FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- For Jackson Elementary School teacher Thomasa Ross, teaching her fourth graders about math doesn't end with solving equations. She wants to help them understand just how applicable and essential basic mathematics is to their everyday lives.
So when Ross discovered the Hour of Code project, she knew she wanted her students to participate. Hour of Code is a program put on by code.org, a site dedicated to the idea that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn coding, to try to encourage students to complete one hour of computer science. It used self-guided tutorials to lead students through a game to teach them basic coding concepts.
"It's something I decided to do this year with my fourth grade class because I really like to apply what we are learning in the classroom in real world situations," she said.
Ross used the Hour of Code as an extension to her math lessons for the week of Dec. 8-14. In order to complete the Hour of Code, students had to know addition, subtraction and basic multiplication.
"I just wanted to show them, 'Hey I do need to know this' and how it applies in the real-world in order to do the computer programs," Ross said.
The students spent 30 minutes in the computer lab from Wednesday to Friday learning about coding programs for computers and other electronic devices. While playing what seemed like a computer game, students learned the block-code method of coding similar to the way coding is taught at universities such as Stanford and Berkeley.
"They were so excited to learn you have to tell the computer every single thing to do," she said. "They didn't understand that concept."
Ross said the students were surprised that almost every job imaginable requires computer programming, as well as many of their games.
"I love to infuse technology into the classroom, and so with that being said, I really try to stay up to speed in what's really happening in the world with technology," she said. "I first learned about the hour of code just from professional development on my own."
Over Thanksgiving break, she went through the tutorial herself to get a better understanding of what the students would be doing.
"I wasn't familiar with computer programming -- I'm not a computer teacher," she said. "So, I actually learned in the process as well."
Because they were building a game, the students have to use mathematics to tell the avatars how far to move and at what angles they need to turn. The tutorial used "Angry Birds" and "Plants vs. Zombies" characters to act out the children's commands. After each completed level, the program gave the children the option to see their commands written out in code form.
After the students finished the beginner's tutorial, they moved on to another tutorial that allowed them to build their own game.
"It was a little bit more difficult for them and they actually had to. They learned about pixels, so that's when the multiplication came into play," Ross said.
For student Jim Lin, 10, and Antonio Cervantes, 9, the entire experience has been enlightening.
"I've been learning that coding is basically -- you need to know multiplication and math and stuff like that," Lin said.
Before they began the hour of code, they'd never even heard of coding, so they didn't know if they wanted to learn it or not.
Cervantes said the coolest thing he's learned so far is how to make his characters move around the screen and get around obstacles.
"I didn't know that you had to program like video games and TVs and little robotic things," Lin said.
They both said it makes them want to be better at math so they can continue learning to code.
"None of the students ever -- ever -- want to stay in at recess or eat lunch in the classroom with me, but since we've started the Hour of Code, all of the students want to come in during their recess time. All of the students want to come in during their lunch to work on the hour of code," Ross said.
The code.org website is set up to allow users of all ages to go up to 20 hours beyond the hour of code tutorial to learn more complex computer science ideas, such as algorithms, functions and events. Although she's not requiring her students to continue past the first hour, Ross said she'd allow them to use their free time to continue learning if they want to.
"We're in the 21st century and technology is just -- it's out there," she said. "The students have iPads, they have iPods, they have Smartphones -- they have everything so I figured that they would like it because it deals with technology and they're going to be able to build apps and play games."
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