Three members of MDU Resources’ Enterprise Information Technology web development team recently went back to school. Not to learn, but rather to help elementary students discover coding.

Joseph Murphy, Clay Kuznia and Baley Wilson, all associate software developers in EIT, volunteered for Hour of Code at Monroe Elementary School in Boise, Idaho. The event was part of Idaho’s Computer Science Education Week.

The trio heard of the volunteer opportunity from their supervisor. Wilson said he chose to volunteer because it was a good opportunity to share his skills with local kids. Kuznia thought it was a great way to foster interest in computer programming.

“My favorite part of volunteering was witnessing the ‘aha’ or ‘eureka’ moment when they found the solution to the problem, in most cases by themselves or with little help,” Wilson said. “It was cool to see the kids build confidence in themselves and build important problem-solving skills.”

For some classes, the coding lessons integrated popular video games to provide additional excitement for the kids. The students Wilson worked with love the game “Minecraft,” and the lessons provided a coding challenge for this game.

Murphy was paired with a third/fourth grade class, and the students caught on to the coding challenges almost immediately.

“My role ended up being a voice to push the kids to try new things and experiment rather than to teach the lessons,” Murphy said. “Overall, my favorite part of the experience was seeing the kids’ heartwarming enjoyment while problem solving and learning to code.”

Kuznia was assigned to a first grade class and loved seeing so much excitement in the classroom.

“It felt more like a fun activity instead of a lesson, and it was effortless to get the first grade students interested in the activity,” Kuznia said. “Many of the students were overjoyed when completing a section of their Scratch Jr. coding challenge. The kids appeared to be having a great time. Overall, it felt like a positive experience for everyone.”