GAGE PARK — Jarvis Partee is learning how to create his own computer games through a computer coding class his school offers.
“Coding is fun and I also think it helps you get better with computers, electronics and robotic things,” said the 10-year-old fifth-grader.
“I think coding is really fun and you get to do anything you want,” said 10-year-old Karina Gonzalez.
At least 1,000 students from Enrico Tonti Elementary School, 5815 S. Homan Ave., celebrated the “Hour of Code” Monday. It’s a computer science movement that has gone global.
The daylong event is hosted by nonprofit Code.org. Through online tutorials, students learn the basics of computer coding. The movement has reached students in more than 180 countries. Chicago Public Schools won the Hour of Code in 2012 and placed third last year.
This is the second year that Tonti teachers Jose Frausto and Jonathan O’Sullivan are teaching the class. They rotate classes so they are able to reach all of the students, which range from kindergarten through fifth grade.
“We don’t want our kids to be consumers,” said Frausto. “When it comes to technology, it’s really easy to make kids be consumers, but we make the learning active on purpose because we want them to see themselves as creators and makers, not just consumers of technology.”
On Monday, students gathered into the school’s auditorium with O’Sullivan and Frausto. They were able to watch short videos from President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, singer Will.i.am and more. They all stressed the importance of computer science.
The students were also able to Skype with a professional who answered their questions about coding. Later, students were given iPads so they could do coding for a computer game. Volunteers came to the stage and their screens were connected to the projector so the audience could see them work. They were creating a game similar to Minecraft.
Many of the students are in their second year of coding so it came easy. O’Sullivan said his classes spend at least 10 minutes a day coding on their own. He has each group for six weeks and then they switch out. This gives everyone a chance to learn.
“I personally believe that we have to help our kids become independent learners with coding, so I kind of give them that time and let them do it,” O’Sullivan said. “We’re trying to make sure that what we do in the classroom is very authentic. We’re teaching them things they can take home and share with their family and build on these skills.”
Because the tutorials are online, the students are able to access the lessons from home. Frausto said he has found that the younger students are so excited about learning that they’ve surpassed their grade level.
“Some of them are getting so much into it that now they’re seeing content that’s beyond their grade level,” he said. “So now they can do the coding but not the math because it’s not first-grade math.
Frausto is teaching them advanced math so the learning doesn’t have to stop.
The third-, fourth- and fifth-graders he’s working with are learning how to design websites. And O’Sullivan’s students are making movies about cyber bullying.
Principal Gerardo Arriaga said he was pleased with the curriculum and thought computer science should be taught just like math and reading.
“It’s not just a game,” he said. “These are the tools that they will be using when they grow up and we want to provide them with the skills now so they are ready for the opportunities that they will have in the future.”
Arriaga likes that it’s interactive and allows the students to be independent.
“This has become another way of keeping the kids excited about school and learning. They’re learning and having fun at the same time.”
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