Coding: Awaken The Force In Students

[Frank W. Baker]

 Code.org is tapping the power of the force to reach more young people, especially girls. Riding anticipation for next month’s opening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, students can take a one-hour tutorial from Princess Leia or Rey on how to build their own Star Wars games and program the droids R2-D2, C-3PO and BB-8. The tutorial, created in partnership with Disney and Lucasfilm, is called Star Wars: Building a Galaxy with Code. It teaches logic and problem solving through basic computer programming. Students can write code that helps Rey, the movie’s heroine, scavenge in a starship graveyard or guide BB-8 through a space mission. Or they can create a Pac-Man-like game in which C-3PO is chased by storm troopers, or a game of tag in which R2-D2 tries to catch mouse droids that keep multiplying. Short video lectures from a senior R&D engineer working on Star Wars: The Force Awakens and a senior creative producer at Walt Disney Imagineering guide students through the lessons. The games that students build can be played on smartphones and shared with friends and family. The Star Warstutorial will be available starting November 16. The final version of the tutorial will be available on December 7 as Code.org kicks off the third annual Hour of Code campaign during Computer Science Education Week.

Click Here to Access Tutorial

Click Here to Participate in Hour of Code