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Educating the next generation of coders

Thursday 22 December 2016, 11:09AM

By Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology

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BAY OF PLENTY

School children from around Tauranga got to try out their coding skills recently at the annual 'Hour of Code' event organised by Venture Centre and Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology.

Ranging in ages from 6 – 12, the children piled into the computer suites at the institute’s Bongard campus in the CBD where Toi Ohomai staff and students were on hand to help.

Diploma in Applied Computing student Jeremy Brooking and said this was the perfect age to start learning code.

“By the time the kids are in jobs they’ll be writing code or using it,” he said. “Getting a head start will give them a huge advantage.”

Andrew Chapman, Group Leader Information Technology at Toi Ohomai, said the event was a great success with 20 students in each session.

“Coding is becoming more mainstream and will be introduced into the primary school curriculum in the near future,” he said. “The Hour of Code was a great way to introduce younger children to computational thinking. Parents who would like their children to learn more about it can look up Coding Clubs which are now popping up around the city.”

Local mum Kate Enright said she saw the event advertised in the newspaper and thought it would be perfect for her son Travis.

“This is a great opportunity for an introduction to programming,” she said. “Travis loves playing Minecraft at home so he’s excited there’s a Minecraft option today!”

Pascale Hyboud-Peron, Venture Centre Co-Founder, says the Hour of Code puts coding in the skills mainstream, and is a chance for experienced coders to support young one starting out.

“The volunteers students from Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology were fantastic and have already asked how they can continue to be involved in supporting learn to code activities in the community. This is a great outcome as schools and groups are always on the lookout for people to support them get started.”

The Hour of Code is part of Computer Science Education Week, a global event aiming to introduce kids to coding and address the lack of diversity in the computing field.