To participate in the National Week of Computer Science, the Hawthorne High School Library Media Center hosted an “Hour of Code” on December 9, 2014. This session used Kahan Academy tutorials to introduce the beginners to basic computer programming and to give more experienced students an opportunity to practice their skills.
The students chose a beginner, intermediate or advanced tutorial provided online by Khan Academy. This website brought the students through three levels, each showing a short introductory video and then a challenge page where the students could apply the skills they just learned. Many students felt that this website was very straightforward and easier to use than they thought it would be. The site can be accessed at https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/hour-of-code/hour-of-code-tutorial.
Lara Bookholt, who has never attempted coding, said, “As a beginner, I am very pleased Hawthorne held this event. It opened up a new door to what I would like to do in the future and allowed me have a more open mind about what I may be doing with my life as I grow up.”
Many students agreed. A more experienced coder, Michael Waespy, said, “I feel that this experience has interested many other students and opened up a new world for them. Being a more experienced coder myself, I believe that today was for the best and helped many beginners get started. It is a great thing to be able to see people in my school show an interest in what I like to do.”
While the students were learning various levels of computer programing, junior Samer Ahmad was creating his own video game. “My game involves bananas falling into a basket. The basis of the game is the faster you get them to fall, the more fall until you lose and cannot catch them fast enough,” he explained. “I’ve been working on it for about two weeks now, and I’m only half way done with the coding process.”
Denise Post, the William Paterson Professor in Residence in computer science at HHS attended the session. She said, “I am very impressed to be able to see a packed full library of high school students attempting to look into this field. I feel that it is a good start as a high school to introduce this unpopular but fantastic job into the mindset of young adults.”
Library Media Specialist, Theresa DiGeronimo, who organized the event for the 35 students noted that she had to turn away many other students because the lab was filled. “The popularity of this event shows that our students are very interested in learning this new language that will open doors for them in their careers.” For this reason, DiGeronimo has promised the students that the Library Media Center will reserve a bank of computers every Tuesday during lunch and offer coding lessons for anyone who would like to improve his/her programming skills.