - the success is reflected in broad participation across gender and ethnic and socioeconomic groups, and the resulting increase in enrollment and participation we see in CS courses at all grade levels. Millions of the participating teachers and students have decided to go beyond one hour - to learn for a whole day or a whole week or longer, and many students have decided to enroll in a whole course (or even a college major) as a result.

Besides the students, another "learner" is the educator who gains the confidence after one hour that they can teach computer science even though they may not have a college degree as a computer scientist. Tens of thousands of teachers decide to pursue computer science further, either attending PD or offering follow-on online courses, or both. And this applies to school administrators too, who realize that computer science is something their students want and their teachers are capable of. 

Above all, what all participants can learn in an hour is that we can do this.