Kendall Elementary fifth grader Dakari Hodge was one of thousands of BISD students who participated in Hour of Code.
"It was an amazing week at Boerne ISD!"
That is the assessment of technology education coach Miriam Martinez, who along with her colleagues on the educational technology team worked with teachers across the district to involve students in the worldwide Hour of Code initiative the week of December 7.
The Hour of Code is organized by Code.org, a national non-profit that believes every student should have the opportunity to learn computer science because it helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity. The organization believes that by starting at an early age, students build a foundation for success in any 21st century career path.
Martinez' observations about the activities of the week seem to parallel the organization's mission. Also, given the broad desire on the part of educators to get more girls interested in science, technology and math, Martinez was pleased with the levels of participation in Hour of Code.
"Through their structured activities on digital devices in the classrooms, students participated in problem solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and math practice through computer programming," she said. "What may have seemed like a game actually had a lot of working with calculating and giving precise instructions.
"We definitely saw girls being motivated and excited about accomplishing some of the complex code 'puzzles' they were given. They high-fived with each other and got all excited! It was fun to watch. Students who didn't get it right the first time did not despair. They were not afraid of failure. They felt safe trying several times until they mastered the exercise."
Boerne ISD students were not the only ones to benefit from the coding exercises, according to Martinez.
"Witnessing my teacher colleagues take the risk and promote the event in their classes was amazing," she said. "Observing them as professionals get involved and even try coding for themselves was a huge success. My background as a computer analyst and the teacher in me were rejoicing as I saw their interest intensify when they saw their students coding!"
Hour of Code activities took place throughout the district, with a concentration in the elementary and middle school grades. Martinez estimates that as many as 9 out of 10 students were involved at some point during the week.
"I watched one of our teachers go from reluctance about Hour of Code," Martinez says "to all-in when she saw all the math that was involved and how good that was for practice and remediation. And one of our third grade teachers in the Dual Language program helped students change the language in the exercise. They were coding in Spanish!
"It humbles me to be a part of such a vanguard district with students and teachers being exposed to amazing opportunities."
Hour of Code helped get girls more deeply involved in the academic aspects of science, math and technology.