November 30, 2016

SVSU to host 100 fourth grade students for Hour of Code event

Saginaw Valley State University will host students from four local elementary classrooms Friday, Dec. 2 for an Hour of Code program. The event is part of a national initiative to increase diversity in computer science as well as to introduce coding to students at a young age.

Elementary students will participate in an hour of coding, the process of writing a computer program using a programming language. George Corser, SVSU assistant professor of computer science and information systems, and SVSU computer science students will provide instruction to the elementary students. SVSU hosted a similar program last year.

The four participating classrooms are two fourth grade classes at Kirk Elementary in Millington, and two classrooms from Saginaw Public Schools: Merrill Park Elementary and Stone Elementary.

In addition to writing code, students from those schools will tour the Marshall Fredericks Sculpture Museum at SVSU, where they will engage in a new STEM-geared activity session at the museum.

The Hour of Code event is a global movement that reaches students in over 180 countries.