Todd Beamer High School students came to teach Lakota Middle School students about computer programming.
Their visit on Dec. 11 was a part of Microsoft’s Technology Education & Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program and and a part of Computer Science Education Week.
“Our goal was to use game developing as a vehicle for teaching students the basics of computer science and introducing them to technology education,” said Lakota Technology Coach Michael Braun, who organized the event. “Each student was equipped with a mobile device and tasked with creating their own app, developed in the cloud, which they can work on anytime, anywhere.”
The international campaign created to inspure students to take interest in computer science. It features “The Hour of Code,” a one-hour introduction to computer science. The campaign was created by the nonprofit Code.org, which is funded by major technology companies such as Microsoft, in order to demystify computer programming. No prior experience with computer science or programming is required.
“Technology is important because it is something that we use in everyday life,” said Lakota sixth-grader Paul Kwon. “It helps people in school study, for jobs and for new discoveries. It makes life much easier for almost everything you do. It brings entertainment for kids and for others.”
The students used 80 Microsoft Surfaces loaned by the Redmond-based technology company. The devices were loaded with a coding education program called TouchDevelop, a user-friendly, touch-based tool developed by Microsoft that allows beginners to create apps on mobile phones, tablets, and PCs, and then share their apps in the cloud.
“Technology is such an integral part of student learning and Lakota is fortunate to be able to put it into the hands of each of our students and teachers,” said Craig L. Tutt, Lakota prinicpal. “The excitement of having technology not only increases student engagement and learning, but equips our students with the skills needed to compete in future job markets.”
Jane Broom, Microsoft’s Puget Sound Director of Citizenship and Public Affairs, observed Thursday that Lakota’s event was the largest computer science education week event she has heard about this year.
“Kudos to Lakota for putting on such an inspirational, fun, and very educational event for students,” she said.
The students seemed to agree.
“Technology is important because I like to do lots of activities and technology is such a cool thing to use, especially for me because I research lots of things,” said Lakota seventh grader Alexis Frazierd. “And the thing that make technology fun is that you can do so many things, like games or crafts or just fun activities.”
