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Snoopy is your latest coding teacher
Snoopy is taking a break from lying on his doghouse and staring at the sky to help kids learn about computers and coding. As part of Computer Science Education Week (December 4-10), codeSpark Academy and the Peanuts brand are teaming up to release holiday-themed Snoopy Snow Brawl, a cute multi-player coding game that encourages kids to use problem-solving, strategy and algorithms in a snowball fight between Woodstock and his bird buddies, refereed by Snoopy.
'Minecraft' game-making tutorial teaches kids how to code
Microsoft knows that Minecraft can get kids into programming, and it's banking on that strategy again this year. It just teamed up with Code.org to introduce the Minecraft Hour of Code Designer, a tutorial that teaches young newcomers (6 years old and up) how to create a simple game. The Designer uses a drag-and-drop interface to illustrate familiar code concepts, such as object-oriented programming and loops, while letting imaginations run wild in Minecraft's blocky universe. You can make chickens that drop gold, and otherwise set rules that are as logical or ludicrous as you'd like.
Microsoft uses 'Minecraft' to teach your kid how to code
You can get kids to do a lot if you promise them Minecraft... just ask parents who've watched their children race through chores to get some building time. And Microsoft knows this, too. It just released a tutorial for Code.org that uses Minecraft to teach the basics of computer programming. Instead of pointing and clicking to smash your way through the landscape, you construct a string of commands using code-like snippets such as "turn left" and "destroy block." This hopefully shows your young ones how programming can be both fun and relevant -- it's not just some boring thing you do to make money. Many students will try this when the next Hour of Code kicks off on December 7th, but you can visit the website today if your kids can't wait to give it a shot.
Barack Obama just became the first US president to write a computer program
Remember that Hour of Code event we mentioned earlier today? The one that had President Barack Obama hosting a computer science workshop at the White House? Turns out the president used the event to mark a new milestone in American history: He's now the first US president to write a computer program. Specifically, the president used Google's Blockly tool to craft a tiny segment of code to draw a square. It's not a very useful program, but its creation is symbolic of the event's message -- with a little effort, anybody can learn to code. Even one of the busiest men on the planet. [Image credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin]
Hour of Code campaign teaches programming in 30,000 US schools (video)
Code.org wants to make computer science a staple of the classroom, and it's taking a big step toward that goal today with the launch of its Hour of Code campaign. More than 30,000 US schools (35,000 worldwide) will devote at least one hour this week to teaching programming, with incentives in store for everyone involved. Students who take an online follow-up course can win gift cards and Skype credits, while schools and teachers can win everything from 10GB of Dropbox space to a class-sized computer set. The initiative has plenty of outside support, as well. Apple and Microsoft are holding Hour of Code workshops in their US retail stores, while politicians on all sides (including President Barack Obama and Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor) are endorsing the concept. You don't even need to be a student to participate -- Code.org is making its tutorials available to just about anyone with a modern web browser or smartphone. Whether you're curious about what kids are learning or want to write some code yourself, you'll find everything you need at the source links.
