- Today on Extra Credit, we discuss a superpower that many schools don't teach.

I wonder what that could be.

Stay tuned.

(bright upbeat music) Welcome to Extra Credit where we meet interesting people, explore new ideas and discover fun places together.

I'm your host, Yash.

The theme for today's show is computer science.

And we'll learn all about what it is, how you can get involved, and why it's important.

Let's start with the basics and learn what makes a computer, a computer?

(bright upbeat music) - [Man 1] 1, 2, 3, 4.

- My name is May-Li Khoe, and I'm a designer and an inventor.

So some of the things I've designed have been at Apple and now I design products for kids to use so that they can have an easier time in school.

My other jobs include deejaying and dancing.

(bright upbeat music) Computers are everywhere.

They're in people's pockets, they're in people's cars.

People have them on their wrists.

They might be in your backpack right now.

But what makes a computer, a computer?

- What does make a computer, a computer anyway?

- And how does it even work?

(bright upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Nat.

I was one of the original designers of the Xbox.

I've been working with computers since I was maybe seven years old.

And now I work on virtual reality.

(upbeat music) As humans, we've always built tools to help us solve problems.

Tools like a wheelbarrow, a hammer, or a printing press or a tractor trailer.

All of these inventions helped us with manual work.

Over time, people began to wonder if a machine could be designed and built to help us with the thinking work we do like solving equations or tracking the stars in the sky.

Rather than moving or manipulating physical things like dirt and stone, these machines would need to be designed to manipulate information.

- As the pioneers of computer science explored how to design a thinking machine, they realized that it had to perform four different tasks.

It would need to take input, store information, process it, and then output the results.

Now, this might sound simple, but these four things are common to all computers.

That's what makes a computer, a computer.

(upbeat music) - [Nat] The earliest computers were made out of wood and metal with mechanical levers and gears.

By the 20th century though, computers started using electrical components.

These early computers were really large and really slow.

A computer the size of a room might take hours just to do a basic math problem.

- [Man] These machines are things of gleaming, very colored metal and numerous flashing lights.

- Computers started out as basic calculators which was already really awesome at the time.

And they were only manipulating numbers back then.

But now we can use them to talk to each other, we can use them to play games, control robots and do any crazy thing that you could probably imagine.

- Modern computers look nothing like those clunky old machines, but they still do these same four things.

(upbeat music) - First, we're going to talk about input.

This is my favorite because what input is, is the stuff that the world does or that you do that makes the computer do stuff.

You can tell a computer what to do with a keyboard, you can tell them what to do with a mouse, the microphone, the camera, and now if you're wearing a computer on your wrist, it might listen to your heartbeat or in your car, it might be listening to what the car is doing.

And a touchscreen can actually sense your finger, and it takes that as input on what it's doing.

(upbeat music) - All these different inputs give a computer information, which is then stored in memory.

A computer's processor takes information from memory, it manipulates it or changes it using an algorithm, which is just a series of commands.

And then it sends the processed information back to be stored in memory again.

This continues until the processed information is ready to be output.

(upbeat music) How a computer outputs information depends on what the computer is designed to do.

A computer display can show text, photos, videos or interactive games, even virtual reality.

The output of a computer may even include signals to control a robot.

And when computers connect over the internet, the output from one computer becomes the input to another and vice versa.

- The computers we use today look really different from the earliest thinking machines.

And who knows what the computers of tomorrow will be like.

My hope is that you get to help decide what you want the computers of tomorrow to look like.

But across all computers, regardless of the different types of technology they use, they're always doing the same four things.

They take in information, they store it as data, they process it and then they output the results.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Are you curious about careers in science?

Hi, it's Janellyn.

And today I'm here with Ms. Hillary Lewandowski.

So Ms. Hillary, where are we today?

- Today we are here at Commercial Progression in Northville, Michigan.

I'm called a Drupal developer, so I do a lot of coding or programming.

Coding is how humans talk to computers.

So I write in a language that a computer can understand and tell it what I want it to do.

It's just like learning another human language.

You just learn how to communicate with someone else.

Drupal is what's called a content management system.

It's a piece of software you can install it and you get a working website.

A lot of people can't catch onto Drupal very easily and it's very hard to learn and that's where I come in.

I really love making something great for our clients.

when I've made a good website and they come and say, "This is an amazing website."

