By JOYANNA LOVE/Senior Staff Writer

CLANTON — Clanton Intermediate School gifted students participated in the Hour of Code as a part of Computer Science Education Week on Tuesday.

Students showed their parents what they had learned while studying computer coding is CIS gifted education specialist Tammy Price’s class. Parents were also given the opportunity to try their hand at it.

Price said it can be hard for students to explain what coding is to their parents without showing them.

“Coding is becoming increasingly popular and they are really pushing the brighter students to learn it,” Price said.

A video by nonprofit Code.org explained programing as telling a computer what to do. Programing is done through computer code. Today, there are programs that make computer coding simpler to learn than in the past.

“Over the next 10 years, there will be 1.4 million jobs in computer science and only about 400,000 grads qualify for those jobs,” according to Code.org.

Only 10 percent of schools offer computer coding classes.

“So the fact that they [her students] are getting jumpstarted, is going to help them tremendously,” Price said.

Computer programing was first offered at CIS after the robotics teacher at the career tech center asked Price if she could offer coding classes, so students would not need to learn the basics when they came to high school.

“He said the majority of the students signing up for his classes were the gifted students,” Price said.

Now CIS students who later choose to take the robotics classes will have a head start.

“I wish they would have had this when I was in school,” parent Jack Hooper said.

Parent Krystal Vaith said the coding program “was more fun than I thought it would be.”

“Children this young doing coding — it amazes me. I am so proud of them,” grandparent Barbara Baker said.

Parent Tonnie Hooper said she was excited and proud to see what her son Tony Stewart was able to do with the program.

“I really like the way you can code the programs because when you code it is like you are creating a small movie or a small video game,” fourth-grader Stewart said.

Many of the fourth-grade students enjoy the class because of the freedom in creativity it allows.

Marynn Vaith said she enjoyed the chance to use her imagination while working with the coding programs.

“It’s fun because I can basically create whatever I want, whenever I want,” student Adam Johnson said.

Mya Smitherman said she enjoys the classes because she can program on-screen characters and create new ones.

“I get to program computers and make videos using actors that the coding website gives me, and I can program a bunch of funny things that they do,” fourth-grade student Landon Bishop said.

Bishop said he would like to take more computer coding classes in the future.

Stewart and Bishop said their favorite programs were the ones they made that have characters move when different keys on the keyboard are pressed.