Don't Take Down the Coding Decorations | My Experiments in Teaching and Learning - 1 views
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John Evans on 21 Dec 15"This year's Hour of Code has received unprecedented coverage. Hadi Padovi from code.org opened the Nasdaq stock exchange and celebrities came out in full force to push computer science. We heard the same alarming statistics that 95% of CS jobs will go unfilled. Millions of students worldwide participated in activities that resembled puzzles. Padovi tweeted a reply to me when I asked how the popularity of HOC compared to last year: As good as the activities are, they lack some needed elements. The Hour of Code activities are not tied into curriculum. They are a one day event centred on puzzles. One hour is not enough. I would draw a parallel by saying we do not host "hour of gym" or "hour of music" activities once each year. What happens now? The need for students to learn code and computer science will not disappear over this week. In fact, we resolved very little. My hope is that this week will be a springboard for more coding. If students are to benefit from Hour of Code, we need to: Bring Coding into the existing curriculum and into the classroom Push STEM and find ways to bring it to every school Ensure that every teacher and student is aware of coding, CS and STEM Work with High Schools and the job sector to facilitate these programs"