Hour of Code is an annual event for schools organised by Code.org, a group that seeks to promote coding around the world, particularly supporting women and minorities. Typically, Hour of Code takes place in the first week of December, but the 200+ activities are available to explore anytime. It could be a good opportunity for you to increase the amount of coding you include in your teaching, or just to have options for fun end-of-year activities.

If you are interested in exploring Hour of Code with your students, we recommend you:

  • Have a group discussion about which students are interested in coding and what they may know already – perhaps skilled students could lead novice students
  • Take a look over the HoC activities library and offer students some choice about what/how they wish to learn
  • Consider incorporating robotics such as Edison (UES), MangoBot (LES) and Lego Mindstorms (UES-HS) either in-class or in the design lab(s)
  • Talk to anyone in Ed Tech for more specific ideas linked to your units

Outside of the Code.org library, there are other ways to explore coding with your students, including:

Happy coding and let us know if you would like any help or suggestions!

Sam