Family coding event brings Henrico elementary schoolers into the world of computer science 

It may come as a shock for non-tech-savvy parents and grandparents, but their elementary-schoolers are already learning how to code.

On Dec. 9, Henrico elementary school students and their families mastered binary codes, learned about algorithms, maneuvered computer-controlled robots, and were introduced to the basics of cybersecurity during an event held by CodeVA, a computer science education nonprofit.

CodeVA’s “Family Code Adventure” event, hosted at the Oak Avenue Complex in Highland Springs, marked the end of “Computer Science Education Week” – now officially observed in Virginia. On Dec. 1, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an official proclamation that designated Dec. 4-10 as a week to celebrate computer science education and opportunities in Virginia’s classrooms.

Middle-schoolers and high-schoolers already have started exploring skills and career pathways in computer science, but CodeVA has expanded that opportunity to elementary-schoolers as well, saying it is never too early to introduce kids to STEM learning.

The key is to make computer and coding-related activities fun and hands-on, said Katrina Smith, a community administrator with CodeVA’s new Eureka Programs initiative, which offers computer science workshops to younger students. Some of Saturday’s activities included making pixel art, building Lego sets, playing a winter-themed coding adventure game, and making “Grinch mix.”

“Our thing is we want to make it really arts-integrated and fun, because you’re not going to come in at second grade and learn how to code in like Python or some complicated coding language,” Smith said. “But we can learn about algorithms, you can learn about binary code, the zeros and the ones.”

Computer science learning also continued offscreen with “unplugged activities” as a part of the “STEAM playground” (which stands for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics). Students took turns at stations where they could draw with pixel art and build with Legos or Lite-Brite – all connecting back to the basics of computer science.

“They can see how the concepts of computer science apply even when you’re not on a screen,” Smith said. “We actually have a whole craft activity where you take beads and you spell out your initials with the beads in computer code.”

CodeVA even invited an engineer with RTS labs, which works with artificial intelligence, to teach students a class on the fundamentals of computer programming at the event.

“Our facilitators have said that the youth have been asking a lot of thoughtful questions. Especially our instructor here with the software engineering with RTS labs,” Smith said. “He’s been asking questions and he said he’s been throwing them out a challenge, like, ‘How would you program something for this?’ And they’ve been thinking of ways to stump him.”

Virginia was the first state in the United States to adopt computer science as an essential literacy, but making computer science education accessible to all students in the state is still a work in progress. That’s why CodeVA decided to make Saturday’s event – which includes workshops that are usually $36 per class – free of charge for all families.

And while in the past, CodeVA offered students a weekday field trip to a science museum during computer science education week, Smith said that this year it decided to host a weekend family-oriented event to get more community engagement.

“It’s part of our planning for how we impact the community,” she said. “We want to get the families involved more. So this is a different format for us.”

Smith said that she hopes the event will inspire students to explore computer science classes in high school, or even choose it as a career pathway after college.

“If you learn about those things now and have fun with it, then you might be more open to exploring it as you can take those classes in school and pick a major for college,” she said. “It gets them thinking about what they might be able to do in the future.”

CodeVA also hosted several other events during the week, including a Thursday conference focused on computer science education accessibility with the Virginia Society for Technology in Education at Henrico’s Meta data center. CodeVA and the Virginia Department of Education also announced the launch of the “CyberStart America” challenge for high-schoolers, which will allow students to showcase their skills and knowledge in computer science and cybersecurity.

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.