The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce and HeR Interactive, a Bellevue-based award-winning game publisher and developer, have partnered to bring the gift of coding to 800 Bellevue School District preschoolers. In HeR Interactive’s pioneering app Nancy Drew: Codes & Clues, Nancy Drew uses her coding know-how and de-TECH-tive skills to solve a mystery in a new story-driven mystery adventure hidden-object mobile game. The gift acknowledges the District for their achievements in placing a priority on STEM learning at an early age.
“The Bellevue Chamber is delighted to help facilitate this connection so all of our children are exposed to STEM and coding at an early age,” said Betty Capestany, president and CEO of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce. “Bellevue is a city recognized for its great talent. With Nancy Drew: Codes &Clues, we hope to inspire another generation of talented workers for Bellevue and the greater region.”
The app introduces students to the foundational principles of coding while celebrating the importance of storytelling and positive STEM role models. Codes &Clues is ideal for children without any coding experience. Geared for early learners, the mystery unfolds in a full narrative story spanning six chapters as Nancy and friends encounter students who may have taken a missing tech fair project.
“We are delighted to provide Bellevue preschoolers with our new app and spark an interest in coding, an essential 21st century skill,” said Penny Milliken, CEO of HeR Interactive. “We know that children are very engaged with this Nancy Drew mystery story. They love to program their robot puppy to get out of tight situations in the story. And, since there is no one correct path, it leads to a lot of creative coding solutions by the children.”
The game play shows the importance of cause and effect learning by introducing children to the foundational principles of coding in an engaging, fun and accessible manner: at the end of each chapter, players program their robot puppy to help Nancy out of a tight spot. Coding difficulty increases as the story progresses with new puppy commands, such as roll and crawl, introduced in each chapter. Players are exposed to the basic computer programming structures of sequences and loops. They are also introduced to critical thinking skills involving pattern recognition, problem solving and spatial visualization.
“We have been developing a computer science pathway for all students from kindergarten through 12th grade,” said Dr. Tim Mills, Superintendent of the Bellevue School District. “In fact, our science program is ranked #2 behind that of Shanghai, China. An accomplishment that we are extremely proud of! Now with the donation of Nancy Drew: Codes & Clues, we believe we have a fun way to introduce STEM to our preschoolers and get them ready for the concepts they will learn in kindergarten.”
