In an effort to bring computer science to all students around the world, Code.org is excited to announce the unprecedented global expansion of its computer science curriculum.
Code.org’s CS Fundamentals course, geared toward primary school, will be translated into the 10 most-widely spoken languages of Code.org’s international user base—Chinese (traditional and simplified), French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish. Educators will also have access to a new offline version of CS Fundamentals, which will empower schools in low- and no-bandwidth environments to teach computer science to all students. Partners in three countries—Argentina, Colombia and Jordan—have also announced new pilot initiatives to bring CS Fundamentals to students while Italy, Chile, Israel, Mexico, and Thailand will continue their existing programs.
This is the single largest expansion of Code.org’s courses, which are currently taught by hundreds of thousands of US teachers to more than 25 million students. Outside the US, Code.org is supported by more than 100 international partners that reach nearly 13 million international students.
“This is an incredible step forward that will have a positive effect on students around the world,” said Suky Kang, director of international partnerships at Code.org. “Millions more students will have an opportunity to learn computer science and gain skills to improve their lives and enrich their communities.”
The Code.org curriculum is comprised of three courses that span primary and secondary school. CS Fundamentals is an introductory course geared toward grades K-5. CS Discoveries covers grades 6-10 and CS Principles covers grades 9-12.
Several international partners and leaders have also made specific commitments to expanding computer science using Code.org’s curriculum.
- Fundacion Kodea, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education of Chile, will train primary school teachers in 3,000 schools across the country by 2021 to teach Code.org CS Fundamentals to their students.
- Wix.com, Tel Aviv Municipality, and Yerucham Municipality launched a pilot program that trained 30 teachers to teach Code.org CS Discoveries, reaching more than 1,000 students in its first year. In addition, the Israel Ministry of Education joined Hour of Code efforts in Israel, reaching more than 60,000 students in 2018.
- In conjunction with government agencies and municipal offices as well as the leading Thai universities, Aksorn Education will train primary school teachers in more than 2,000 schools to teach computer science using Code.org CS Fundamentals as a resource.
- Led by Mayor Carlos Fernando Arroyo, the City of Mar del Plata (Buenos Aires Province) will train teachers in its Innovation Program to teach introductory coding to students throughout the city using Code.org CS Fundamentals.
- Programma Il Futuro, an initiative managed by the Italian University Consortium for Informatics (CINI), and in cooperation with MIUR, the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research, has introduced the importance of computer science education to 80% of schools throughout Italy. More than 35,000 Italian teachers actively use Code.org.
- Edraak provides an e-learning platform with K-12 open educational resources, in line with Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah's vision. Edraak and Code.org will jointly explore solutions to bring coding and computer science education content to students in the Arab World.
- In Colombia, Computadores Para Educar, led by Alejandro Linero; the Plan Saber Digital of the Secretariat of Education of Bogotá; the City of Medellin with the leadership of mayor Federico Gutiérrez Zuluaga; and the Agency for Cooperation and Investment of Medellín (ACI Medellín) are developing plans to train teachers for the growth of computer science education throughout the country.
- Cuantrix, a program of Fundación Televisa, plans to reach 100,000 students throughout Mexico in 2019 by training teachers to teach computer science using Code.org curriculum. Cuantrix is recommended to teachers by the Ministry of Education via the national online educational portal.
“Computer science is a foundational subject, just like math, English, physics or biology,” said Code.org Founder and CEO Hadi Partovi. “We are incredibly thankful to our international partners and teachers who have worked tirelessly to reach students around the globe. We know this opportunity will help students around the world pursue and achieve their dreams.”
The announcement was made at the 2019 Global Education & Skills Forum in Dubai. The GESF is a gathering of more than 1,500 government officials, private sector leaders and education advocates that seeks achieve education, equity and employment for all.