Coding and Game Development - Part 2
This 8-week course is designed to follow my first class — Intro to Coding and Game Development. Students will build on the skills learned there with new tools, open-ended problems, and more game development.
Lily Gentner
Average rating:
5.0
Number of reviews:(20)
What's included
8 live meetings
8 in-class hoursClass Experience
This 8 week course is designed for students ages 7 to 12 who have completed the Intro to Coding and Game Development class. Each week will consist of a one-hour live, online lesson and a few independent practice exercises to reinforce new concepts. In this class, students will build on the skills they learned in the last class, and work towards solving more open-ended problems, applying more advanced tools, and adding more complex functionality to their game. By the end of these 8 weeks, students should be comfortable applying the tools they’ve learned to simple, open-ended coding problems. Students will also add to an ongoing game or project, and be able to read most simple programs. Do accomplish these goals, we'll use the basic coding vocabulary (loops, functions, variables, etc.) now at students’ disposal to practice problem-solving skills, independent investigation, and good thinking habits. The class will roughly follow this schedule, but we may deviate from it slightly, depending on students’ interests and the challenges that we encounter: Week 1: Functions with Input - Look at examples of a function that take input: array.push - What does it mean for a function to take input? - Write a function that increases a score variable by a given number - Discuss syntax and tradeoffs Week 2: Functions with Output - Look at examples of other functions that give output: push and pop - What does it mean for a function to have output? - Write a function that takes 2 numbers, and returns their sum Week 3: Iterative Logic - Practice using an iterator variable (i, number, etc.) in a while loop - Use a while loop to print every item in an array of strings Week 4: For Loops - Introduce syntax and mechanics of For Loops - Compare and Contrast For Loops and While Loops Week 5: Intermediate Boolean Logic - Introduce “And” and “Or” operators - Use "And" and "Or" operators to solve a logic problem - Discuss Tradeoffs between different ways to present boolean logic Week 6: Debugging - Practice Debugging Boolean Logic, Loops, and more complex functions - Problem Solving Practice Week 7: More Problem Solving Practice - Work through a more open-ended problem. For example: how to add all numbers in an array Week 8: More Problem Solving Practice - Continue working through problem from last time - Discuss and practice problem solving skills - Next Steps
Learning Goals
- Apply the coding tools taught in Part 1 to appropriately challenging problems
- Practice and Develop Problem- Solving Skills
- Gain confidence and experience with solving problems that are difficult or confusing at first glance
- Give students additional tools to implement the features they imagine for their personal projects and games
Other Details
Parental Guidance
To make setup as easy as possible, we will continue using Codepen for writing and running code.
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Joined January, 2022
5.0
20reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
I studied Statistics and Computer Science at Harvard University before working at Uber and Square as a software engineer for over 4 years. Last year, I shifted my focus to teaching because I wanted to help kids develop the thinking skills and confidence that I wish I’d had sooner.
I can still clearly remember taking my first computer science class and feeling convinced that it was too hard for me. At 18, I was pretty good at carrying out formulaic solutions, but I had almost no experience actually generating them. So when I encountered more open-ended problems in computer science, I found them extremely intimidating and discouraging.
Systematically approaching and deconstructing hard problems makes them much less stressful and more interesting, but this process is very different from what’s typically taught in school. Eventually, I developed this skill and applied it to the classes (and later, a career) that I’d once thought were too hard for me. But I really wish I’d started that process sooner.
My classes will introduce kids to coding, logic, and problem-solving. Because the best learning happens when the topic is fun and usable, students will apply these concepts to a game that they get to design, plan, and build.Reviews
Live Group Class
$300
for 8 classes1x per week, 8 weeks
60 min
Completed by 7 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 7-11
1-3 learners per class
