During the month of December, students across the Sachem Central School District participated in a collection of computer science activities in honor of the worldwide Hour of Code initiative.

For younger students, the Hour of Code initiative acts as an introductory experience to the world of computer science, covering programming as well as an exploration of how coding technologies are present in everyday life. For older students, the district’s continued participation in Hour of Code provides them with an opportunity to expand their prior coding knowledge as they explore more challenging areas of the discipline. 

Elementary students throughout the district learned about algorithms and how they act as a list of steps to complete a task. Utilizing Code.org, students engaged in interactive games that included creating their own lists of instructions to move a character through a computer-generated maze. At Wenonah Elementary School, fourth- and fifth-grade students chose to forgo recess and help kindergarten students as they embarked on their first coding experiences. 

Around other schools within the district, students participated in multiple “unplugged” coding activities, taking coding away from computers and integrating hands-on activities challenging students in other areas of coding. Ozobots were incorporated into code lessons as students controlled the tiny robots through color-coded commands written on paper. As student grade level increased so did the level of difficulty in the coding challenges they faced using the Ozobots. 

Middle and high school students took on more advanced coding activities as they navigated through drag-and-drop coding tasks before breaking up into teams to compete in robot races using mBots. Students also programmed the robots to move throughout different mazes. mBots are an all-in-one educational robot that allows students to experiment in programming, electronics and robotics.