Every December We Celebrate the Hour of Code,
but here at ACS we practice all year!
Why do we need to learn to code?
The goal: breaking stereotypes and opening doors
The Hour of Code is at its core not about learning a brand new skill in just one hour. One hour isn’t enough to learn how to code. It's about increasing access to computer science by breaking stereotypes and opening doors. Somebody may learn programming concepts like loops, conditionals, or basic debugging through the Hour of Code. But a much more important goal is for students and teachers to learn that computer science is fun — you can start at any age, in any classroom, even if you don’t have a computer.
The Hour of Code is not limited to one hour of coding. Thousands of the events during Computer Science Education Week go beyond one hour, and involve activities other than coding, all under the umbrella celebration of Hour of Code.
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The Hour of Code Impact Study
In early 2017, Code.org released the results of a new study, that sought to measure the student impact of an Hour of Code. It surveyed students on their attitudes and confidence towards computer science, both before they did an Hour of Code and directly after.
At a high level, after just one Hour of Code:
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More students reported liking computer science
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More students reported feeling they are able to learn computer science, and
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More students reported feeling they are better at computer science than their peers
These findings were especially true for female students, which is particularly important, given Code.org’s mission to broaden participation in computer science among girls and underrepresented minorities.
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For more information go to www.code.org