Gadgetory

an hour in the classroom that's all the nonprofit co.org wants at least to start hour of code is an event that aims to teach kids about programming it takes place December 9th to the 15th during computer science education week the idea is to get a 1-hour basic introduction to this field that is sort of behind this veil of mystery it's this veil that separates the average person from the mark zuckerberg and we want to basically break down that veil and let people take one hour to basically see what it's like to write code sound intimidating code org says coding is easier than you think it started with ones and zeros and even in for last 30 years nobody really does that stuff but now it's at the point where giving instructions to a computer are almost like speaking a simple language to help educators introduce the topic to students code org has compiled a range of lessons Mark Zuckerberg may not draw them in but Angry Birds might six-year-olds play it not even knowing that it's learning they're just playing it because it's a game and you know each level that you progress through the game you're learning a little bit more about how computer science works Westborough middle school in South San Francisco is one of nearly 10,000 schools across the globe planning to participate it's time to really understand how to go about doing certain tasks and understanding the benefits of technology like many schools Westborough offers a computer lab course for students but that focuses on computer literacy the art of code is about incorporating more computer science in the classrooms not just learning how to use Microsoft Office and use the Internet's but actually being able to understand how to create these applications hour of code is backed by dozens of tech companies and luminaries like Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Bill Gates 13 when I first got access to a computer file sharing service Dropbox is donating storage for the event CEO drew Houston hopes students get as hooked on coding as he did I was lucky enough that my parents bought a PC Junior when I was like three and so there's this like glowing box in the living room and had all these buttons my dad showed me how to use the computer and actually showed me how to write my first line of code 20 years later Houston has built a multi-million dollar business using code gets the right code and then press a button and then millions of people now have a problem that's solved and I can't think of any other tool that has that kind of power it's unlikely the Common Core education standards will be revised to include coding still 60 minutes could bring some change within an hour you can build up to something more complicated that you didn't even realize and have that little aha moment of I actually got a computer to do something for me a moment that may spark interest in a career or simply strengthen logic skills either way sounds like an hour well spent in San Francisco I'm suma das CNET for CBS News you