Photo courtesy of Hoover City Schools.
Berry Middle Susan Wojcicki
In December, students at Berry Middle talked to Susan Wojcicki, senior vice president of product management and engineering at Google, through Web chat.
Almost all Hoover City Schools participated in the national “Hour of Code” in December, including Berry Middle School students, who engaged in a live Web chat with a Google executive who’s been called one of the “World’s Most Powerful Women.”
Susan Wojcicki, senior vice president of product management and engineering at Google, has been lauded for her ideas, expertise and foresight by Forbes magazine and other media. She spent nearly an hour in the Web chat with Berry Middle School and nine other classes nationally in December.
During the chat, Berry students had the opportunity to pose questions to Wojcicki about her role at Google and her thoughts on technology’s future. The chat was part of the Hour of Code promotion during the national Computer Science Education Week. The coast-to-coast promotion was designed to motivate students to learn more about computer science and its increasing influence on everything from politics to commerce.
Many students were directed to explore the art of code-writing throughout the week in various classes. They were then asked to report their experiences in a schoolwide Google Doc.
“I completed the Angry Bird Maze code game where I used code to move the angry bird through the maze. Then, I used Khan Academy to learn how to put rectangles and other shapes on different points on the screen,” one student said. “Then, in Code Combat, I used code to move characters around the area and to make the characters do different actions with Java Script.”
Due to its resounding success this year, educators at Berry Middle School and other Hoover City Schools plan to integrate Hour of Code events into instruction each December.
