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Let’s Go Beyond Hour of Code!
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Hello Reader! Computer programming is the new liberal artProgramming gives young people agency over an increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated world. Seymour Papert asked more than 50 years ago, “Does the computer program the child or the child program the computer?” Answering that question in favor of the child is critical now more than ever. Developing, possessing, and wielding such computational fluency is essential for participating in democracy and thriving in an uncertain future. Don’t like “coding?” Why not think of it in the way the use of computers was discussed at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, a half-century ago at the dawn of the Logo programming language and thinking about computers in education? Those pioneering women and men not only believed that “computers are for children,” but they viewed the richest activity to be "computational making." Read on for more resources to go beyond Hour of Code! How to teach with computersFew educators have more experience teaching children to program computers or inspiring teachers to teach children computational making than Gary Stager. He began doing so professionally in 1982, has led hundreds of workshops, hosted Constructing Modern Knowledge, written books on the subject, and even led hands-on workshops for several hundred kids at the same time. Gary recently led a new workshop, Clever Computing for Children, for PK-2 teachers interested in teaching computer science to very young children. If you are interested in inspiring your teachers, kickstarting your students, or offering a hands-on computation workshop for families in your community, reach out. We can help!
Books to supercharge computational makingConstructing Modern Knowledge Press has the books you need for classroom and makerspace! Spend 5 days in Reggio EmiliaEarly-bird discount registration is now in place for our life-changing learning adventure in Reggio Emilia, June 15-19, 2026. Join colleagues from around the world in “the city of children” and explore the language of computation within the context of the Reggio Emilia Approach. Learn more about why this is a "must attend" event for educators interested in teaching computer programming in a progressive setting. Free resources to go beyond Hour of CodeHere are collections of materials to inspire computational making experiences and computational fluency development in your classroom.
That's all for now! Hope you are having a fantastic holiday season! Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez |
Constructing Modern Knowledge
Join us for news, resources, and events for creative, progressive educators
Brett Moller needed tools that didn't exist. So he built them. Australian educator Brett Moller was about to take 35 students on a week-long field trip to Melbourne. He had some thoughts about tools that would make the trip go smoother and might even be a little fun! So Brett — a classroom teacher, not a software developer — designed and built a native iOS staff app, a real-time GPS boundary system, and a live scavenger hunt platform. Thirty-five Year 9 students used them. The tools ran...
Gary's Back from Australia — with Ideas If you've ever wondered what happens when Gary shows up at your school, ask the educators in Australia. He keynoted a TAFE (Technical and Further Education) conference for educators preparing teenage and adult students for jobs across the rapidly expanding renewable energy sector. He led a Family Computation, Art, and Learning workshop offering parents a glimpse into the powerful ideas possible with computational technology. He offered a new workshop...
You are invited to share your work at CMK Reggio For the first time, the Constructing Modern Knowledge institute will host an Academic Symposium alongside its signature hands-on learning experience. A limited number of short presentations will be selected from scholars, academics, and classroom educators to share their work with fellow institute participants in an intimate setting at The Language of Computation: CMK in Reggio this June. Submit a proposal for a symposium presentation here. The...