That's when my job is worth it.

- I had a great time meeting with Hillary today, and learning all about website design.

Explore your possibilities.

(upbeat music) - [Tutor] So what grade are you in?

- Second.

- Tenth grade.

- First grade.

- I was in eighth grade when I learned to program.

- I got my first computer when I was in sixth grade.

- What gets me excited is being able to fix people's problems.

- You can express yourself.

You can build things from an idea.

- Computer science is the basis for a lot of the things that college students and professionals will do for the next 20 or 30 years.

- I like programming because I like helping people.

- If I get the opportunity to build something that's gonna make people's life easier.

- I think it's the closest thing we have to a super power.

- And getting started is the most important part.

(indistinct) - I'm a beginner myself and I want you to learn with me.

(upbeat music) - I was 13 when I first got access to a computer.

- My parents bought me a Macintosh in 1984 when I was eight years old.

- I was in sixth grade.

- I learned to code in college.

- Freshman year, first semester, intro to computer science.

- I wrote a parameter, play, Tic-tac-toe.

- I think it was pretty humble beginnings.

I think the first program I wrote asked things like, what's your favorite color?

Or how old are you?

- I first learned how to make a green circle and a red square appear on the screen.

- The first time I actually had something come up and say, "Hello world."

I made a computer do that?

It was just astonishing.

- Learning how to program didn't start off as wanting to learn all of computer science or trying to master this discipline or anything like that.

It just started off because I wanted to do this one simple thing.

I wanted to make something that was fun for myself and my sisters.

And I wrote this little program, then basically just added a little bit to it.

And then when I need to learn something new, I looked it up either in a book or on the internet and then added a little bit to it.

- It's really not unlike kind of playing an instrument or something or playing a sport.

(crowd applauding) It starts out being very intimidating, but you kinda get the hang of it over time.

- Coding is something that can be learned and I know it can be intimidating and a lot of things are intimidating.

But, what isn't?

- A lot of the coding that people do is actually fairly simple.

It's more about the process of breaking down problems then, you know, coming up with complicated algorithms as people traditionally think about it.

(indistinct) - You don't have to be a genius to know how to code.

You need to be determined.

- Addition, subtraction, that's about it.

- You should probably know your multiplication tables.

- You don't have to be a genius to code, you have to be a genius to read.

- Even if you want to become a race car driver, or play baseball or build a house, all of these things have been turned upside down by software.

- What it is computers are everywhere.

You want to work in agriculture?

Do you wanna work in entertainment?

Do you wanna work in manufacturing?

It's just allover.

(upbeat music) - Here we are 2013, we all depend on technology to communicate, to bank, information and none of us know how to read and write code.

- When I was in school, I was in this afterschool group called the Whiz Kids.

And when people found out, they laughed at me.

All these things.

And I'm like, man, I don't care.

I think it's cool and I'm learning a lot.

And some of my friends have jobs.

(upbeat music) - Our policy is literally to hire as many talented engineers as we can find.

The whole limit of the system is just that there just aren't enough people who are trained and have these skills today.

- To get the very best people we try to make the offices awesome as possible.

(upbeat music) - [Lady] You have a fantastic chef.

- [Man] Free food.

- [Lady] Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

- [Man] Free laundry, snacks, even places to play video games and scooters.

There's all these kind of interesting things around the office and places where people can play or relax or go to think or play music or be creative.

- Whether you're trying to make a lot of money or whether you just want to change the world, computer program is an incredibly empowering skill to learn.

- I think if someone had told me that software is really about humanity, that it's really about helping people by using computer technology, it would have changed my outlook a lot earlier.

- To be able to actually come up with an idea and then see it in your hands and then be able to press a button and have it be in millions of people's hands, I think we're the first generation in the world that's really ever had that kind of experience.

- Just to think that, I mean, you can start something in your college dorm room and you can have a set of people who haven't built a big company before come together and build something that a billion people use as part of their daily lives, it's just crazy to think about, right?

It's really, it's humbling and it's amazing.

- The programmers of tomorrow are the wizards of the future.

You're going to look like you have magic powers compared to everybody else.

- I think it's amazing.

It's I think it's the closest thing we have to a superpower.

- Great coders are today's rock stars, that's it.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - I'm a coder.

A coder is someone who loves working with their hands and technology.

Someone who is able to go on the computer and try to make something, an idea come to life.

