Thank you to Ava's dad, Jonathan Stern, for coming to our first grade classroom to talk about his career as a computer engineer for Microsoft. Mr. Stern talked about all of the products that Microsoft develops like Microsoft Windows, Office, X-box, and Minecraft. There were many ooohs and aaahs after the reveal of Minecraft. :)
Mr. Stern talked about the job of an engineer in first grade terms: a person who uses math and science to solve problems. He then talked about a computer engineer and the concept of coding. Mr. Stern used a great demonstration to help first grade students understand the concept of coding.
Students got to practice what it would be like as a computer to receive code in general instructions. Students had to instruct Mr. Stern to make a bagel and cream cheese in simple instructions. Students got to experience first hand how to revise their instructions and problem-solve to get the instructions just right and simple enough for a computer to understand. This was a great connection!
Students had great questions. A fun demonstration took place with Microsoft's version of Siri, named Cortana--great connection to the code that was written to create that. Thank you so much, Mr. Stern for coming to our class to talk about your career. We had great engagement among the students and their curiosity about computer engineering and coding was peaked! The students and I really enjoyed it. The future of technology through the eyes of Microsoft was revealed to us. We thought you might find it very cool! To view the link click here:
