Year 8 Unplugged Computing — Lesson Overview

A block of screen-free lessons designed to build the computational thinking skills you'll need for your upcoming hardware project. These lessons tackle the real ideas behind game programming — no device required.

Lesson 1: Memory, Variables, and the Swap Problem

Every game in existence runs on variables. In this lesson, you'll get inside the memory model of a computer — physically — and discover why something as simple as swapping two values is trickier than it sounds.

• Explore how computers store and change values in memory
• Trace through game-style programs by hand to predict their output
• Connect variable operations directly to player movement in a grid-based game

Lesson 2: Programming the Grid

Your upcoming project uses an 8×8 LED display. In this lesson, you'll learn the exact notation used to control it — and start writing programs before you've touched a single device.

• Discover how a 2D array maps onto a physical grid display
• Trace a program to reveal a pixel art image hidden in the code
• Write your own program to draw an image, then design an original one

Lesson 3: Inside the Game Loop

Every game — from Pong to the latest open world — runs on the same fundamental structure. In this lesson, the whole class becomes a living game engine, each person playing a different role in the system.

• Explore the game loop: the repeating cycle at the heart of every game
• Take on a role (player, enemy, bullet, renderer) and run a simulated game as a class
• Trace through a game loop on paper and predict what happens each frame

Lesson 4: Bug Hunt

The game is broken. The programmer is gone. You have the code, but you can't run it — you have to find the faults the old-fashioned way: reading, reasoning, and tracing line by line.

• Learn the main categories of programming bugs and how they hide
• Work through a complete buggy game program, identifying and fixing six errors
• Test your eye for bugs by planting your own for a partner to find

Lesson 5: Collision Detection Duel

How does a game know when a bullet hits an enemy? It's not magic — it's maths. In this lesson, you'll work out the logic behind collision detection and put it to the test in a competitive partner challenge.

• Learn how grid-based games check whether two objects occupy the same position
• Evaluate a series of game scenarios: collision or near miss?
• Compete against a partner in a fast-paced collision calculation duel

Lesson 6: Escape Room — AXIOM System Failure

An experimental AI called AXIOM has gone rogue and locked down the facility. You have 45 minutes before it wipes everything. The only way out is through four layers of security — and every layer tests something you've learned this block.

• A fully immersive team escape room challenge drawing on all previous lessons
• Work through variable tracing, grid programming, movement simulation, and more
• Shut down AXIOM before the clock hits zero