It’s the heartbeat of the devices that people around the world rely on everyday, be it the computers sitting on their desks to the phones lining the inside their pockets.

While comprised of just simple strings of words, numbers and equations, computer coding enables the digital devices to do what they do, from playing music to connecting with billions of other devices via the Internet. And with everything from watches to thermostats now powered through programming, the skills required to write code are rapidly becoming a necessity for today’s students.

At Dowagiac Middle School, the recent efforts that computer instructor Jennifer Winters has made over the past year to teach her students how to code were rewarded in a big way Monday afternoon.

Representatives with Midwest Energy Cooperative presented Winters with a check for nearly $2,500 that morning for the teacher’s recent grant request to the company’s Strengthening Schools program. The funds will go toward the purchase of Spheros, small robotic ball-shaped toys that can be programmed to perform various different actions, for Winters’ five eighth-grade computer courses, along with tablet computers students can use to work the devices.

“It’s a really hands-on, interactive way for students to see their coding come to life, rather than just seeing it on a computer screen,” Winters said.

The teacher was first introduced to the machines in the spring, while attending a mobile learning conference in Kalamazoo, she said. She decided to apply for a grant through Midwest’s education program that fall in order to get the funding necessary to introduce the devices into her classroom, she said.

Winters has been teaching her students the fundamentals of computer programming since last year, using online lessons from code.org, an nonprofit dedicated toward increasing awareness of computer science. With the boom in recent years of mobile phone applications, computer programs are more mainstream than ever — and the demand for graduates with the ability to create them continues to climb, Winters said.

“This is a growing part of technology students should be exposed to,” Winters said.

In addition to learning how to code, programming lessons also give students the opportunity to further develop their problem solving and other skills that can give them a leg-up in whatever field they choose to pursue in life, Winters said.

Assisting Winters with the grant was Dowagiac Middle School Principal Matt Severin, who has supported the computer teacher with her recent efforts to improve code literacy among the students.

“These are skills our kids need,” Severin said. “She [Winters] found a way to make that happen in a fun and exciting way.”