Kidsburgh: STEM Coding Lab providing computer classes in schools around the region
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- When most of us were in school, we took science classes like biology and chemistry, but computer science may be even more important for today's kids.
Yet nearly 90% of kindergarten through eighth grade students don't have access to computer science classes.
KDKA-TV's Kristine Sorensen visited a local school where the nonprofit STEM Coding Lab is providing computer classes there and in schools around the region.
They look like toys, move like toys and are fun like toys.
"It's really cute and the eyes light up and stuff," said second grader Kamorrah Henderson.
But these kids are actually programming robots called "Bee Bots" using computer science skills like coding.
"Computer science is the number one source of all new wages in the United States, yet far fewer than 10% of our region's elementary and middle school kids have access to a computer science course," said STEM Coding Lab executive director Casey Mindlin.
Mindlin runs STEM Coding Lab, which provides computer science education to kids in underresourced schools, giving them the skills to be creators, not just users of technology.
At Pittsburgh Public Schools King Elementary and Middle School, STEM Coding Lab turned a room into a permanent computer science classroom.
Naomi Odusanya loves teaching computer science because she says she was never exposed to it as a kid and most of these kids aren't either.
"The hard skills of course are the tech and learning how to program, they're learning how to code. The soft skills are also like navigation awareness, learning directions, they're doing math because they have to count the steps. They're learning how to share, how to be a team player," Odusanya said.
There are 35 locations in nine school districts offering these STEM Coding Labs for kids in kindergarten through eighth grade. And now they're expanding with mobile classes.
The bus goes to four public housing projects in Pittsburgh, and a new bus will soon be going to Greene County to reach rural kids who don't have access to computer science classes.
As the kids get older, the lessons include web design, app development, animation and gaming and more advanced robotics. It's all designed to help prepare kids for the future.
"I might do it when I grow up," said second grader Saige Currington.
"When I grow up, I might want to make robots," said second grader Timothy Eslon.
"The earlier we expose students to science, technology and math, to the STEM kind of things, then we have the opportunity to see them inspired to want to go into those fields," said Kieno Fitzpatrick, the community school site manager at King Pre K-8
Mindlin says in Pennsylvania alone, there are more than 13,000 open computer science jobs with an average salary of $90,000.
"If we expect our kids to be prepared to compete for those 21st-century jobs, those 13,000 open computer science jobs, we better be preparing them with the education necessary to develop the skills that are central to computer science."
And for the kids, it's one of the most fun parts of their school day.
"I'm excited to learn about math and stuff," Henderson said.