By Gina Roughton
Thousands of Cambridge Public Schools educators and students completed an hour (or more) of code last month as part of the fifth annual
Hour of Code. This “worldwide effort to celebrate computer science” acknowledges the growing interest and need for computational thinking experience. Across all schools and grades, from offline activities to sophisticated programming, coding is becoming an integrated skill that develops skills such as problem solving, perseverance, and creativity.
This year, a special effort was made to engage educators in grades 6-12 through an accessible and delicious activity - Code a Cookie. Ingrid Gustafson, Instructional Technology Specialist, first tried this out last year at Vassal Lane Upper School in collaboration with Laurie Riley, Library Technology Specialist. She decided to expand the offering this year to all Upper Schools, while Nicole Hart, Instructional Technology Specialist, also brought the opportunity to CRLS. This activity not only exposed educators to the tenants of coding, but also served as community building.
Educators were directed to follow a set of instructions utilizing icing, frosting and decorations to “design” a cookie. They could then compare their cookie against an example to determine errors in the interpretation of the code. Mistakes were welcomed and celebrated as they provided space for reflection about attention to details, communication, and execution. Adventurous educators were also encouraged to write their own code for a cookie design and share it with colleagues. In the end, there was a lot of learning and a lot of eating!
Gina Roughton, Assistant Director, Education Technology said, "My hope is that educators who participated took this experience back to their teaching and their students and considered how their new learning might influence opportunities they provide and the models they are of lifelong learning."
In a letter to CPS faculty, Roughton encouraged teachers to look beyond December as the official month for Hour of Code events. She wrote, "please consider how to bring computer science concepts and skills into your work throughout the year." For ideas and inspiration, there are resources available at
Code.org.
1"Hour of Code." https://hourofcode.com/. Accessed 17 Jan. 2018.