"How do we teach K-12 students various disciplines of virtual and tabletop game development?"
Given curriculum, we Lead Teachers and Teacher's Assistants developed lesson plans for 1 - 2 week courses, depending on age range, and iterated on the material with each new class.
Competencies
- Created project-based lesson plans for 15 class groups based on curriculum, with scaffolding for levels of understanding.
- Worked with staff and administrators on daily setup and breakdown of materials, managing extracurricular activities, and sending parents daily announcements through Canvas.
- Collaborated with administrators to iterate on lessons given evolving parent and student feedback each week.
Findings
- It was difficult to predict how quickly students would work through the content and projects of new lessons, making iteration essential.
- Videos and games played during breaks could be picked thoughtfully to give students entertaining ways to stay engaged with class concepts.
- Lesson plans needed structure to ensure understanding of basic competencies, while facilitating learning for students seeking more challenge.
Context
My University, DigiPen, employed students to teach its K-12 classes during the summer. In my freshman summer, I was a Teacher's Assistant for game design and programming classes, and for my sophomore summer, I was a Lead Teacher for K-2 game design classes, and a Teacher's Assistant for design, art, and programming classes at various age ranges, K-12.