Illustrative stock photo (source: SME)
Primary school teachers can learn the basics of programming which they can later use in their lessons within the Hour of Code project. The aim of the initiative, launched by the Pontis Foundation and the company Accenture, is to offer pupils quality and practical education in informatics in an entertaining way, the SITA newswire reported.
The exercises should help children develop their logical and analytical thinking and support their strong-mindedness and creativity, the Pontis Foundation informed.
“Informatics has an irreplaceable place in contemporary society, programming is considered the language of the future and interest in computer professionals is increasing,” the Pontis Foundation claimed, as quoted by SITA.
Teachers do not necessarily have to be computer professionals. During the three-hour training they will learn how to motivate children to do programming by using fairytale characters or figures from well-known computer games.
For example, via the Star Wars theme, pupils should learn how to create their own game, while Anna and Elsa from Frozen will unite thanks to code and reveal the beauty of the ice.
Instructors also show teachers the basics of so-called block programming when whole programmes are not created, but the teachers rather create blocks with pre-defined orders that are then grouped together, SITA wrote.
The free-of-charge courses for teachers should last until December 2. They take place in Bratislava, Nitra, Trnava, Trenčín, Žilina, Banská Bystrica, Poprad, Prešov and Košice.
