iNNO-SCI Youth Summer Camp - Game Design & Story Telling 10-15 Yrs

Location: Elizabeth Frances Sey Hall

Class Size: 15

Course Summary Program

Children are growing up in a world that is changing rapidly. Technology and the internet have already disrupted multiple industries; traditional retail is under threat from online giants such as Amazon; Uber and Google Maps have transformed transport as we once knew it; and self-driving cars and trucks will be on our streets within the next decade.

With this new world comes a raft of opportunities. Programming skills and abilities in associated computing disciplines such as robotics will be vital for the jobs and careers of the future. Students who engage with computer science and tech from a young age have the chance to get a head start towards future success - they will gain a cutting-edge skill set at an early point, as well as an enhanced ability to problem solve.

This four day course is designed to provide an interactive, enjoyable and thorough introduction to the world of coding. With a strong practical focus, students will learn how to apply the theories covered in class through individual and group projects, acquiring a range of transferable skills - including teamwork, discussion, presentation skills and problem-solving - in the process.

What Can My Child Do With Code?

In addition to the many practical and innovative uses for code in today’s world, it is also a creative medium. With a coding education, your child can use their new skills to create almost anything they imagine!

Storytelling & Game Design

What makes a game fun and engaging? How do game designers keep users entertained? In this course, students learn storytelling and game design fundamentals.

In the end, Kids get to create their own animation stories and games using basic computer programming concepts picking apart some of their favorite games with the course instructor.

In Summary, Students Will Learn:

- Introduction to the Game Industry

- Game Design Fundamentals

- Game Narrative and Character Design

- Recreate classic games on Scratch

- Making Interactive Animations

- Creating positive & negative feedback systems

- Test and debug your game

- Presentation time: On your last day, share with your parents what you’ve learnt!

Skills Acquired:

- Design Thinking

- Data Science fundamentals

- Image Classification with AI

- Game Design

- Presentation Skills

- Systems Thinking

Why choose Coding?

There’s been a lot of discussion around coding lately, but it can be hard to figure out exactly what it means to code and how it plays a role in your child’s future. Coding (or computer programming), is the process of providing instructions to a computer so it performs a specific task. You may have heard of popular text languages like Java, Python, or Ruby, but even kids can easily learn to code using a visual block language!

Why is coding so important? Believe it or not, we rely on code in the technology we use every day – our mobile phones, thermostats, televisions, cars, and even the device you’re using to read this wouldn’t exist without code.

Learning to code is less scary and more fun - students get to be inventive and creative, while gaining confidence and knowledge of the fundamentals of coding and computer science.

How will Coding help me?

Participants on this course will discover the basics of programming through learning what goes into making a program - including variables, control blocks and procedures. In learning these concepts, students will begin to develop their 'computational thinking' skills, which will help them to understand problems, think of tech solutions, and bring those solutions to life using code. This way of thinking will help students to avoid getting stuck, giving them the tools and attributes to think their way out of a problem.

At this young age, students often suffer from "learned helplessness" - they believe that they cannot get anything right, and that they cannot progress any further. By using their own code to solve problems and make things happen, students will begin to see just how much they can achieve.

Is this the course for me?

If you want to learn coding in an exciting and creative way, and create three computer programs, then this is the course for you. Whether your focus is making your interactive game characters look and sound however you like, students will get to see just how powerful their code and their computation thinking skills are, as they bring their programs into the physical world.

Participants on this course will discover the basics of programming through learning what goes into making a program - including variables, control blocks and procedures. In learning these concepts, students will begin to develop their 'computational thinking' skills, which will help them to understand problems, think of tech solutions, and bring those solutions to life using code. This way of thinking will help students to avoid getting stuck, giving them the tools and attributes to think their way out of a problem.

At this young age, students often suffer from "learned helplessness" - they believe that they cannot get anything right, and that they cannot progress any further. By using their own code to solve problems and make things happen, students will begin to see just how much they can achieve.

What will you get out of the Coding course?

By the end of the course, students will be familiar with the programming language of Coding, and how it used within the remit of computer science. They will have developed computational thinking and problem-solving skills, and will have created three computer programmes, including an interactive game.

Day-by-Day Schedule

Monday

- Introduction to the Game Industry

- Game Design Fundamentals

- Game Narrative and Character Design

- Recreate classic games on Scratch

Tuesday

- Making Interactive Animations

- Creating positive & negative feedback systems

- Test and debug your game

Wednesday

- Presentation time: On your last day, share with your parents what you’ve learnt!