On Friday, October 23, 2015, Vesuvius Media, along with members of Alpha Dog Games and Copernicus Labs, hosted 5 seminars at the Nova Scotia Teacher's Union Provincial Professional Development Day about how to teach computer coding in class.

“It was a great day, with a really good turnout and lots of enthusiasm,” said Konstantinos Manos, CEO and Lead Game Developer at Vesuvius Media.

Over 120 teachers participated in the seminars that introduced fun ways to teach logical thinking, problem solving, and the basics of computer coding. Using tutorials from Code.org, teachers learned to breakdown the complex skills of computer coding and use dynamic activities to incorporate coding into their lessons.

“Computer coding sounds scary to many people,” said Manos, “but it's in almost everything we do. It's how we communicate, learn, and play. Now, we want to take it to the next level by teaching how computers work and the strategy behind it all.”

Moving beyond how to use computers to how computers work has become a priority in Nova Scotian schools. Recently, the provincial government announced it is working on a strategy to incorporate computer coding into next year's curriculum.

This year, the Nova Scotia Game Developer Association (NSGDA) has also make teaching code a priority. Its members, including Vesuvius Media, have volunteered to host the Hour of Code during Computer Science Week - December 7 to 13 in classrooms across the province.

“It's very exciting. Last year, we contacted an elementary school on our own and hosted several Hours of Code. We even started an after school Code Club,” said Manos. “Now, with the province and the NSGDA on board, we can really make an impact on the students in Nova Scotia.”

Learning to code doesn’t just mean you can become a game or computer developer, it strengthens problem solving skills and supports key academic subjects such as science, maths and technology. According to Code.org, 67 percent of all coding jobs are outside the technology industry.