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In December of 2013, the Hour of Code event started to promote knowledge of computer science during Computer Science Education Week. Over time, it has become a very widespread and popular event spanning to over 180 countries and has become available in 45 different languages. According to hourofcode.com, 1,721,242,401 hours of code have been administered and 24,022 coding events have been registered in 2023. The most coding events, by far, have been registered within the United States, specifically 8,860 events. One of those listed events took place at Indian Hills High School on December 7th in the auditorium hallway.
Mrs. Greene, the teacher behind the Hour of Code event, explains, “We’ve been doing this event for about 10 years now and it has been very popular.” On December 7th, at least 15 students participated in the Hour of Code event in the auditorium hallway during each lunch period. Students of every grade level were there, enjoying their time and winning prizes, including lollipops and rubix cubes. Not only were students participating, but teachers as well. Mrs. LaChac, the Indian Hills librarian, adds, “I was a computer programmer for many years before I went back to school to get my masters in library science…I do think that everyone should take a computer programming course to gain an understanding of the topic since most of everything we do is technology based.” It is very important to gain an understanding of coding and programming since most things in the 21st century revolve around computers, AI, and technology as a whole. Aside from that, hourofcode.com states, “Over 100 million students have tried an Hour of Code.”
The Hour of Code provides hundreds of activities for various grade levels — ranging from pre-readers to 9+ with two difficulty levels. Some of the most popular programs on the Hour of Code website are Dance Party, Balancing Act, and Generation AI. For Indian Hills students, the most popular activities are “definitely Generation AI and the 3D T-Rex Game. Whenever we have this event, it seems that everyone wants to do those programs over anything else,” Mrs. Greene commented.
The Hour of Code program allows for students around the world to immerse themselves within the world of programming and allows everyone to gain a greater understanding of technology. Not only is it a fun activity providing many activities of various skills levels, it can help many with future career paths.
