Hour of Code Celebration Kicks off
Coder-in-Residence Project with Funding from Mozilla
On Friday, December 8th, from 4:30pm to 6:30pm, Lane STEM and the Eugene Region Coder Dojo will host an Hour of Code celebration at the Mary Spilde Center at the Lane Community College campus in downtown Eugene. In honor of National Computer Science Education Week, Hour of Code events are occurring worldwide.
The Lane STEM celebration, however, is unique in that it is also celebrating the kick-off of the all-female lead Coder-in-Residence program, for which it received the largest Mozilla Gigabit grant in the country.
"We're excited to announce that our partnership with Mozilla, Technology Association of Oregon, and local tech companies including Sheer ID, CBT Nuggets, and Mindbox Studios has produced an all-female team of mentors," said Heidi Larwick, Executive Director of Lane STEM.
The Coder-in-Residence program puts high-speed Internet-enabled robots ("Gigabots") into elementary school classrooms, along with local female professionals from the local tech industry who model STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers to fourth and fifth grade students.
The program will also provide computer science curriculum for students, and side-by-side professional development for educators and Coders. Schools that have been identified to host a Coder-in-Residence include Territorial Elementary in Junction City, Marcola Elementary, Triangle Lake Charter School, Malabon and Irving Elementary schools in Bethel, and Howard Elementary School in Eugene. In total, 14 teachers will be paired with 7 Coders-in-Residence during the month of January.
The Gigabot software was developed by BigBang, a St. Louis-based company, in order to leverage high-speed internet by connecting Lego robots on a social network. By adding robot 'friends,' students can program robots in remote locations, as well as send code to other robots to make them execute a function. Thirty robots will be used in classrooms as a way to introduce students to code, the Internet of Things (IoT), and what it means to be a creator, not just a consumer.
About Lane STEM: The Lane County STEM Hub coordinates, promotes and supports STEM education in Lane County, Oregon. Building on the nationwide STEM movement to integrate science, technology, engineering, and math in the classroom and beyond, the STEM Hub brings together a diverse population of students, teachers, local businesses, public officials, and the community at large. The STEM Hub provides teachers in Lane County with connections to STEM professionals (engineers, scientists, technicians, and analysts) and offers resources for Lane County educators, industry professionals, families, and community members.