This week (December 8-14, 2014) is Computer Science Education Week, and millions so far have tried an Hour of Code. Hour of Code is organized by Code.org, a nonprofit organization specifically targeting the expansion of computer science by making it more available. Hour of Code helps teach that coding isn’t some foreign, complicated concept, as it exists in movies; it is simply a puzzle of sorts.

This year, our Computer Science teacher Mrs. Rountree brought 4 students to West Madison Elementary’s enrichment class in order to teach an Hour of Code. There, they introduced MIT’s “App Inventor,” a tool that simplifies the creation of Android apps using a drag-and-drop block system. The elementary students created two apps, one of which displays a cat that, when pressed, “meows.” Curran Hyde, a student in Computer Science Principles, said, “When we taught them how to create the cat program, they really enjoyed playing with something they created. It reminds me how I was in that age group.”

Mrs. Panagos’s Career Prep recently completed their Hour of Code as well, doing various things on Code Academy such as programming their own galaxy and creating a website about themselves. At first only one student of her class had thoughts about Computer Science as a future career goal. However, after the Hour of Code, Mrs. Panagos believes many may have reconsidered. Her students learned that though code may look difficult, a lot of it is rather simple.

The Computer Science field continues to expand endlessly as technology advances. Computer Science jobs are not hard to come by, and Hour of Code could pique your interest. There are various ways of participating, any type of coding counts, so get your hour in this week!

Looking to learn more about coding? Check out this infographic.