Code Combat is a multiplayer game to help people learn to program. Through solving puzzles and defeating ogres players progress through the game levels to learn increasingly complex programming concepts.
This workshop uses the Code Combat resource to help set the context for the day. Pupils begin the workshop by registering and playing a few levels of the game for themselves, before being asked to apply their computational thinking skills to attempt to decompose the main elements of the game. The magic of computing is then introduced through magic tricks to teach sequencing and algorithmic thinking.
Pupils then return to the computer to apply their skills to move into Python and learn the basics of creating ‘Hello World’ style programs. A sample file is provided, and pupils are encouraged to decompose the given program and use logical reasoning to identify what the program does before making their own modifications to personalise it. Opportunities are then given to enable pupils to teach themselves some new skills based on suggested online tutorials. Through working with their peers they then use what they’ve learnt to create something new and inspirational. Before the end of the day the pupils return to Code Combat to complete the ‘create your own level’ challenge to help consolidate their learning for the day.
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