Sixth graders Jonathan Rodriguez and Anthony Diaz work on creating art with code at Gallego Intermediate on Friday, Dec. 11, 2015. Listen:
Students at Tucson's Gallego Intermediate Fine Arts Magnet School started the school day Friday with a pep rally and a special announcement.
“Please excuse this interruption. You may start coding if you have not done so,” boomed the voice of Principal Anna Warmbrand over the intercom at 8:50 a.m.
Classroom lights went off, 620 laptops were opened and headphones were plugged in. Students typed in commands based on Javascript to pilot Star Wars characters around a variety of obstacles.
Gallego and every school in the Sunnyside Unified District Friday participated in a national initiative to introduce kids to computer science. The organization’s website listed almost 200,000 related activities around the world.
“Students are enticed into technology by (our) actually teaching them how to code on their computers,” Warmbrand said.
Sixth grader Clarice Azar was almost halfway through the levels of the Star Wars game 10 minutes into the activity.
“I want to be an aerospace engineer when I grow up, and coding helps me learn earlier like how it can help in the engineering fields,” Azar said.
Later in the hour, her classmates used another program to make art on the screen by manipulating angles and shapes. Math teacher Kelli Noonan said while Gallego has a fine arts focus there are many elective options for students.
“We have digital technology, all kids of different programs, so kids can find where their strength are,” Noonan said. “This coding is just another opportunity for them to see where are their strengths.”
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