Seminole schools expanding computer science

The Seminole County school district will expand its efforts to teach computer science by infusing coding lessons into the curriculum at two elementary schools when classes start next month.

The new “Code to the Future” effort builds on the district’s twoyear initiative to give all students a “robust introduction” to the field by the end of middle school. That includes a program, started in 2015, to teach basic coding to all kindergartners.

The new project will be at Altamonte and Pine Crest elementary schools and involves meshing coding lessons into daily academic work, for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The Code to the Future group says the pair of Seminole schools are the first in Florida to become “immersion schools” through its program.

The new lessons will come more often than the other kindergarten-coding ones and will offer options for older students, who will learn Java, a popular computer programming language, said Beth Pocius, the district’s project leader for the initiative.

But in the initial year, the program assumes everyone is a novice so older students won't be expected to have any prior knowledge, she said. The plan is for the students to get occasional 30-minute lessons on particular coding languages but then to practice and use those skills as they study reading, math, science and social studies, Pocius added.

The hope is that students get excited about computer science and grow eager to keep studying the field. “Our goal is to really get their appetite whet earlier,” Pocius added.

The program is part of Seminole’s “Computer Science 2020” plan, which aims to give all students exposure to the subject.