Kids learn code in school, skill of future

Kids are like sponges, soaking up information quickly, but technology in the classroom is being taken to a new level.

Nearly 7,000 teachers are in Palm Springs this week for the 2016 Computer Using Educators or CUE Conference.

Gone are the days of kids learning how to use computer programs, now kids are learning how to create them.

Exhibitor showcased robots not controlled by remote-controls but through code. It’s computer code kids as young as kindergarten are learning to write.

“It’s a foundational skill,” said conference speaker Stephen Zanotti.

Teachers all across county and in the Coachella Valley are introducing the basics of computing code to kids in elementary school,

“It helps them think critically. It helps them problem solve, then it has soft skills, like the creativity, that comes with coding,” said Palm Springs teacher Jessica Pack.

Coding is the blue print for computer programs, and in today’s world of technology, just about everything has it.

“A lot of our world has become digital,” said CUE board president Raymond Chavez.

“We hear about great innovative things that are happening across the United States, across the world and we are excited to bring our members together at least once a year to learn these things.”

At Palm Springs Unified School District, teachers are working code into everyday learning and in an after-school program.

“Students are able to develop their coding skills and then create argumentative essays and public service announcement video projects,” said Pack.

The goal is to introduce code to kids as early as possible.

“Imagine if you didn’t hear about what math is until you got to high school, and math was an elective class in high school. Would you take it? Would you say math is for me? That is what computer science is like,” said Zanotti, who’s also the technology ingratiation facilitator for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Educators said these skills are what’s needed in for the jobs of the future.

“The market for these positions are huge and so many of our students could be missing opportunities that they didn’t even know they were interested in,” said Eduardo Rivera, an instructional technology specialist for Palm Springs Unified School District.

Students at Desert Sands Unified School District and Coachella Valley School District are also learning code starting in elementary school.

To learn more about code in the classroom,click here.