Students across Shaler Area School District got a hands-on experience in writing computer code during the annual Hour of Code event.

The worldwide event, held Dec. 7-11 this year, challenged students and adults to complete one hour of computer coding using Code.org's tutorials in celebration of Computer Science Education Week, said district communications specialist Bethany Baker.

The tutorials make it accessible for anyone and are all self-guided. No experience in computer coding is required. The event is organized by Code.org, a non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science by making it available in more schools.

“It's something all kids can do, from age 4 through the high school,” said Amy Wolff, computer teacher at Shaler Area Elementary School.

Millions of students in more than 180 countries have participated in Hour of Code. This year, there are 197,654 Hour of Code events planned around the world, according to the Hour of Code website.

In Amy Wolff's computer classes at Shaler Area Elementary, fourth- through sixth-graders worked with Anna and Elsa from “Frozen,” Minecraft and “Star Wars”-based tutorials to learn Java Script computer code. After learning the basics, students guided the characters in the games through a series of puzzles.

The students used blocks of code, called “blockly,” to help the characters move, navigate and complete the tasks in the puzzles. As students became more skilled, some of them even had the opportunity to write their own code instead of using the blocks, Wolff said.

Logan Boyle, a fifth- grade student, said it was pretty easy to animate the characters in the Star Wars tutorial. He thought he may be able to use the skills he was learning to use later on in his school career.

When the Shaler Area Business and Information Technology Department worked to rewrite the curriculum to expand the computer science offerings, the Hour of Code event has incorporated into the curriculum as a way to get them into computer science, Baker said. This is just one of the district's many STEAM offerings aimed at reaching all grade levels.

Most of Wolff's students participated in two 30-minute sessions of Hour of Code throughout the week. The goal is to get kids interested in computer science and let them see how easy it can be to learn.

“It teaches them English, math and higher-level thinking skills,” she said.

Fifth-graders Anna Love, Mackenzie Pegher and Kiley Williams said some the tutorials were more difficult than others, but they enjoyed bringing the games to life and learning a lifelong skill.

“I play actual Minecraft at home,” Anna said. “It's fun to direct it.”

Rachel Farkas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-772-6364 or rfarkas@tribweb.com.

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