High Point students take part in Hour of Code

SUSSEX BOROUGH — Hundreds of High Point Regional High School students recently participated in the Hour of Code, a worldwide movement that reaches millions of students.

“Anyone can set up an hour of code” said Mark Wallace, supervisor of instructional technology at High Point.

One example at High Point was Brian Drelick’s class, which will need some coding language to program robots in his Technology Education class later in the year.

“My entire first period class was totally engaged, collaborating with other students and exploring the opportunities on the Hour of Code site," Drelick said. "Some continued to work through the bells. This type of activity really triggers student initiated questions and answers, I was literally learning with them, which is the best type of lesson.”

Wallace said he thinks coding will be a skill everyone will need in the future.

"It is the ability to tell the computer what to do," he said. "Computers run almost everything you deal with in a day. Why shouldn't be people understand how it works?"

Almost every student has a smartphone with multiple apps that have been coded, even cash registers, gas pumps and washing machines rely on code in order to operate.

"Coding should be a required basic, much like technology education and personal finance is in New Jersey," Wallace said. "We can invent things, and most or controlled by a computer, so why not the language."

Wallace said he hopes to increase the coding experience at High Point and believes technological literacy should be put on a level equal to science and math;.

"The Hour of Code was my first experience with coding. I felt it was a good introduction to a major job field in the world today. It was both fun and educational at the same time. It is a fantastic learning device to students young and old," sophomore Daniel Banas said.

People in careers now and in the future, that are not under the umbrella of computer science such as communications and biotechnology, also will need at least an understanding of programming and coding to be successful. I think you will see kids in the future use code in ways my generation can’t even imagine. It will be an every day activity to design and problem solve with code.