{"id":161,"date":"2017-06-06T14:50:10","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T14:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecoderschool.com\/blog\/why-codeorg-is-great-for-the-coding-world\/"},"modified":"2022-10-13T20:50:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T20:50:22","slug":"why-codeorg-is-great-for-the-coding-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecoderschool.com\/blog\/why-codeorg-is-great-for-the-coding-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Code.org Is Great For the Coding World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of you out there have probably heard of the Hour of Code, and the folks behind it, code.org<\/a>. \u00a0Started in early 2013 by Hadi<\/a> and Ali Partovi, these guys have done an incredible job of impacting the world of computer science education for kids. \u00a0Since their founding, code.org has helped millions of kids in the U.S. and around the world learn to code, and hundreds of thousands of teachers get set up to teach coding to kids. \u00a0These guys have been instrumental to the still-nascent industry of teaching kids to code, so we really wanted to give them a shout-out by blogging about them!<\/p>\n

Check out some of the awesome stuff on their site:<\/p>\n

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Coding Statistics<\/h2>\n

We all know kids need to learn to code, but ah, can you quantify it? \u00a0Now you can! Check out some of these amazing stats from their stats page<\/a>:
\n* There are currently about 500,000 open computing jobs nationwide. \u00a0But last year, only about 40,000 computer science students graduated into the workforce.
\n* A computer science major can earn 40% more than the college average
\n* Women who try AP Computer Science in high school are 10x more likely to major in it in college. \u00a0Blacks and Hispanics are 7x more likely.
\n* 90% of parents want their children to learn computer science, but only 40% of schools teach computer programming<\/p>\n

Whoa, those are some serious stats! \u00a0Coding for kids is no joke!<\/p>\n

Coding Platforms for Students<\/h2>\n

If you’re a student wanting to code, check out their Learn<\/a> tab and you’ll see a few options, including some fairly self-guided options. \u00a0They’ve created two cool coding platforms, one targeted at younger kids (Code Studio) and one aimed more for older kids (App Lab). \u00a0This is also where you’d go if you want to do an Hour of Code at your school. \u00a0You’ll also find lots of links to other tutorial sites to get your kids up and running asap, not a lot of prep needed!<\/p>\n

Coding Curriculums for Teachers<\/h2>\n

If you’re a teacher with kids chomping at the bit (haha, is that a pun?) to code, check out this section by clicking on Teach<\/a>. \u00a0You’ll find curriculums you can use to teach kids, broken up into elementary, middle, and high school. \u00a0It looks like they’re still working on rolling out their high school curriculum at the time of this blog. \u00a0The best part of all these curriculums is they’re free! \u00a0But sorry, they don’t come with a robot teacher – you’ll need to fill that position yourself!<\/p>\n

Hour of Code<\/h2>\n

If you’ve never heard of Hour of Code, then you’ve definitely been living under the proverbial rock, at least as it relates to coding for kids. \u00a0code.org has done an amazing job of making this an almost ubiquitous term, known by teachers around the country. \u00a0Hour of Code<\/a> originally started as an hour during Computer Science Education Week in December where kids around the country spend an hour learning to code, and has since spawned a life of its own where almost half a BILLION kids have tried it and been exposed to coding. \u00a0That’s a lot of kids!<\/p>\n

What’s Next?<\/h2>\n