HISD is inviting all students to celebrate the 12 Days of Code in December with interactive calendars that allow them to engage in a new coding experience every day.
Coding helps students solve problems, use logic, and think creatively, and it gives them a foundation for success in 21st century careers. The activities on these three calendars – for elementary, middle, and high school – include designing an iPhone game, tracking Santa, decoding messages with cryptography, animating text, and more. Students can even go beyond the 12 Days of Code and complete activities over the winter break.
HISD’s 12 Days of Code coincides with 2016 Computer Science Education Week, which is Dec. 5-11. During this week, students and the greater HISD community are encouraged to join the worldwide movement and try one hour of coding as an introduction to computer science. Through this “Hour of Code,” students are challenged to think critically and solve problems as they learn the basics of computer programming.
“The skills that computer programmers use every day are the same skills that we seek to impart to all HISD students as a part of our global graduate profile,” said Adam Stephens, officer of Advanced Academics.
Last year, more than 26,000 HISD students participated in an hour of code, and this year HISD would like to double that number. After completing an hour of code on the 12 Days of Code calendar, participants can scroll down to get a certificate of completion from Advanced Academics. Send pictures of your campus coding activities to news@houstonisd.org, or post your coding event and a selfie with your certificate on social media using #HISDecoded.
Learn more about computer science at HISD here.