On Thursday 11th May 2017 15 teams of programmers and graphic artists of the future, came together from all across Dundee at the 3rd Dundee Primary Games Jam 2017 at the University of Dundee. This extremely exciting event allowed these Primary Seven pupils to see a path for themselves as the young digital workforce in addition to developing and showcasing their computer science and graphic design skills.
Pupils were given two presentation from leading industry experts James Wood of Bluedoor Games and Kenny Lowe of Bright Solid.
James, a Bafta award winning programmer shared his school and career pathway into the Games industry as well as the key skills he feels the pupils should develop if they wish to succeed in this field. He also, spoke about how transferable a lot of the soft skills such as communication are and how Computing Science is a valuable tool as it can support learning in lots of way.
Kenny, Head of Emerging Technology in his company inspired listeners by expelling how they will be the creators of the new advances in computing science and society itself. As computing scientist and digital creatives they will shape the machines, process and design of the future environment.
After these presentations, learners had two and half hours to code and design a game which would either resolve or encourage the resolution of a Health and Wellbeing problem within their community. They had the choice of any aspect of the Curriculum for Excellence Health and Wellbeing Curriculum and this allowed them to all create unique games for our judges to look at and explore.
Judging was carried out in pairs by industry experts;
•Dr Lorna Gibson – Code Club Scotland Co-ordinator , Raspberry Pi Foundation
•Kenny Lowe – Head of Emerging Technologies, Bright Solid
•Dr Karen Petrie – Associate Dean for Learning & Teaching (School of Science & Engineering) University of Dundee
•James Wood – Bluedoor Games
•Lesley Morrison – Computing Science Department, Dundee and Angus College
•Louise Foreman – Digital Skills Team, Education Scotland
All judges were hugely impressed by the skills our primary pupil
demonstrated in such a short amount of time. and the atmosphere, focus
and creativity in the labs was fantastic.
During the pupils’ lunch session each school met with the judges and shared their process of creating their game with the judges. Once each group had been marked, the final three teams presented their games in a packed lecture theatre to their peers, visitors and leading figures from industry and other Local Authorities. Their fellow pupils then voted for the final order of winners using Plickers to will vote for the team they think should win, based on their concept, game and graphics.
The winning teams were;
1st Place Rosebank Primary School
2nd Place Claypotts Castle Primary School
3rd Place St Joseph’s Primary School
Notable mentions from creativity and skill in graphics went to
- Our Lady’s Primary School
- SS Peter and Pauls Primary School
- Rosebank Primary School
The three winning teams each received four BBC Microbits, a 3D printed trophy an Hello World Magazine and several Code Club and RM goodies. The overall winning team Rosebank PS also received a Raspberry Pi Complete Kit and will go on a work experience visit to Outplay Entertainment.
All participants received a certificate for taking part and were a credit to their schools!
To see what schools, and visitors tweeted during their day Google or search the Twitter hashtag#loopdundee .
A huge well done and thank you to all the pupils, staff, teachers, supporters, sponsors and visitors who came along and made the day very special.
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