Critical Tinkering

For schools

A game-building studio your students will actually show up for.

The same guided studio we run for Brooklyn families, brought to your school. Students ages 10–13 design, build, test, and present their own Roblox game, and learn to direct an AI instead of being led by it.

Talk to us about a school cohort

Three ways to run it

Pick whichever fits your budget and calendar. Most schools start with one and switch later.

  1. 01

    School-funded cohort

    The school pays for the program and offers it to students as part of enrichment, an elective block, or a club.

    Flat per-cohort fee for up to eight students. We bring the curriculum, the instructor, and the parent updates. You provide the room and the roster.

  2. 02

    Parent-paid on-campus enrichment

    We run the studio at your school after hours. Families enroll and pay directly, the school hosts.

    Works the way most PTA after-school programs already work. We handle enrollment, payment, and communication with families. No cost to the school.

  3. 03

    Referral to the Saturday cohort

    Share the Saturday program with your families and reserve seats for your students.

    No scheduling or space needed on your end. We can hold a block of seats for your community and give your families a direct enrollment link.

What we need from you

Everything else, including the instructor, the curriculum, and weekly parent updates, comes with us.

Devices
One Mac or Windows laptop per student, made in the last five or six years. Roblox Studio does not run on iPads or Chromebooks. School-managed devices need permission to install Roblox Studio.
Network
Wi-Fi that allows Roblox Studio and the Roblox web domains. We'll send your IT team the short allowlist in advance and can test on-site before the first session.
Schedule
The curriculum is built for six two-hour sessions, but session length adapts to your schedule. Eight 90-minute sessions or twelve 60-minute blocks cover the same ground.
Group size
Eight students per instructor. Larger groups add a second instructor.

What students learn

  • Game design and systems thinking
  • Roblox Studio and Luau scripting fundamentals
  • AI-assisted programming: prompting, inspecting output, catching mistakes, debugging, improving
  • Iteration through playtesting and feedback
  • Presenting a finished project to an audience

The six-week arc

  1. 01Game idea and core loop
  2. 02Build the world
  3. 03Mechanics and scripting
  4. 04AI-assisted development and debugging
  5. 05Playtesting and iteration
  6. 06Polish and showcase

Every student finishes with a playable project and a showcase. Publishing to Roblox is supported where account and platform requirements allow, with parent approval.

How the AI part works · week 4

Student prompt

Make the coin disappear when a player touches it and add 1 to their score.

AI

coin.Touched:Connect(function(hit)
  local player = game.Players[hit.Parent.Name]
  player.leaderstats.Coins.Value += 1
  coin:Destroy()
end)

Student, week 4

Crashes when a crate or the lava touches the coin, because those aren't players. Swapped the lookup for GetPlayerFromCharacter and added a nil check.

- local player = game.Players[hit.Parent.Name]+ local player = game.Players:GetPlayerFromCharacter(hit.Parent)+ if not player then return end

AI is a tool students direct. They learn to prompt it for code, inspect what it produces, catch its mistakes, debug the result, and improve it themselves. That judgment is taught explicitly as part of the critical-thinking curriculum.

Safety

Instructors are background-checked. Students work inside Roblox Studio, the development tool, not the public game. No chat with strangers, no in-game purchases, and nothing goes public without a parent's approval.

Start the conversation

Parents are welcome here too. If you'd like this at your child's school, tell us and we'll help you bring it to the PTA or enrichment director.