Bend third-graders teach kindergartners how to code
It’s the National Week of Code, and on Wednesday at Bend’s Miller Elementary, third-graders were teaching kindergartners how to program a computer.
“I learned how to code,” 6-year old Andy Bledsoe said.
“We helped our kindergarten buddies understand what binary code was,” said third-grader Aidan Flynn.
Through the Hour of Code and the Website code.org, kids can learn simple programming, with the help of popular characters such as “Angry Birds” and Elsa from “Frozen.”
Lisa Flynn, Aidan’s mother, is bringing the curriculum to Miller. The idea was to help make children as young as 5 years old familiar with computer programming.
“As long as you’re willing to try, it’s actually a really great curriculum — and there’s no ‘too young’ or ‘too old’ to learn to how to code,” said Flynn, chief revenue officer at the software company Manzama.
The kids loved it.
“I think it’s fun,” Aidan said. “I wanted it here at my school because I think it would be fun for all the other kids.”
It isn’t all fun and games though. Many believe binary code is the language of the future.
“I think learning to code and engineering is a vital tool that our kids are going to need to be members of society,” Flynn said. “I mean, everything that we’re doing right now involves engineering and developing and coding.”
It comes at a time when Oregon’s students are failing in the classic subjects such as math. The newly established passing scores on the Smarter Balanced reading, writing and math tests are so demanding, state officials believe as many as 60 percent of Oregon’s students will fail the test in the spring.
With a big demand for highly qualified computer engineers nationwide, Miller Elementary is planning on expanding its pilot code program.
“With technology, you never know where it’s going to go next,” said Jen Healy, the school’s assistant principal. “We definitely as a district, as a whole are trying to stay ahead of that curve and make sure we’re on the cutting edge of what’s going on, so that our kids have the education that they need to be successful in their careers.”
The online code curriculum is free and available for everyone.
