Programming Showcase 2020

by the Acton Academy Eagles


Welcome to the Acton Academy Session Six Exhibition Showcase Website!

Every six weeks, we host a public exhibition to showcase the projects we have been working on, often to put our skills to the test in front of an audience. All the work you see has been created members of the Acton Academy Middle School studio. At the heart of this quest has been problem-solving, learning new programming languages, and then applying those skills and language to create online digital games, digital art, and robotics for the really ambitious by programming drones to fly autonomously!

This session, we focused on exploring Programming, Online Games, Robotic Drones, and Big Important Questions by:

  • Writing an Essay that tackles a modern and important topic faced by society today;
  • Designing, testing, and building an online digital game;
  • Programming, debugging and testing self-flying drones;
  • Researching and practicing skills needed to acquire a meaningful Apprenticeship; and
  • Evaluating our personal motivations for “why we are here?” and “where are we going next?”

Members of the studio have been programming for the last 6 weeks creating their own games, online projects, and autonomous drone programs. Spend some time today exploring their creations and voting on your favorites!

FINAL PROJECTS AND WORK SHOWCASE

Programmed by Eagles using Scratch and other languages

Programmed in Python to complete complex missions with AI and machine learning

Highlights from my most recent apprenticeship hunt

A written essay on a topic and question that really matters

A personal speech recorded as video on what my motivations and short-term plans to achieve my goals

Our biggest takeaways from our experiences this session

Journey for this Session

Every Eagle spent the first few weeks exploring the fundamentals of problem-solving, computer logic, and the building blocks of programming using code.org and various hands-on simulations. Even starting from no experience studio members were quickly creating as they learned the MIT Blocks-Based Programming Language "Scratch" eventually designing their own games either using block based code or basic Java script.

Other studio members went on to tackle tackled learning Python 3 in pursuit of programming autonomous drones to complete complex missions using artificial intelligence and machine learning.


Feedback to the Programmers

As you view the published works and efforts from this session is for you so please vote and provide feedback to the Eagles using this form