We love seeing local organizations making strides in enriching the lives of children and our education issue is a great time to share what area schools are doing for Oklahoma City students. We were thrilled to hear St. Mary’s Episcopal School participated in Hour of Code, a global coding event hosted by Code.org in celebration of Computer Science Education Week Dec. 7-13.
The global event works to get young students interested in computer science by introducing them to coding in a fun and simple format. St. Mary’s used the Hour of Code event on their campus to introduce 78 elementary kids to coding.
Code.org, a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science, reports there are currently 2,579 open computing jobs in Oklahoma but in 2013 there were just 359 computer science graduates in the state and only 13 percent of those graduates were female. Whether kids pursue a career in computer science or not, the subject is shown to nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity.
Code.org also reports that although nine in 10 parents want their kids to learn about computer science, only one in four schools teach it. St. Mary’s took part in the event to try to encourage interest in computer science among young students locally. We applaud Oklahoma City educators working to broaden the opportunities available to local kids!
To learn about some more innovative things happening in local classrooms, see our education issue coming out in January 2016.
