Penn College News

College Faculty Help High-Schoolers Crack 'Code'

Thursday, December 8, 2016

In a “Coding Unplugged” session, a student solves a problem by moving disks from one spot to another. Students learned that repeating and combining the movements that solve a simple problem can solve more complex problems.High school students from as far as Warren County in northwestern Pennsylvania and Chester County in the state’s southeastern corner were among those participating in an “Hour of Code” event at Penn College on Thursday. The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in more than 180 countries. At Penn College, the students gathered for a “Coding Unplugged” activity with Anita R. Wood, associate professor of computer information technology. Later, they toured campus and practiced coding Ozobots with Spyke M. Krepshaw, instructor of web and interactive media, and Alicia McNett, instructor of computer information technology. A project of the nonprofit Code.org, the Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify “code,” to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with one-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts. Most Hour of Code events are scheduled during Computer Science Education Week. The week coincides with the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, who was born Dec. 9, 1906.