Computer science is a discipline taught in few U.S. schools. Online education startup Coursefork is partnering with Wiley Elementary School in Raleigh to help change that.
Coursefork is working with Wiley on Code.org’s “Global Hour of Code” event, a campaign to introduce students in kindergarten through grade 12 to an hour of coding. All students at Wiley, an international studies magnet school, will have the opportunity for an hour of hands-on coding.
Wiley got connected with Coursefork, which is funded by The Startup Factory in Durham, via an interested parent. The Raleigh company’s COO Brian Marks has a son who attends the school and Marks offered to provide support to the event.
Coursefork provides a software platform through which individuals and groups can develop courses and make them available to anybody. The software also allows users to make changes or to “fork” the courses with tweaks and adjustments that makes the course content better. The idea is that by empowering users to make changes, they’ll be better engaged with the material.
Marks worked with school principal Katie McMillan and Technology Facilitator Sadie Hoover to review activities chosen for each grade level. The event will feature parents and guest speakers from local companies.
One activity that all classes will work in is called “My Robotic Friends” by nonprofit computer science education group Tinkersmith.
“Although this activity is a simple exercise, it introduces programming concepts such as instructions and algorithms in a powerful way,” Marks said in a blog post.
Students will also take home a list of online activities to build on what they’ve learned from their “Hour of Code” experience.
“As an international school, we place great emphasis on language and cultural skills for our students,” said McMillan said in a statement. “Learning computer languages is a great way to further expand these kids’ horizons.”
The Hour of Code event coincides with Computer Science Education week running from Dec. 9 through Dec. 15. And the computer science education efforts will continue after the event is over.
Coursefork has started a Meetup Group for teachers, principals, parents and technologists in North Carolina. The group will hold retrospective events in January for Hour of Code participants to share resources and lessons learned. The goal is to help teachers make computer science education a part of their curricula.
