AR Worldcraft at NuVu Summer
2025
Teaching
Brief
In summer 2025, I taught a two-week studio on AR game development for middle schoolers at NuVu Innovation School in Cambridge, MA. The goal was to introduce students to product development and programming in a way that feels accessible, intuitive, and empowering — especially for students with no previous coding or 3D experience. I adapted the curriculum, taught daily seminars, and guided students from initial concept to playable prototype through brainstorming, design, storytelling, world-building, and programming.
About NuVu School
NuVu provides a non-traditional studio-based learning experience focused on design thinking, engineering, craft, and technology. In the classroom, students build real-world skills—like communication, collaboration, and adaptability—while exploring new technology and topics from different fields. NuVu's focus on design is grounded in problem solving, ensuring that students are active participants in the world and in the how and why of their work.
Teaching Approach
Designing and building a project can feel intimidating and overly technical. I wanted to create a learning environment where students could approach this process and new technologies with curiosity rather than fear. The alternative classroom environment removed barriers to learning and allowed me to meet each student where they are. I provided multiple ways for students to engage, access information and demonstrate what they know.
My goal was to introduce students to the design process from a high level perspective so that they can adapt this thinking in other settings. Within this process, they learned how to use technologies to communicate concepts in different forms. I adapted a syllabus based on the learning styles and interests of the students. I wanted the students to get a feel for every stage of the process - from drafting ideas on paper, to making quick prototypes, to developing a product. Using the syllabus as a guide rather than a rulebook, I confidently supported students through their individual learning experience, working with their unique set of strengths and weaknesses. I allowed the class to move flexibly through the process of making and understand it as a non-linear and always unfolding practice. This approach gives students a strong foundation into design thinking, making, and problem solving and equips them with the thinking muscles to take this into further applications.
In addition to the conceptual and technical skills learned in class, I aimed to embed socio-emotional learning competencies, like relationships skills and self management, throughout the studio. Practices like goal-setting, collaboration, reflection, and feedback helped the students build confidence, strengthen communication, and improve decision-making skills. Despite this being a software heavy class with most students working on projects alone, the class naturally turned to eachother to tackle problems and celebrate little wins together.
Studio Process
Each day, I taught lessons on a piece of the design process followed by hands on activities to practice what we learned. We started the class by discussing our interest in play and analyzing games from different lenses - narrative, world design, and gameplay. Next, the class collaboratively brainstormed ideas for their games. Under a time constraint, students came up with as many ideas as possible for game environments, mechanics, and narratives. The students used the collection of ideas to frankenstein together a game and practiced fleshing out their idea further by sketching a storyboard. After a few rounds of brainstorming and storyboarding, students narrowed down their game ideas and we moved into asset creation and digital prototyping, using Delightex Edu (previously CoSpaces Edu), a block based 3D game engine with AR and VR capabilities. Students continued developing their games, debugging, playtesting, creating art, until the final day where they presented their design and development process to an audience and displayed their games in an exposition.
