Diversity & Inclusion

Nearly 200 Pa. schools are participating in Computer Science Education Week

Nearly five million students from 168 countries have signed up to do one hour of code this week.

Tim Wisniewski, Philadelp helping sixth graders code at Friends Select School. (Photo by Tina Dougherty)

All 135 middle school students at Center City’s Friends Select School will do one hour of computer programming this week.

The students are taking part in an international initiative called Computer Science Education Week designed to expose students to coding. Nearly five million students from 168 countries have signed up to do one hour of code this week, including nearly 200 schools in Pennsylvania.

Here’s what some local organizations are doing:

  • The city’s Director of Civic Technology Tim Wisniewski visited Friends Select, a private school near the Ben Franklin Parkway, and helped students with their hour-long coding session.
  • Five hundred students at George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science will do one hour of code this week. The North Philly magnet school is also hosting a day-long hackathon this week.
  • The Urban Technology Project’s Digital Service Fellows, who are trained as School District technology apprentices, are helping participating District schools with their hour of code, said project coordinator Jacob Feinberg. The fellows are also traveling to Harrisburg today to help spread the word about Computer Science Education Week and will tour Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.
  • Email marketing company AWeber is bringing six of its employees to New Hope-Solebury High School today to show off how computer science can control objects. “One of our programmers has designed a model door connected to a number of sensors and a computer,” a spokeswoman said. “Through those sensors he’ll be able to use code to have the opening and closing of the door trigger other actions such as sending an email and setting off a mini-alarm.”
  • Other participating Philly schools include: South Philly’s A.S. Jenks, Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences, East Germantown’s Hill-Freeman World Academy and Center City South’s World Communications Charter School.
Companies: AWeber / Digital Service Fellows / Philadelphia School District / Urban Technology Project

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

Our services Preferred partners The journalism fund
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

Celebrate Philly’s winners of the 2024 Technical.ly Awards

Skills, not schools: A new path for government tech

16 places to responsibly dispose of old electronics in Philadelphia

An interactive timeline of Philly’s tech ecosystem in 2024

Technically Media