A look back: How DonorsChoose used a gift of $500K from Endless to inspire creative coding for 270K students around the country

Read more about the Endless partnership with DonorsChoose here.

Endless has always been committed to building a world of connectivity and technical literacy for every community, especially those that have traditionally been underserved. Back in 2019, we took this vision one step further by partnering with DonorsChoose to support creative coding projects in classrooms nationwide. 

We committed to fully funding every creative coding project in rural parts of the United States and all creative coding projects in the Bay Area region, and additionally offered a dollar for dollar matching every donation made to creative coding projects throughout the country until we reached our donation goal.

Here are the exciting impact stats from the $500,000 commitment

1,905 projects

276,005 student learning experiences

1,419 schools

1,560 teachers

A little over a year later, we’re checking in with some of the teachers whose projects got funded. Despite a challenging year for educators and students, it’s clear the creative coding projects are making a difference for the thousands of teachers and students who were touched by the partnership.

The projects ranged from coding-integrated robotics activities to items that built on hands-on Makerspace workstations, and most integrated other academic topics like literacy, math and music. One thing was common among each one: the students were thrilled.

Mrs. DeGroot, a Pre-K-2 teacher in Lecanto, Florida, designed a project involving Ozobots to teach her students the coding basics, while also teaching other standards, like coding the sun to move across the sky. 

After the funded project materials arrived, she reported: “Computer science is not only fun and cool but also it's a great way to teach young learners creativity and critical thinking. When my students saw Ozobots, they were instantly curious and wanted to explore with them. I could see their little minds go wild with excitement and wanting to figure out what they could do.”

In Chicago, Mrs. Kallianis was funded for her project to use Osmo as a center for her third graders. “It is essential that students maintain their curiosity and creativity while pairing it with their growing skills of practicality and problem-solving,” she wrote. “To achieve their highest potential in this age of technology, my students need greater access to technology that will allow them to explore and create through hands-on experiences.” The Osmo kit allowed her students to get kids engaged with exciting hands-on coding experiences during centers.

At a high school serving students from the Menominee Indian reservation, Mr. Schwaller’s robotics project aimed to build teamwork and cooperative skills alongside coding knowledge. He worked with a special education class to build things they saw in everyday life to complete a challenge, like a robotic plow that could push blocks across the room. All of his students benefited:

“Working with the robotics kits increased participation, and led students through the innovation and design process- students were identifying issues and redesigning their machines, sharing parts, exchanging ideas and helping each other.” 

Teachers like Mrs. DeGroot, Mrs. Kellainis, Mr. Schwaller and the 1,157 others who designed creative coding projects for their students are joining the movement to make coding fun, exciting, and a regular part of learning. It’s clear these teachers are passionate about getting the tools they need to make coding education a reality for their students, especially in lower-resourced areas - to build those critical STEM skills and the teamwork, self-confidence and love of learning that comes with them.