SMSD Students Engage in Hour of Code

Students across the Shawnee Mission School District recently joined in an international exploration and celebration of computer coding.

Hour of Code activities throughout Computer Science Education Week this winter engaged students of all ages.  During Hour of Code, individuals are encouraged to dedicate some time to learn the basics of and practice computer science skills. 

Pawnee Elementary fourth grade students were enthusiastic as they collaborated on an exercise to program a human robot.  The goal was to get their teacher to walk from one end of the room to collect a book on the shelf. While programming together, students gave directions including the exact number of steps the teacher needed to take and when she needed to turn.  If the directions were incorrect or the human robot went the wrong way, the students then had to debug their work. 

“It was difficult fixing some problems, but we worked together to be successful,” said Ashtyn Maddox, Pawnee fourth grader.

Bernadette Roche, Pawnee library media specialist, said students also worked independently in the Tynker app, exploring various levels of challenges, problem solving, creativity, and learning new vocabulary words, such as program, coding, and debug.

Zack Groves, fourth grader, says Hour of Code is one of his favorite events during the school year. 

“It’s lots of fun stuff and coding can be really hard, but I get to customize my own characters and tell them what to do,” Groves added.

Marissa Prinds’s first graders at Corinth also were among those who took time to code throughout the week. They worked with Ariana Quigley, Corinth instructional coach. Using the ScratchJr app. Students coded in order to move characters they created to land on the correct answer. Each challenge required the students to practice math skills including addition, subtraction, and word problems.