Stoneleigh-Burnham School students are participating in “Hour of Code 2103” as part of National Computer Science Education Week, celebrated Dec. 9-15.

Taylor Williams, STEaM coordinator, science teacher and 9th grade class dean, gave an overview of Hour of Code to Stoneleigh-Burnham students, faculty and staff. Designed to introduce basic computer coding to 10 million people, Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science designed to demystify code and show that anyone can learn how to do it. Hour of Code emphasizes that computer science provides the foundation for virtually any career, therefore everybody can benefit from learning the basics. Williams noted that fewer than 10 percent of students — and only 4 percent of female students and 3 percent of students of color — ever take a computer science class. But, by getting a feel for computational thinking early, students will have a foundation of success in any career path.

Middle School Dean Bill Ivey said, “Increasingly, college students, no matter what their majors, are beginning to take computer science courses. It has become a given that some knowledge of computers and coding will be helpful in a strong majority of professions they will pursue once they graduate. Meanwhile, girls and women continue to be under-represented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Fortunately, one of the the proven ways to encourage more girls and women to study and work in STEAM is for them to attend girls’ schools and women’s colleges. So with all that in mind, we are celebrating Computer Science Education Week by participating in the Hour of Code 2013.”

Organized by the Computing in the Core coalition and Code.org, Computer Science Education Week is an annual program dedicated to showing K-12 students the importance of computer science education.