Weledeh students observe Hour of Code
Students take on mayor and principal in computer programming competition
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Weledeh Catholic School's gymnasium was buzzing with cheering students on Dec. 9 as they egged on their principal and Mayor Mark Heyck in a coding competition to celebrate the international Hour of Code event.
Grade 6 students Dylan Snaggs, left, and Jeremiah Vital-Abel take part in Hour of Code at Weledeh Catholic School on Dec. 9. - Kirsten Fenn/NNSL photo
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"It's an important thing for students to learn," Heyck said that morning, telling students a story about how he used code to design websites in his previous job before becoming mayor.
Hour of Code takes place annually during Computer Science Education Week, held this year from Dec. 5 to 11. According to the official Hour of Code website, the event is designed to "demystify code" by engaging young people in basic computer science and coding activities.
Classes at all grade levels - from kindergarten to Grade 7 - could be seen with laptops open on their desks as students worked through simple coding tasks at Weledeh.
Grade 9 students Aidan Richardson and Kyle Randell from St. Patrick High School were on hand to help beginner coders. They've been taking a new coding course introduced at the high school this year and were enlisted to share their skills with younger students.
"We're going to be teaching kids about basic coding and logistics and stuff like that, and how to put down actual coding language on a screen," Richardson said.
Randell explained many students would be starting off the Hour of Code by dragging and dropping lines of code onto their screens before learning to write it themselves.
In their own class, the duo is taught everything from basic coding to JavaScript and graphics design - skills they hope will one day lead to careers as graphic designers or game developers.
Richardson has already spent the last year teaching himself about programming, while Randell builds computers at home.
St. Pat's teacher Heather Burns came up with the idea to offer a coding course. She explained the importance of teaching students to be technologically literate.
"We use technology all the time and people need to know how technology works - not just how to use it," she said.
She teaches the topic to Gr. 9 through 12 students at the high school.
"It teaches you a way of thinking that's going to help students in whatever they end up doing," she said. "If they can remember the way they thought through a problem in coding, then they can apply that same kind of thinking to their math class or to their language class or to whatever job they're going to have in the future."
The goal is to help students become innovators, she said.
Weledeh principal Todd Stewart said it was the first year students at Weledeh participated in the Hour of Code, along with the rest of the schools in the Yellowknife Catholics Schools district.
It's part of a "vision" to integrate technology into students' learning, part of which involves the language of coding, he said.
"For us, we just wanted to show kids this is something they can do," Stewart said. "Coding seems to be very intimidating, but when you get down to it. it's quite simple and the kids have fun."
