MEDIA ADVISORY -- Hour of Code Activity for Over 4,000 SDUSD Students

MEDIA ADVISORY December 9, 2013

Contact: Lisa McDonnell
(619) 306-3957

Hour of Code Activity for Over 4,000 SDUSD Students

WHAT: Over 4,000 San Diego Unified students will participate in a massive campaign to get 10 million students of all ages to participate in a self-guided activity geared to encourage interest in the field of computer science. The event is called The Hour of Code and highlights Computer Science Education Week.

WHEN: Tuesday and Thursday, December 10 and 12 (rain or shine)

WHERE: Various middle and high schools throughout the district
Please contact Lisa McDonnell for a list of participating schools

VISUALS: Students collaborating with other students on online tutorials.

BACKGROUND: The Hour of Code is a massive campaign to get 10 million students of all ages to participate in a self-guided activity that every student, in every classroom, can do. The event takes place during the second week of December (Dec. 9 – 13) to highlight Computer Science Education Week, a celebration geared to encourage interest in the field and show that anyone can learn the basics. Simple computer science activities can help nurture creativity, problem solving skills and critical thinking. By getting a feel for computational thinking early, students will have a foundation for classes in any future career path and shows students how to create, not simply use, new technology. As Steve Jobs stated, "Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer . . . because it teaches you how to think."

This year, the Office of College, Career and Technical Education is supporting middle and high schools throughout the district to participate. A group of teachers chose a lesson that can be accomplished at both the middle and high school levels and presents an easy-to-understand example of the thinking behind writing computer code. Select high school courses will participate on Tuesday, December 10th while select middle school courses will participate on Thursday, December 12th.

Many of the targeted high school courses will be asked to send a few students to the middle school in their cluster to assist the students there. The activities are self-guided, online tutorials. There may also be a sampling of local business professionals assisting in the participating classrooms throughout the week.

The courses involved in the Hour of Code are not just computer science courses. Additional curriculum areas include Engineering courses at both the middle and high school levels, Geographic Information Systems, Business Management and Ownership, Website Architecture, Statistics, Marketing, Intermediate Algebra, English and many others. Photography students from Point Loma and Kearny Digital Media and Design High Schools will be traveling the district to digitally record the event.

For more information about The Hour of Code, visit. http://csedweek.org/.

# # #
You are a subscriber to the news release mailing list for the San Diego Unified School District. To unsubscribe, send a message to "media@lists-sandi-net" with the word "unsubscribe" in the body of the message. For an archive of these releases, go to http://sdusd-news.blogspot.com/