Students in several tech classes at the high school took part in Virginia’s Hour of Coding on Wed., Dec. 6th and Thurs., Dec. 7th. This initiative motivates students and teachers to focus their learning on the topic of coding and to make the element of computer science less daunting.

Teachers Matt Weston, Donald Newbold, and Daniel Scott, along with other teachers participated in this global initiative. Many famous computer science celebrities promoted this event as well, including Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

“Coding is actually needed in this world because everything is going automated now.” Scott said. “I always tell my students that instead of being an inventor, you should be an improver.”

Scott along with the other teachers used a variety of approaches to introduce the concept to their students.

“Coding is the instruction for any computer or any automated system to follow,” Scott said. “Anything you use electronically needs some sort of software or program to work.”

With that in mind, students wrote programs with coding to create and play Minecraft, work with Google, and apply it to a variety or other software systems.

“Knowing how to code will give you a better understanding of what the electronics will and can do,” Scott said.

Students understand the importance of coding as they immerse themselves more in technology, whether it is the tech on their phones with apps, or the tech in cars and home electronics.

“Coding is an art you use when you are either constructing or using computers,” student Devante Batts said. “It’s very important because almost every organization requires coding. Coding is part of the fundamentals.”

The Hour of Code may have taken place this week, but there is much which will continue at the high school. Dr. Kevin Moore has been teaching computer science and has begun an AP course as well. Much of the material for those courses centers around coding.

For more information about the Hour of Coding visit https://hourofcode.com/us