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Cohort 1: what we built with AI

Six students spent five weeks learning to work with Claude, an AI assistant.

These are the things they made with it, student by student, followed by their plans for high school.

Cohort 1 of AI Fluency in our lab, holding their certificates of completion, with their instructor.
Cohort 1 with their certificates, on the last day of the course.

What they made

  • games18
  • pay charts4
  • reports2
  • high school plans4

Alex

7 games

Biggest aha moment

Creating a game and trying to develop it into an actual game.

  • 2048

    The classic: slide the tiles and merge them to reach 2048.

    Game · Session 04

  • NEO-2048

    A sci-fi 2048 where every merge charges energy for special abilities.

    Game · Session 04

  • Block Breaker

    Break the blocks, and draw a blessing or a curse card before every level.

    Game · Session 04

  • Fusion Clash

    A turn-based card battle: every card has its own rule for damage, shields and dodges.

    Game · Session 04

  • Circuit Breach

    Fight down through ten levels of a data vault that has gone rogue.

    Game · Shooter · Session 04

  • Bloodgate Siege

    Hold the gate against a demon siege, wave after wave.

    Game · Shooter · Session 04

  • Violence Engine

    A fast arena shooter: dash, parry and survive each wave.

    Game · Shooter · Session 04

Brian

3 games · 2 reports

Biggest aha moment

The biggest ‘aha’ moment was learning that AI could code, including making websites and creating video games. I did not know that AI could be so capable, I had originally only used it for chatting and questions/answers, not for creating my own things. Now I will experiment with using AI to create things, not just to answer questions.

  • The Sun and How Stars Work

    A research overview, from the solar core to the death of stars.

    Report · Sessions 02–03

  • The Water Cycle

    The real science of the water cycle, written as a very official-sounding "whitepaper" full of internet jokes.

    Report · Sessions 02–03

  • Pulse Dash

    A rhythm runner with 13 levels and a level editor: jump, fly and flip.

    Game · Session 04

  • Shardfall Isles

    Race across ten floating isles against the clock, ending in a boss fight.

    Game · Session 04

  • Lexiroll

    Roll random words from a 274,000-word dictionary. Rarer words score far more.

    Game · Session 04

Bryan

3 games · 1 pay chart

Biggest aha moment

I was surprised to see you can give instructions even with claude code and also you can make games smoothly and you can research even when you are not here, also multi tasking is also surprising which was really cool.

  • Pay Extremes

    The ten highest-paid and the ten lowest-paid US jobs, side by side.

    Chart · Session 01

  • Blockverse 2046

    A block-building survival game in a world it generates for you.

    Game · Session 04

  • Overprint

    One button flips gravity so the blue ink slips past the pink plates.

    Game · Session 04

  • Piazza Panic

    Clear the piazza of pizza-box goons with a jetpack and a dash.

    Game · Action · Session 04

Edbert

1 game · 1 pay chart

Biggest aha moment

I learned about making websites and my biggest aha moment would be everything I've learned in Claude Code and making my journey website.

  • Top 20 US professions by hourly pay

    Twenty professions ranked by median hourly wage, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025.

    Chart · Session 01

  • 2048

    The classic: slide the tiles and merge them to reach 2048.

    Game · Session 04

Kevin

2 games · 1 pay chart

Biggest aha moment

I was surprised that you have the ability to code with AI, and how you can connect AI to different apps.

  • The $800 line

    America's twenty best-paid jobs, ranked by median hourly pay. Drag the marker to any rate and see which jobs clear it.

    Chart · Session 01

  • Merge Circuit

    A 2048 of circuit chips: fuse matching chips to reach the 2048 core, with an undo button.

    Game · Session 04

  • Brimstone Rush

    Hold the foundry gate against waves of furnace creatures.

    Game · Shooter · Session 04

Anonymous

2 games · 1 pay chart

Biggest aha moment

I didn't know about the tokens before taking this course. Now knowing about the tokens, I am more mindful of efficiency when I use AI. Also, I didn't know that there was knowledge cutoff for AI and that it doesn't update every time we use it.

  • The Wage Atlas

    The twenty jobs that pay the most per hour, worked out from each median yearly wage.

    Chart · Session 01

  • 2048

    The classic, with arrow keys, WASD or swipe.

    Game · Session 04

  • Field Survey

    Minesweeper as a field survey: mark the unstable ground and clear the rest.

    Game · Session 04

Plans for high school

Each student planned their next school years with Claude, with a source for every fact.

The plans are shown without names, schools or grades, in no particular order.

  • Plan A

    A 9th grader's plan built around biology and physics, with conservatory hours and as many APs as is sane.

    Plan · Session 05

  • Plan B

    A four-year plan toward a BFA at an arts college, with a portfolio built along the way.

    Plan · Session 05

  • Plan C

    A 7th grader's road to high school, toward engineering, computer science and robotics.

    Plan · Session 05

  • Plan D

    An 8th grader's fast-track STEM plan, aiming for AP Calculus by 11th grade with robotics on the side.

    Plan · Session 05

Every piece on this page was made in this course. See the course

A laptop showing an AI chat, drawn as simple message bubbles.

AI Fluency

Full price $1,280$1,024New-student price

Book AI Fluency
Grades
6–12
Prerequisite
No experience needed
Length
16 hours, 4 or 8 weeks
Class size
4–8 students

What they learn

  1. How AI models work: training and inference, explained
  2. The major models, hands-on: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.
  3. Going deeper: context, Projects, memory, Skills
  4. Claude Code: AI as a capable assistant

Take homeHigh school: a four-year plan for high school and college.Middle school: a web page or small game they can demo.

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