MAPS students spend an hour learning to code

MARQUETTE — Students across Marquette got to try their hand at computer programming Wednesday morning.

Marquette Area Public Schools students took part in the Hour of Code, which is a nationwide program that seeks to give students exposure to computer science. Kids with and without previous coding experience got to spend the hour delving into tutorials and learning the basics of the growing field.

“Many schools don’t have the chance to teach computer science in a way that they would want to. Even in Michigan, the merit curriculum is rigorous and oftentimes schools don’t have the budgets to offer elective–type classes with programming, so oftentimes it kind of slides by without getting taught in high schools,” Marquette Senior High School science teacher Becky Simmons said. “However, computer science jobs are growing. We need computer scientists throughout our culture, and also some of the highest–paying jobs are in computer science.”

Marquette Senior High School offers computer elective courses that touch on coding skills, as well as the recently formed “Digital Maker’s Club” for students interested in learning more. Even students that don’t end up in the computer science field can benefit from the out–of–the–box thinking that coding can inspire.

“That type of thinking lends itself really well to this type of an experience where they’re actually creating technologies and creating games and websites, so at MAPS we’re really trying to support the engineers of the future, the innovators of the future, and to move beyond being consumers of digital products and really being creators of those products,” Simmons added.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Hour of Code, or in picking up a bit of computer science knowledge for themselves, can visit code.org/learn.