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School of Interactive Arts
What is it
The Achievery features over 700 video lessons and worksheets developed by Urban Arts and other national nonprofits. Discover lessons on a variety of subjects — i.e. ELA, Coding, Digital Arts, Math, Science, etc. All lessons are reviewed by curriculum experts and aligned to nationally-recognized academic standards.
How it works
Step 1
Create account
Teachers, parents and students aged 13 and older can create a free account. Adults can create accounts for students who are under age 13.
Step 2
Search lessons
Search by subject, grade-level or academic standard. You can also explore lessons by organization.
Step 3
Start learning
Click on your favorite lesson and watch the accompanying video. Download the PDF worksheet and complete the activity.
Schedule a workshop
Urban Arts is offering in-person and virtual workshops that explore video game design lessons and activities featured on the Achievery. Groups of up to 40 students are welcome to visit our Learning Lab to learn all about video game design and digital artmaking. If your students can’t come to us, we can come to your school or community.
Contact Zingi Mkefa to talk about scheduling a workshop for your students.
Current Workshops
What is a game? — An Introduction to Game Design
Grade Levels: 8 to 12
In this workshop, students explore basic concepts in Game Design, including the elements that define what a game is, what ‘game design’ entails, what the game development cycle is, and what makes a game fun. The workshop will also explore career paths in the field of game design. This lesson is designed to entice students to consider game design as a field of study at Urban Arts, in college and as a career. Students will work in groups to invent their own games for other students to play.
Making Your Own Paper Prototype
Grade Levels: 8 to 12
In this workshop, students learn how to invent their own video game ideas and turn them into playable paper prototypes. Students will explore and analyze their favorite commercial games from platformer games like Super Mario Bros. to action-adventure video games like The Last of Us. Students will extract best practices from their favorite games and incorporate them into their own games. By then end of the workshops, students will have created their own playable game prototype.
Introduction to Pixel Art
Grade Levels: 8 to 12
Pixel art is the foundation of art in gaming as we know it. In this workshop, students will learn all about the historical origins of pixel art, the range of pixel art styles, and they’ll learn how to create their own pixel art object. This lesson is designed to entice students to consider game design as a field of study at Urban Arts, in college and as a career.
Making Your Own Self-Portrait
Grade Levels: 5 to 12
In this workshop, students attend a workshop about creating their self-portrait. There are three components to this project:
(a) drawing your self-portrait, (b) painting your self-portrait with watercolors, and (c) writing a person I-Am poem reflecting on their portrait. At the end of the workshop, students will have a framed self-portrait with an accompanying I-Am Poem.
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