When Asiana Ali found out she and all 4th and 5th graders would learn computer coding at Madison Elementary in Madison Heights, she didn’t think much of it.
"I want to be a clothing designer,” said Ali.
Then her class learned how to bring things imagined to life on the computer screen.
“After a few weeks of it, I thought I probably could use this stuff,” said Ali.
Her elementary school class inspired a vision for the future.
“If we were to show in a business office a coding of a dress I designed on a girl spinning, that would be one way to use the coding,” said Ali.
Madison District Public Schools Superintendent Randy Speck says he brought this class to his district after a meeting with the Michigan Film and Digital Media Office. It had teamed up with Google to get kids interested in programming early. It offered support for the class to the school district.
Google is now providing what is called the Google Computer Science First program to numerous schools across the state - inspiring thousands of kids. Google provided schools with equipment, software, and training online. Kids learn to create animation, video games, and more.
“Over the next three to five years there are going to be about a million unfilled jobs in computer science,” said Speck.
When 7 Action News asked a class of 5th graders in the program if they wanted to work in coding, all of them said yes. Google aims to inspire some of them to go into its field.
“Google is taking a lead on this and saying we want to infuse this into learning as fast as we can,” said Speck. “By getting kids interested in learning how to create animation, stories, and fashion, that is giving these kids a leg up. I think Google is doing a great job of being a leader in this space.”
