Every student and classroom can learn how fun coding is in just one hour

The UK Hour of Code is a one-hour intro to computer science, designed to demystify code during March 3-9, 2014. Every student will learn the basics to be a maker, a creator, an innovator. Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web by doing an Hour of Code.

Take the steps below to prepare your school for their Hour of Code:

1. Download the official guide for schools

2. Lock down your date. Figure out exactly when you’ll be able to offer the Hour of Code. Ideally you’ll want a one hour block of time at any point during the week of the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web, which runs from March 3-9, 2014. If you can’t find an entire hour, however, anything more than 30 minutes will do.

3. Figure out your hardware plan. Determine how your students will experience the Hour of Code. If you have access to enough Internet-connected computers or tablets so that each student can have one, then that’s the best experience. If you don’t have enough to go around, then your students can either go in shifts, or team up. If you have no computers or tablets, or they’re not connected to the Internet, then don’t despair — there is an “unplugged” tutorial that’s still plenty of fun and doesn’t use a computer at all.

4. Get the kids excited. Download the “Superpower” video from http://uk.code.org and show it to your students. The video shows people like Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and Black Eyed Peas founder will.i.am talk about the importance of programming.

5. The week before, choose your Hour of Code module and test it out. There are more than a dozen different tutorial options that you can choose for your students. If you have the time and interest, you can try out different modules ahead of time and pick the best one for your kids based on their ages and interests. Otherwise simply use the default module which is designed for all ages and interests. Test it out the week before, both to familiarize yourself with the content, and to make sure it works on whatever hardware and Internet connection your students will be using.

Try out one of the step by step tutorials

6. Do the Hour of Code. This is the fun part! Set your students up with the computers or tablets and tell them to go to “http://uk.code.org” and click the module that you’ve picked. They should be able to get through the module by themselves. If you have tested the module ahead of time, then you should be able to answer whatever questions they might have. When done, each student will receive an online certificate. You can print out these certificates and send them home with each student, along with perhaps a note to the parent.

If your teachers need support, request one of our free staff meetings at your school to launch the Hour of Code.