When you think of coding you probably think of programmers behind computer screens.
- Pinellas County kindergarteners learning how to code
- Students at Leila G. Davis Elementary School learn coding concepts
- Coding skills to help students prepare for growing tech workforce
However, in Pinellas County schools, kindergarteners are learning to code.
“Coding at the kindergarten level is sequencing things, being able to put arrows to control something. To understand you have to put things in the right order to make it work,” Kali Kopka, who teaches kindergarten at Leila G. Davis Elementary in Clearwater, said.
Kopka was the first kindergarten teacher at the school to introduce beginning coding concepts to her class last year.
“They were so excited,” Kopka said. “We have had exciting days, but I think one kid said it was the best day ever.”
The students learn how to code through interactive games and robots.
"You get to touch the button where you want to go so it’s basically so much fun,” six-year-old Samantha Varese said while she played with a coding robot called Bee-Bot. "It’s like I am doing math equations.”
"What this has honestly brought to my class is problem solving and collaboration which are social skills we don’t teach as often as we used to,” Kopka said.
Over the summer, Kopka trained 100 more Pinellas County kindergarten teachers at a coding workshop. Two more workshops are planned for the fall.
Kopka hopes introducing coding at a young age will get students interested in STEM soon and help prepare them for a future in the growing tech workforce.
"Now we have all these tech jobs and people in American aren't prepared for them so my hope is by starting in kindergarten I can kind of get them interested in it that as they get older they seek it out and become more confident,” Kopka said.