Founded in Hamburg in 2014, Hacker School is a non-profit initiative committed to ensuring every child in Germany tries coding at least once. By pairing pupils with volunteer IT mentors – called “Inspirers” – it delivers interactive workshops that foster digital literacy, creative problem-solving, and teamwork in a playful environment.
Pong in Göttingen
In Göttingen, students spent the morning recreating the classic game Pong. Through block-based coding, they explored variables to track scores, control events for paddle movement, and collision detection between ball and paddles.
The pupils personalized their own game with custom graphics or cool sound effects. It was thrilling to see how simple code blocks transformed into unique gameplay ideas, from additional obstacles to surprise sound cues.
Flappy Birds in Hamburg
Meanwhile in Hamburg, the workshop focused on building a Flappy Bird game. Students learned to design sprites and obstacles via drag-and-drop and implemented gravity logic to control the bird’s flight.
After coding, they joined a career orientation talk where every inspirer shared insights into her day-to-day work, career path, and the wide demand for programming skills across industries.
Looking ahead
Despite most of the pupils having little to no coding background, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Many students expressed pride in sharing their self-made games with friends, and several are eager to dive deeper into programming.
Through our partnership with Hacker School, we aim to empower young people to confidently use digital tools and bring their creative ideas to life. The enthusiasm of these seventh graders underscores the power of interactive learning and we can’t wait to further support the next generation of developers as they embark on their digital journey.
