BootUp Teams with Amazon Future Engineer to Bring Computer Science to More Than 1,000 Elementary Schools
January 31 2020 · By Abby Funabiki
Professional Development Non-Profit Now Accepting Applications from School Districts to be Part of the Amazon Future Engineer + BootUp Initiative
February 3, 2020, SALT LAKE CITY, UT. BootUp Professional Development today announced a joint initiative with Amazon Future Engineer to provide computer science to support elementary school teachers through ongoing professional development and onsite support. Amazon Future Engineer is a comprehensive childhood-to-career program aimed at increasing access to computer science education for children and young adults from underserved and underrepresented communities across the country.
“This is the most exciting announcement in elementary computer science since the invention of Scratch,” said Clark Merkley, Executive Director of BootUp PD. “This initiative with Amazon Future Engineer is particularly impactful when it comes to closing existing equity gaps for students and teachers in underserved districts across the country.”
The Amazon Future Engineer sponsorship funds BootUp’s ongoing, onsite professional development to elementary teachers on the content and pedagogy of computer science education. In working with Amazon, BootUp wants to help close opportunity gaps in computer science and computational thinking.
At BootUp, we know that every district is different; professional development and support is customizable and scheduled to take into account each district’s unique needs. Teachers learn how to engage students with easy-to-use, block-based programming languages (ScratchJr and Scratch) to create and share interactive stories, animations, games, art, music, and more through problem solving and other fundamental computer science practices. BootUp programs require no prior coding experience and include a free, interest-driven curricula with more than 70 classroom projects.
About BootUp Professional Development
BootUp PD is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit with experience implementing district-wide elementary computer science initiatives that focus on creativity and problem-solving. BootUp has worked with over 300 elementary schools in nine states, impacting almost 150,000 students since 2015. BootUp prepares teachers to facilitate open-ended coding projects in the free platforms Scratch and ScratchJr that are not only project-based, but also personally meaningful. Students pick something that is interesting to them and find a way to explore that interest with code through design, music, art, animation, games, or stories.
APPLY TODAY AT: www.afebootup.smapply.org