What I find most rewarding about being a coder is the idea.

Because there's so many great ideas already invented, already apps out there.

But when you find that one idea, then you feel like you can actually create it into something that can change our community.

That can really have a step toward advancing our whole entire world, it's like amazing.

I would tell my 30 year old self in the future to always keep believing in yourself and don't let anyone bring you down.

If you have an idea that you strongly believe in, keep going for that idea.

(upbeat music) - Today, we're going to teach you guys how to use the PBS app ScratchJr (scratchy sound) - I Can Achieve students have been working on ScratchJr Coding Program, where they're literally learning about the different elements of coding.

So they're going in and learning what it is to be a maker, learning what it means to tinker and to do the design engineering process.

We want your plane to fly further than your peers'.

I've been a participant of the Ready to Learn program with PBS for a few years now, and I've really been waiting on an opportunity to kind of get my high school students involved.

I love it.

Good job Robert.

(applause) What I really love about PBS resources is that everything that they do is engaging and interactive.

- It's something new for me because I never knew of something coding and like putting stuff together and now I really like it.

- So they get this piece of playing with the concept, playing with the app, going through it, implementing our own projects, but now you have to lead.

So the leadership piece is what's going to be the real challenge.

Now you have to lead.

You have to be slow to get angry.

(laughs) You have to communicate in a way that's effective.

- I'm used to like talking to somebody like my peers or like somebody that's older than me, but teaching a younger person who's different is going to be the new experience.

(upbeat music) - Hi, my name is (indistinct) - I'm Summer - And we're with the YMCA I Can Achieve Program.

- So we're high school leaders, and today we're going to teach you guys how to use the PBS app, ScratchJr.

- Press that green light there.

- Can I get down there?

Yeah.

- Look at it!

I'm making something in the lab.

- I'm so exited, I'm just super proud of them.

I'm so happy that they have really raised to the challenge and they're in there just leading and guiding.

- We can go right back to this green area.

- I loved it.

It was so much energy.

They were all excited, and ready tell us about what they learned.

And I loved meeting all new different personalities, and it was really different for me.

- Made me happy to see them learn something new.

- Robert Rivers, He is very soft-spoken and he's in there at a table with two kindergartners.

It's just exciting to see him, someone who usually is reserved.

Doesn't talk a lot and he's in there, like helping them out and helping them create little scenes on the tablet.

So really seeing him step out of his comfort zone because that's something that he wouldn't normally do.

- I want to thank you guys for this opportunity to be able to help these children and to learn something new ourselves with them because it was new (indistinct) as well, and we had to learn how to use it just like we taught the kids how to use (indistinct).

- Super excited that I was able to connect and partner with the with PBS on a project as such.

Even with ScratchJr, the opportunity for our students to learn coding in a way that's fun and engaging, even though they may not know that these are the building blocks.

The building blocks to writing and coding in technology.

A student may be interested in that as a career field and now just even from something as simple as giving back through a service project, they have the opportunity to explore that.

So I've been so thankful for this partnership.

It's been a long time coming, but we finally got to a point where we can have our high school students really engage with our younger youth, and it's amazing.

- [Kid] Look at it!

I'm making something in the lab.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to the Hour of Code Event, put on by the West Michigan Tech Talent.

Throughout this time, we're going to be doing some coding and doing some programming.

But what is coding?

What does that mean?

Well, we do have some tech professionals along with us today that will be sharing what coding is, and what does it mean for them?

They're also going to talk about what can we do with coding as a career?

Is that something that is viable?

And so hang in with us.

Before you log out, let's listen to some tech professionals, and then we're going to jump in right into the coding.

(upbeat music) - Have you ever wanted to make something new?

Have you ever had an idea about a new game you want to make?

A new toy, a new project of some kind that you'd like to have?

With coding, you can make that, if you can imagine it, you can build it.

(upbeat music) - Have you ever heard of morse code?

(beeping sound) So morse code is used to send secrets between two parties and only the two of them can understand it.

Coding is somewhat similar to that.

It's basically just writing out instructions that machines can understand, and we use software to do that.

- Coding is the super exciting skill that tells computers what to do.

And not just computers, gaming systems, phones, all of those things get told by coders, through coding, how to do what they do.

(upbeat music) - Coding to me is an opportunity to solve really complex problems in a way that's creative and sort of fun.

