Over the Summer holidays, TeenTech ran a series of coding workshops, focussing on Game Design.

Students joined us each week for live sessions, led by an apps and games developer, focusing on a different project.

We created a simple food-grabbing game during the first week, followed by a more complex space shooter. We developed a side-scrolling platformer game the second week, and we created a game that could be played on the BBC micro:bit, an Internet of Things device, on week three.

Each project was more complex than the previous week, so students taking part demonstrated progression in their knowledge and confidence.

All TeenTech Live sessions are highly interactive. Our live events platform allowed the students to safely ask questions throughout and share their projects with us during the live stream! If a student needed additional support, the presenter could bring their project up on the live stream and assist them. At the end of each session, students were encouraged to share their games with us and our presenter played them on the stream, to the delight of the students taking part!

Many students developed their projects further after the live session, adding their own game mechanics and experimenting with code, increasing their knowledge further. We were really impressed with how the students had grasped the concepts behind programming, and by the variation in the final projects.

Teachers, parents and students can register their interest for future TeenTech Live sessions. Hosted by well-known science and technology reporters, our interactive sessions are fun, engaging and provide real context to learning, helping young people understand more about careers and the way exciting emerging technology is shaping all aspects of our lives. Our sessions can be accessed in school, by a class or year group, or from home. Visit https://teentech.com/live to learn more.