Davis Academy Gets Grant Sponsored By Google
A national library program sponsored by Google gave The Davis Academy microfunding to plan and implement coding activities.
A national library program sponsored by Google gave The Davis Academy $500 to plan and implement coding activities during Computer Science Education Week Dec. 3-9. The Jewish day school is one of 250 schools and public libraries around the country to receive the microfunding from Libraries to Code, an initiative of the American Library Association sponsored by Google.
The microfunding supports The Davis Academy’s efforts to “continue to educate our students, faculty, and families about the value of integrating coding into the curriculum,” said 21st Century Learning Coordinator Stacy Brown. “It is increasingly important for students to learn the impact that computer science has on the evolution of our society. We hope to cultivate an understanding of coding and to nurture a love for this increasingly demanding field for those students who may wish to choose this as their concentration as they progress academically.”
Google Program Manager Nicky Rigg said, “Libraries are the cornerstones of our communities. We are proud to include The Davis Academy in our CS Ed Week activities this year. We hope these libraries will join the growing number of libraries excited to offer CS programs that help youth create, problem solve and develop the confidence and skills to succeed in their future careers.”
The ALA is pleased to offer the funding to The Davis Academy, said President Loida Garcia-Febo. “We hope this microfunding will not only generate enthusiasm for CS Ed Week, but spark year-round programming to develop critical thinking and digital skills youth can draw on over a lifetime.”
The 250 libraries and schools selected for CS Ed Week funding will each host activities based on Google’s free CS First curriculum, which uses video-based instruction to introduce computer science to kids through block-based coding. Libraries will pursue projects that reflect Ready to Code themes critical for advancing youth learning, especially for building computational thinking literacies. The Ready to Code team estimates that the CS Ed Week funding will support more than 60,000 youth all around the country taking part in coding activities throughout the week.
With the funding, Davis can expose students to more complex coding opportunities and allow them to continue to go beyond the surface of learning computer science, demonstrating the power of learning coding as a literacy, and ultimately, helping create a more sophisticated culture of computational thinkers.
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