Hour of Code has the right moves for students

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Seventeen freshmen from Johnston Senior High School threw a dance party at Nicholas A. Ferri Middle School last week, and during the school day no less. Not an actual dance party, mind you, but a virtual one, as part of an Hour of Code activity aimed at introducing computer science to students around the world during Computer Science Education Week.

“This event was meant to introduce the middle schoolers to programming to possibly spark an interest in Computer Science,” explained Gary Swider, the Johnston High computer science teacher who organized the trip to Ferri along with JHS careers coordinator Joseph Pirraglia. “This was also a great way to give my students a leadership opportunity where they can break out of their comfort zones and lead a younger group of students.”

With the dance party Hour of Code activity, newly released by Code.org, “students were programming using javascript-based block coding to create dancers and particular dance moves to go with a song of their choice,” Swider said. “There were 20-plus songs they could choose from.”

Swider’s students conducted three sessions over the course of three hours, teaching the activity to every sixth, seventh and eighth grader.

“My 17 students were split up into groups of one or two and they were leading the lessons,” said Swider, who would love to expand the program to the elementary-school level as well. “I ran between the 10 rooms every few minutes or so to assist in the setup or any advanced tech issue they may have had.

“I was very impressed at the leadership that my students showed,” he continued. “By the third class, my students were in complete control and were running it with ease. Overall, the middle school students seemed to enjoy it. They were very motivated and were collaborating with other students in their class. By the end of this event, my students were quite experienced with this particular lesson. They got experience public speaking, leading and the actual lesson concepts of programming and creativity.”

The following freshmen conducted the Hour of Code activity: Faith Khang, Danielle Polycar, Julia Robbins, Emily Iannuccilli, Cassie Magnone, Savhanna Larivee, Bella Johnson-Viola, Emily Patenaude, Allan Pineda, Shannon Hartley, Carlos Monteiro, Austin Maxam, Mackenzie Hanna, Ryan Schino, Hayden Wholey, Kayla Gruttadauria and Jordan Wood.

This week, Swider will be bringing his AP Computer Science students to the University of Rhode Island, his alma mater, where they will have an opportunity to speak with college students majoring in Computer Science, as well as college professors and businesses with computer science influence.

“They will be able to play with some technology and learn about extra computer science concepts,” he said. “This is the first year we are running the AP Computer Science Principles course, where students can earn college credit as early as their second year in high school. It is one of the many steps towards building a computer science course sequence at the high school. I would love to bring more computer science courses to JHS.”

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