Code.org has gone all out to celebrate its 10th year. No longer just a global event, Hour of Code, which starts on December 5, has gone extra terrestrial with an hour-long feature about Computer Science in space beamed from aboard the International Space Station.

From its very first year, 2013, Hour of Code has made an impact. Backed by tech leaders such as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Jack Dorsey it also recruited pop idols and world class athletes to support the cause of giving every student in every school the opportunity to get a "taster" of what can be achieved by code.

Although Hour of Code activities are always available, it is during Computer Science Education week that schools, clubs and other organizations put on special events and the year's new Hour of Code activities are unveiled. CSEd week predated Hour of Code and takes place in early December in order to encompass December 9th, the anniversary of the birth of Grace Hopper in 1906. 

The aim for Hour of Code's debut in 2013 was to reach 10 Million students in the United States. In fact over 16 Million Hours of Code had been served globally by the end of Computer Science Education Week in 2013, about two-thirds of them school students in the US. By January 2015 the number of hours served reached 100 Million and rose exponentially to 1 Billion five years later. The total now stands at over 1.5 Billion across over 180 countries and 57,547 events have been registered for 2022.

As Mike James pointed out in Why We Need An Hour Of Code:

Of course, Hour of Code isn't intended to be the end of the journey - instead it serves as a taster. No-one, child or adult, is expected to learn to code in an hour - but an hour can be enough to get you hooked and to convince you of the importance of exposing school students - indeed everybody, adults included - that the activity of coding makes you see problems in a new light.

Each year new activities are introduced and existing Hour of Code favorites, such as Dance Party, are revisited.  This year sees the introduction of some Soccer-themed activities, fitting given that the Wold Cup will be reaching its climax and Microsoft has a new Minecraft activity for its aficionados.

The headline activity for 2022, however, is from NASA and will be unveiled on December 5th. Meanwhile here is the trailer: 

NASA's Artemis mission is going back to the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, In a trailer peppered with remains of the weightlessness of being in space, NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins tells students that they are the Artemis generation and that NASA needs them to train as astronauts, scientists and engineers. We also hear from Mike Hopkins, who explains that computers are integral to everything that he and fellow astronaut Rick Mastracchio do while flying 260 miles above the Earth on the IIS.

There are new and existing activities associated with this theme, but we'll have to wait till next week to try out the new ones:

More Information

Code.org

Hour of Code

Computer Science Education Week

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