A new Hour of Code is here! #CSforGood
This has been a big year of milestones in the journey to bring computer science to every student in every school. All 50 U.S. states have adopted CS policies, over 100,000 new CS teachers were prepared by Code.org, and students on Code.org have created 60 million projects!
As the Hour of Code passes 800 million served, we want to emphasize that an important part of computer science is understanding how it can help with world challenges. As we teach this new superpower, we can also teach that with great power comes great responsibility: #CSforGood.
I encourage educators to take your Hour of Code a step further by hosting discussions of #CSforGood. Check out our guide with ideas, activities, and real-world examples.
The #CSforGood theme inspired many of this year’s tutorials, including an exciting first-of-its-kind activity by Code.org and Microsoft:
An Hour of Code with no coding: learn about AI!
We’re excited to unveil AI for Oceans, which allows students to use training data to teach a bot called “A.I.” to separate fish from trash to clean the ocean. There’s no coding involved, which is the point. Computer science is about much more than coding!
This is our first step in a journey to teach about artificial intelligence on Code.org, and the lessons are even important and applicable for adults. AI for Oceans teaches about machine learning, training data, and bias. It also addresses ethical issues and how AI can help with global problems. Read more about it here!
The 10th CS Education Week: join the livestream
In past years we launched CSEdWeek at the White House, ringing the bell of the stock exchange, or in Silicon Valley. The 10th CSEdWeek is launching at a school for Native American children in New Mexico, because CS is everywhere — it impacts every community, and we celebrate it in every school, for every student.
I’m honored to join Jake Baskin of the CS Teachers Association and the New Mexico CS Alliance to kick things off at the Santa Fe Indian School, along with a special #CSforGood panel discussion. We’re also honoring this year’s Champions of CS award recipients for their outstanding achievements. You can read more about their accomplishments here.
The livestream starts at 12:00 pm ET / 9:00 am PT today. You can watch it live or anytime afterwards on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Celebrating 20 million young women!
Last but not least, I’m thrilled to announce a new milestone: 20 million young women on Code.org! Along with record-setting participation by young women in AP computer science, 2019 continues the multi-year increase in diversity in computer science.
We’re quite far from balanced participation by gender and race, but each year new records are broken: all students and especially young women and students of color are learning CS at rates never seen before!
As I reflect on the momentum, the best part is seeing young people’s excitement for CS, like videos of girls coding robots, dances to Lil Nas X, and creative ideas for bringing CS to life.
None of this would be possible without you and your support. Our movement is about educators, parents, students, volunteers, corporations, governments, generous funders, and all of your support for the simple idea that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. Thank you!
Happy CS Education Week, and have a wonderful Hour of Code. :-)
-Hadi Partovi, Founder and CEO of Code.org
