Tokyo Institute of Technology: traP hosts tenth biannual coding class for middle and high school students

Digital Creators Club traP, an official Tokyo Tech Student Club, organized another successful programming class for middle and high school students on August 24. This was the tenth workshop of its kind after traP began introducing youngsters with no prior programming experience to the basics of code in 2016.

Due to the effects of COVID-19, the summer 2021 event was again held online in collaboration with Supporterz Inc., a Tokyo-based recruitment and event planning company that has become a regular supporter of the biannual event. Seventeen middle and high school students joined in the fun, forming small teams with their Tokyo Tech student mentors.

The goal was to create a 2D classic invader game using JavaScript which was played directly on the participants’ browsers. Throughout the class, the students experienced various processes such as drawing figures, handling variables, and collision detection using conditional branching. They listened to their instructors, openly asked questions, and actively created their own games on their home computer screens. The Tokyo Tech instructors also prepared some additional features, such as adding music to the game, for those who felt ready for the challenge. After five hours of coding, each group successfully produced their very own invader game.

To provide further inspiration to participants who want to expand their world through coding, a round of lightning talks was also held at lunch time. During the mini-session, two traP members and one Supporterz Inc. employee each gave five-minute talks on topics such as image generation and its relationship to games.

Based on the post-event questionnaire, participants were happy with the results. Some said they were pleased to learn how coding actually makes movement happen in games, which others noted that the event had sparked their interest to study programming in more depth.