For Each Child - Learn To Code!
March 19, 2016 by April Daly, Ph.D.
She does "the coding!"
That was the response one Mom gave me as I handed out fliers for the
Mahopac & Carmel CoderDojo. Presumably this is a result of
An Hour of Code
which is part of the initiative led by code.org to have computer science taught as a core curriculum subject in primary and secondary schools.
Every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science
As a cross-disciplinarian in chemistry and computer programming I consider myself fortunate. These two subjects combined have
provided me with a versatile skill set that continues to peak my interest while providing me with a good career. Wanting to contribute
to the computer science advocacy effort I decided to start a local CoderDojo in my community.
I have enjoyed teaching in the past during graduate school and while I was
positioned to pursue academia as a career, for personal, okay monetary reasons, I wasn't able too. Fast forward many years and with some resources
available to me I thought why not start a CoderDojo!
Are we doing enough to prepare our kids for 21st century careers?
In my local community we have Blue-Ribbon Schools and there are efforts to enhance the technological
footprint in many of these institutions, but as data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics shows, a shortfall
of skilled workers to fill computing jobs is expected over the next decade.
Compounding the problem is the decline in computer science graduates, particularly among women.
My generation has experienced relatively slow advances in computer and information technology.
True, we have gone from Polaroid cameras and fledgling electric typewriters to taking high quality digital photographs
on our hand-held cellular phone and writing articles that can be published, with those photographs, to the whole world in seconds,
but I believe that this will not compare
to what we are about to experience with big data, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Kids today are great consumers of
information technology but we must provide them with the education and foundation to be creators and providers of information technology.
Their future depends on it.
Don't just play on your phone - program it!