PORTLAND, Ore. – October 15, 2018 – How can today’s students build important soft skills like creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, empathy and teamwork and become digitally fluent? Coding!
To introduce the power of learning by coding to thousands of students around the country, Learning.com today announced its third annual Code-a-Thon. Registration is now open for this event designed to bring together elementary and middle school students across the nation, challenging them to learn to code and develop skills that will put them on the path to success, while competing for great prizes.
“Our Code-a-Thon is a great opportunity for teachers to introduce their students to coding concepts—even if they have never taught coding before,” said Learning.com CEO Keith Oelrich. “Best of all, young learners who participate in the competition will also improve critical thinking, creativity, communication and problem-solving—all important skills for success in school, college and their future careers.”
The competition exemplifies Learning.com’s commitment to Computer Science for All (CSforALL), a national movement designed to enable students in grades K-12 to achieve computer science literacy as an integral part of their educational experience.
This year’s Code-a-Thon runs from November 12-16, and provides an engaging introduction to coding for elementary and middle school students. There will be two grand prize winners and four runners up randomly drawn from the participants. The grand prize winners will receive a free school-wide, one-year subscription to Learning.com’s award-winning digital literacy products, EasyTech and EasyCode. Runners up will receive a class pack of one-year subscriptions to EasyTech and EasyCode.
Last year, a record-breaking 650,000 students from schools across the nation competed to develop their coding skills through a series of digital challenges. Dixon Elementary School in Dixon, Kentucky, and Little Cypress Junior High School in Orange, Texas, were the 2017 grand prize winners with the highest average number of points per student.
To participate in the 2018 Code-a-Thon, teachers simply need to register their class and choose one of two solutions available for free during the Code-a-Thon—EasyCode Foundations, a game-based introduction to coding recommended for elementary school students, or EasyCode Pillars, an interactive curriculum to help middle school students learn key coding principles using Python.
Educators are also encouraged to use #codeathon2018 on social media to share their school’s progress and interact with other Code-a-Thon participants. To register for the contest, visit: https://lrng.co/2O9TybJ
About Learning.com
Learning.com is a national leader in providing digital literacy solutions that help prepare students for online assessments, school, college and their future careers.
The company offers a complete digital literacy curriculum for grades K-8 that engages students as they develop critical skills such as keyboarding, business applications, online safety, computational thinking and coding.
Founded in 1999, Learning.com currently partners with one in six U.S. school districts and serves more than 4 million students each year.
The company has earned more than 30 industry awards, including ISTE 2017 Best of Show, 2017 Award of Excellence from "Tech & Learning Magazine" and "The Oregonian’s Top Workplace” for 2017 and 2016.
