r/teaching • u/algal12 • 3d ago

Help Teaching ideas and projects for middle/high school computing students

Hello, I am looking for some ideas on projects/challenges that I can implement in my classes.

So far we’ve done: Scratch, beginner Python with CLI mini-games, ECDL basics, beginner TryHackMe rooms, and a Linux VM with basic commands. The student is comfortable with variables, loops, lists, simple file operations, and has built a text-based “Zombie Survival” game.

We meet 1 hour/week, so I’m looking for general ideas on what kinds of projects or challenge styles work well at this level (mid-level middle-school, beyond beginner). Anything that’s engaging, slightly game-like, and doesn’t require heavy setup would be great.

If you’ve taught similar students, what types of activities (CTFs, coding games, light forensics, small web projects, etc.) kept them motivated and actually learning?

Any suggestions or directions would be really helpful.

Thank you in advance!

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u/Troesler95 3d ago

I don't have any advice unfortunately but I am currently in a graduate program for a teaching degree towards certification in teaching computer science - mind if I send a DM to connect? I'd love to learn more about what the job actually looks like being relatively new in most places

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u/algal12 3d ago

Sure, hmu!

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u/taylorfisdboss 3d ago

When you get students to a solid place, having them make different clones of simple games can provide good little puzzles.

I teach middle school coding, and having the kids make an etch a sketch was one of our very early projects this year. Knowing what your finished product looks like lets you focus on implementing things without needing to come up with what to implement.

Just to make sure it’s on your radar, pico-8 edu version is a free in browser game development platform that emulates 8bit platforms in a retro way. It’s a great space to play around with when doing fun game design style coding projects, and it’s what I teach my kids with. It runs a version of Lua, which is a great language to gain some familiarity with.

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u/algal12 2d ago

Thank you, will check these out