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Hour of Code aims to get kids into computer science

Tuesday 6 December 2016, 9:12AM

By Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology

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BAY OF PLENTY

Primary and intermediate aged students in Tauranga will have the chance to try computer science and coding next month during the annual ‘Hour of Code’ event. 

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.

The event is being organised by Venture Centre, Basestation and Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology (formerly Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic), and will be held at Toi Ohomai’s Bongard Centre on Cameron Road.

Andrew Chapman, Group Leader Information Technology at Toi Ohomai, says tutorials have been designed to be as fun, engaging and inclusive as possible.

“Participants will be able to choose from coding options including Minecraft, Moana, Frozen, Gumball and Star Wars,” he says. “They won’t be sitting around learning boring lines of code – the whole idea is to get kids really excited about programming and computer science.”

There are three tutorial times to choose from during the day and the event will be supported by staff and students studying the Diploma in Applied Computing at Toi Ohomai as well as other IT professionals who are giving their time for free.

Pascale Hyboud-Peron, Venture Centre Co-Founder, has witnessed first-hand the amazing results that getting started in a small group and being supported by experts creates. 

“At Venture Centre we were keen to bring the Hour of Code back to Tauranga for the third year running. It is such a buzz to see youth and their families discover together that computers and mobile devices offer way more than play!”

Parents and teachers can register their children on the Event Brite website. Questions can be addressed to Pascale at pascale@venturecentre.co.nz 

When: Thursday, 8 December

Where: Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology (formerly Bay of Plenty Polytechnic), Bongard Centre, 200 Cameron Road, Tauranga

Times: 11:00am–1:00pm / 1:00pm–3:00pm / 4:00pm–6:00pm

Age group: 6-13

Register: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/hour-of-code-tauranga-is-back-registration-29429150381 

Website: www.hourofcode.nz