Moana: Wayfinding with Code - The Walt Disney Company and Code.org
Disney’s Consumer Products and Interactive Media division has been working with code.org, a non-profit dedicated to teaching children to code, since 2014, creating one-hour tutorials that have helped 40 million students globally try coding. In 2016, the Hour of Code tutorial featured Moana, the plucky Polynesian princess, who leaves her island home to save her people.
Since its launch on November 22 (the day before the release of the movie), Moana: Wayfinding with Code, has been accessed 4 million times and 238 Disney Hour of Code events were registered. Translated into 23 languages (including Samoan Polynesian), the program featured a free digital tool kit to help community leaders teach the program.
Moana Wayfinding With Code reached would-be movie-goers in 24 key markets (including Russia, Japan, Brazil and France) and was viewed by an estimated 269 million individuals. To spread the idea of teaching coding, Disney has partnered with several other organizations including Apple, Microsoft, Family, Code Night, the U.S. Department of Education, The Boys and Girls Club of America and others to have kids try coding.
In connection with the launch of Moana, Disney produced flagship events around the world and together with Apple hosted 2,943 in-store Moana Hour of Code sessions during Computer Science Education week. Disney points to the program as evidence of its continuing efforts to promote STEM/STEAM education and inspire generations to pursue technology careers.
