How to Teach Coding with Classic Arcade Games.
Teach students JavaScript through video game development.
Our Arcade Game Design course teaches students how to build video games using JavaScript. We taught students (ages 13–18) how to program classic arcade games. Using JavaScript for game development opens doors for more students because all the development can be done in a web browser, versus needing to download heavy software like Unity.
This course makes learning valuable coding skills and concepts fun and engaging! Arcade Game Design was our most popular course this spring and the students gave us nothing but positive feedback about their learning experiences.
Here are a few of the critical components that we focused on when designing this course:
Is it accessible?
Accessibility is a critical part of all of our courses. Our mission is to make tech education equitable. We know that many students don’t have access to computers that can run gaming software that would require expensive computing equipment. Web-based programming languages (like JavaScript) are more accessible, although there can still be barriers here based on internet connectivity, and they give us the opportunity to reach more students.
What will spark interest?
We wanted to pick projects that students would be interested in building so we chose video games. They’re familiar and kids enjoy playing them. With an underlying interest already there for many students, video game development empowers kids by teaching them how to go from playing games to coding their own.
What valuable skills can students learn from video game development?
We focus on teaching valuable skills that are also transferable. The coding logic, concepts, and skills that students learn in this course are universal across many other programming languages. They are also very useful for other applications of web development besides games.
Becoming a stronger developer.
We start with a classic game (like Alien Invasion) where students learn to use an existing code base to design and create an alien invasion video game. They create their own enemies, design levels, and assemble the game using their creativity and interests.
By doing this, students learn the very valuable skill of reading another person’s code and making edits to it. Learning to read and edit another person’s code is a fundamental skill in development. Few programmers work alone so being able to read and work with previously written code is incredibly important.
Working with and editing pre-existing code also allows students to get their feet wet with the JavaScript coding language which can be daunting to some first-time coders.
Learn a popular programming language.
With each project, students learn more about writing in the JavaScript programming language. Building these projects gives students experience in skills such as loading and handling images, JavaScript arrays & objects, functions, sound files, keypress listeners, variables, HTML canvas, x & y coordinates, and conditional statements.
By building games, students can learn complex JavaScript concepts while having fun creating exciting projects!
Introduce web development concepts.
With each project, students also gain experience with HTML and CSS while creating the websites that host their games.
Web development is a great path to explore. It offers so many opportunities that we wrote a blog about it 👉 Learning How to Build Websites Opens Up New Opportunities for Kids and Teens.
Deliverables.
Students finished the course with projects that they can add to their portfolios. The projects effectively demonstrate the skills that they learned. Our students can use these projects to support their future college and/or job applications. It’s also fun to share with family and friends!
We design coding courses for elementary, middle, and high schools. We offer customized support for technology classroom management, curriculum development, teacher training, and assist educators on an ongoing basis throughout the year!.
If you’d like help with introducing your students to computer science skills, email our Program Development Coordinator, Catlin, directly, catlin@southbendcodeschool.com.
