BENTON, Ark. — More Arkansas students are learning computer science, and some are even starting to code before memorizing their multiplication tables.
Natalie Tanner is a technology integration specialist for Benton Public Schools. She helps teachers and students across the school district integrate technology into everyday learning.
"These are our innovators, and they start here," Tanner said during a visit to a 2nd grade class at Caldwell Elementary School.
Tanner brought a "Breakout Box" to help teach students foundations of coding. The lesson resembled an escape room, with students breaking up into groups, decoding a series of clues in an effort to unlock the box and receive a prize.
"When you code, everyone thinks of coding as sitting down writing in Java or Python or anything like that, but its not," Tanner said. "It is the problem solving skills that go in behind it as well. You might sit down and write a code, but if you have a mess up in your code or there's a bug in it and you don't know how to find the answer to it your code is no good. That's why we start here at the basic foundations."
Benton Public Schools is among Arkansas school districts that has expanded its computer science offerings in recent years. Arkansas was the first state in the nation to require all public high schools to provide classes in computer coding.
"It keeps growing, and by starting it down here in the elementary, we get to grow that base foundation," Tanner said.
She says each student who works to unlock the Breakout Box not only learns basic coding skills, but also problem solving, critical thinking and communication skills critical to long-term success.
"We're building these students for careers we don't even know exist yet," Tanner said.
Tanner will visit the classroom throughout the school year, bringing robots and other tools to help students enhance their computer science skills.