Community Corner
Kent Place Celebrates Computer Science Education and Women in Technology
Summit, NJ (December 16, 2013) – Kent Place School celebrated computer science education and women in technology during the week of December 9 through 13. The week was designated as Computer Science Education Week, which is observed in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906).
“Celebrating Computer Science week is an opportunity for us to showcase the many student opportunities and projects we have here at Kent Place,” stated Kimberly Pearson, Kent Place Director of Technology. “This has been a wonderful week of exploration and showcasing student work. We look forward to turning this into an annual event!”
This year's theme was "An Hour of Code." The technology department held special events and classes to expose students to computer coding and programming.
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For example, in the Primary School, fifth graders worked on Lego Robotics designs, programming Lego alligators to open and close their mouths. Gears, motors and distance sensors controlled the mouths. Even some of the youngest Kent Place students learned the basics of coding: Kindergarten, first and second graders learned to program on iPads.
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In the Middle School, students learned about coding by using a program called App Inventor. This program allowed students to create an app that makes a device speak text written by the student.
Upper School students attended various classes for students to learn the basics of coding. The Kent Place community was invited to a Software Showcase, held in the school’s Great Room, to come and play computer games created by the Computer Programming class.
Currently only one third of the country’s college graduates are qualified to fill the more than one million jobs available in programming and only a small percentage of those qualified are women.
“Girls are severely underrepresented in the computer science field,” added Pearson. “Kent Place is dedicated to exposing the young women we educate to experiences in coding to change this stigma.”