- Coding is the future.

When I think about where our world is headed, more technology and more systems helping us do more things faster and better and easier.

It's coding that makes that possible.

- It's the creativity that I love about it, and the ability to imagine anything you want and be able to build it using your code.

(upbeat music) - Oh, there are lots of ways to learn how to code.

But in the classroom you get a peer group, you get your friends who are also learning with you.

And there's something really exciting about that.

To get to see what your friends do and get to show them what you did.

It makes them better and you better and it makes the code better.

Just between you and me, coding offers you the opportunity to change the world.

The future is paved with lines of code and coding gives you the opportunity to do anything you want to do to make anything you dream possible.

- Coding taken as a whole really has infinite opportunities.

- You can build the new version of the electric car like Elon Musk and Tesla are doing or you could help build the next space shuttle that would take us to Mars or to the moon.

- [Man] And lift off of the space shuttle Discovery (indistinct) (applause) - Starting out when you're really young is great for coding.

It helps you build the building blocks that you'll need to create like incredible, incredible tools.

I know a lot of people want to go into video games.

It's what I sort of wanted to do when I was really little too.

So you can create, and you can play with your friends.

- So when you start coding, it might be very easy for you, or it might be difficult for you.

When I started, it was difficult for me.

So my advice to those of you who find it difficult is to stick with it.

Just finish the class and see what comes out of it.

And for those who find it easy, use that opportunity to take on more challenging problems, but stick with it and challenge yourself and you won't regret it.

- If you have never written a line of code before, write a line of code, write three lines of code and see what they do.

It's amazing.

If you write code, whatever language you write code in, keep writing.

The more you write, the more you learn, the better things you can do.

The more complex problems you can solve.

The cooler stuff you can build.

The sooner you start writing code, the better a coder you become.

Write code, write code right now.

Why are you listening to this video?

Go write code.

- We hope this has inspired you and gets you excited about programming and coding.

And we're excited to share this experience with you.

And so with that, let's get onto the programming and coding, and we hope that you enjoy the coding, but mostly we hope that you have a lot of fun.

Let's get to it.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - When you're just getting started into coding, I feel like you should just get in there and jump in there and learn any possible way you can.

With Black Girls Code, there are actually classes that teach you and help you and where you have people who actually know how to code actually help you when you can learn very easily.

But if you're just learning on your own, like outside, I feel like you should go to like different applications, like really good applications that teach you very quickly.

Or you can just use tutorials online like YouTube and everything where you can automatically jump in, use your idea and make it.

(upbeat music) - This is so challenging.

I really don't think I can even do this.

- This is really hard, but I believe I can finish it.

I'm gonna keep trying different things.

- That's so exciting.

Brain growth happening right here.

- Shh, they're trying to work on a problem.

- Right, I'm just so excited.

- Hey, what are you doing here?

- Watching your super awesome brain grow right here right now.

- Really?

- Yeah, you believe in yourself and you're working on a really challenging problem.

- Um, what about me?

- Well, you're also working on a challenging problem, but for some reason you don't believe in yourself and that means that your brain won't grow as much.

- But you totally have the potential in yourself.

As long as you start believing in yourself, your brain will grow a lot more.

- Wow.

I can do this.

I really believe in myself now.

- Do you remember in the last film we showed you that when you make a mistake, your brain grows?

Well, the scientists actually found this.

These are heat maps of brains of people making mistakes.

And these brains are the people who have a growth mindset.

They believe that they could learn anything and their brains were on fire with brain growth when they made a mistake.

But the people who had at a fixed mindset who thought their intelligence was limited, their brains didn't spark and fire with growth as much when they made a mistake.

And this is really important for all of us.

Teachers, students, everybody.

If you go into a hard situation believing in yourself, thinking, "I can do anything" and then you struggle or fail, your brain will grow more than if you go into that hard situation thinking "I can't do this."

So it's really important, always to believe in yourself.

It's also really important to struggle and fail sometimes.

Those are the best times for brain growth.

(upbeat music) - Thanks for joining us today.

Coding is such a fun superpower to have.

And useful too because of how much it teaches you about logical thinking.

If you want to know more about computer science, be sure to visit our website.

See you next time.

- [Woman] This program is made possible in part by Michigan Department of Education, the state of Michigan, and by viewers like you.

(upbeat music) (piano music)