PA Distance Gaming Club Students Chosen for National Contest

PA Distance Learning is proud to announce that two of the groups from its Game Design Club have been chosen as finalists in the Pittsburgh Area in the Games for Change Student Challenge.

PA Distance Learning social studies teacher Katie Devlin piloted the club to allow students to learn game design and coding, which has ended in 7 of the students participating in a national competition! 

The beginning months of the club were spent learning the basic elements of game design and coding, and practicing those skills.  As the students grew in their abilities, they moved on to the the Games for Change Student Challenge.

"The students were faced with the challenge of creating a game of their own related to a modern issue.  Students could choose from Climate Change, Immigrant Stories, or Future Cities," shared Mrs. Devlin, the club sponsor. 

The remaining months of the club consisted of pure teamwork: banding together in groups to research topics, creating a game based on that topic, and testing their games with peers. 

"I have to say, I am proud of every little bit of our game we made," said Adam H., 8th grade student. "From the bridge away from a normal platformer to the effort we put into to the coding and artwork, it was magnificent to see how it turned out. What I would be most proud of though, would be the dozens of choices and pathways we worked through."

Adam and the 6 other amazing students should be proud.  Their work has shown the incredible things that our students can accomplish together, even though they may not be in the same school building.

PA Distance Learning will have a table at the ceremony this Saturday, June 10th from 1-4pm at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. PA. This award ceremony and celebration will consist of a Student Game Challenge Showcase, where the games from all schools will be set up and folks will have the opportunity to play them!  

Check out the games our students designed here:

• Team Future Cities: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/145941112/
  
  
• Team Climate Change: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/150247656/

 

Interested in learning more about our cyber school? PA Distance Learning is a cyber school in PA serving students across the state in grades K-12.

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