Code Rules is a course designed to introduce high school students, with little or no background in computers or computer programming, to the basic concepts of computer programming. The course teaches students to create fun and engaging applications using Visual Basic.Net. Through the course students are introduced to the basic concepts of programming, such as writing pseudo code, creating forms, defining and declaring variables and more. Code Rules has been designed to allow students to explore the world of programming, practice creating code and develop a better sense of what it means to be a computer programmer.
Within the course, students are cast as contestants in a new game show called "Code Rules." The game involves four young contestants who travel the country in a Winnebago stopping at offbeat places to face coding challenges which must be mastered before they can move to the next segment. As the students travel from place to place, their traveling companions, Jen, Kirk, Nikki and Cliff will teach them the programming skills needed to face the next coding challenge. At the end of each segment of the trip they will face a variety of engaging, real-life challenges to demonstrate their newly acquired programming skills. These projects will be items useful to students as they travel such as developing an interactive travel journal, a simple form to track mileage and gas consumption, etc.
This curriculum is available in the Academic Resource Center.