Cracking the Code: Games teach logical thinking at Warren Hills schools

"The 'Hour of Code' teaches the logical thinking without the syntax."

WASHINGTON TWP. — Dragging and dropping commands for turning left and right, students navigate their Angry Bird through a maze to reach the evil pig, but with each wrong move they learn the basic concept of computer coding: taking a problem, and breaking it down into each small step.

More than 14 million students from kindergarten through 12th grade are learning computer code this week as part of the 'Hour of Code,' a nationwide campaign coinciding with Computer Science Education week. Every student at Warren Hills middle school and high school is learning just by playing a series of coding games.

"That's where we can start; that's computer science," said Daryl Detrick, one of the high school's computer science teachers who introduced the class to the district in 2003. "People don't understand; they think, 'Oh I have to type in this code and worry about semicolons and this and that.' The 'Hour of Code' teaches the logical thinking without the syntax."

Computer science education has now grown at the high school to four classes with nine sections and 180 students, and Warren Hills remains one of only two districts in Warren County to offer computer science classes.

"I love coding. Is that nerdy to say?," said senior Danielle Plenge, who plans to study nursing.

Plenge is enrolled in Detrick's introductory class, but wishes she had started it earlier in high school.

"This is a good way to get more people involved," she said of the 'Hour of Code.'

Detrick, a former math teacher, studied engineering at Cornell University, but later decided to work in education to positively impact younger generations.

He sees computer science as a way of creating opportunities for his students and stresses the importance of studying and pursing careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Ray Odi, a senior who plans to go into computer science, was inspired during a showcase for the classes he saw during his sophomore year. Now in the advanced class, he's working on creating Android apps and plans to study computer science in college.

"I don't necessarily encourage my students to study computer science as a major," Detrick said, "although if they want to it's certainly a great major to study. But if they at least have computer science knowledge it's valuable in all fields."

Today there are only 14 states where computer science classes count toward a math or science requirement in public schools, and New Jersey is not one of them.

As a co-chair of the Advocacy Outreach of the Computer Science Teachers Association, Detrick believes that a change in the state's education requirements needs to be made, proposing new graduation requirements.

The group's proposal, called 3+3+STEM, asks the state's Department of Education to change the graduation requirements to include having to take an additional science, technology, or math course.

"We want students to be introduced to problem solving, logical thinking and what we call computational thinking," Detrick said of advocating for computer science education. "That means being able to create and use digital technology to solve tomorrow's problems."

In Detrick's classes, students aren't simply mimicking lines of code from a textbook. They are solving in-depth problems that have real-world applications. While his introductory students are developing their own games from scratch, his advanced students are working on independently created projects such as robot programming.

Looking to expand the program into the middle school and elementary schools, Detrick is happy to see the success of the 'Hour of Code.'

"Its been slow for years, but this has changed computer science advocacy," he said of new students who are now drawn to learning coding. "My job as high school teacher is not to teach them computer science. My job is to inspire them, and point them in the right direction."

More Warren County news: