Bayridge Secondary School hosted an “Hour of Code” celebration for both secondary and elementary students during Computer Science Week in December 2019.
Grade 5 and 6 students from neighbouring schools spent an hour learning the fundamentals of coding by solving online coding puzzles with support from Bayridge Secondary computer science students. The coding activities are based on games and things that students enjoy in popular culture such as Star Wars, Angry Birds and MineCraft for example.
For two years, Computer Science Teacher Jon Swaine and the students from the school’s computer programming club, have been visiting elementary feeders schools to introduce them to coding. “No matter what career path you might choose, computer programming, coding, will be a part of it. Educators and experts are calling it the ‘new literacy’ —a subject so important that every child needs to know the basics to excel in our rapidly changing world,” says Swaine. “Computers play a role in everything we do in our daily lives, so it’s important for students to understand what’s going on inside them. By learning more about coding, students are becoming creators and not just consumers of technology.”