Learning to code and explore AI isn’t just about understanding technology—it’s about building something meaningful, whether it’s a creative project, a new skill, or a pathway to the future. Whether you’re a teacher searching for better ways to engage your students, a parent looking for hands-on learning tools, or someone just curious about AI and coding, this update has something for you. We’ve listened to your feedback and made key improvements to AI HackStack and CodeCombat Junior, making them even more intuitive, interactive, and fun. Let’s take a look at what’s new.
AI HackStack: A Comprehensive AI Learning Experience
AI literacy is more than just learning how to use AI tools—it’s about understanding their impact, applying them across disciplines, and developing skills for the future. That’s why AI HackStack now offers a full curriculum accompanying the Learning Scenarios designed to integrate AI into multiple subjects, making it accessible to educators and learners across different fields.
An AI Curriculum for Every Learning Path
The AI HackStack curriculum now includes two distinct learning paths, ensuring flexibility for both structured classroom use and self-paced exploration:
- AI Explorations Curriculum – This path is designed for open-ended learning and does not assume students are in a specific subject area. Instead, it introduces AI concepts through creative projects. Students engage in hands-on activities like making a weather app, generating AI art, designing a word search game, and simulating real-world events. With 12 interactive lessons and more to come, learners experiment with AI in unique and engaging ways. The curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary learning, allowing students to see how AI connects to real-world applications across multiple domains.
- Classroom Curriculum – For educators looking for a structured approach, this curriculum emphasizes AI literacy, ethics, and responsible AI use while integrating AI concepts into subjects like English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Career Readiness. Teachers guide students through foundational AI concepts first before diving into subject-specific AI applications, ensuring a deeper understanding of AI across disciplines. Lessons are designed to help students analyze, create, and apply AI in meaningful ways, reinforcing their understanding through structured activities and discussions.
While home users don’t receive the full curriculum and teacher resources, they still have access to the same AI HackStack Learning Scenarios as educators and students. These guided, interactive exercises provide an engaging way to practice AI prompting and apply AI concepts in real-world tasks—such as building a simulation, writing an email, or creating a webpage. Educators benefit from structured curriculum materials to guide instruction, while home users can explore and learn independently at their own pace.
Remix Projects: Build on Ideas
One of the most exciting new features in AI HackStack is the Remix function. Students no longer need to start from scratch—they can take other students' existing AI projects and modify them to build something unique. This encourages deeper learning, faster iteration, and collaborative idea-sharing, helping learners refine their understanding of AI concepts while applying them in creative ways.
Teachers can easily toggle this feature on or off in the classroom settings. They will have the opportunity to view whether a student’s project was remixed, along with the original project it was based on.
Professional Development for Educators
To support teachers in bringing AI into the classroom, we now offer AI HackStack Professional Development. These workshops help educators integrate AI into their lessons, navigate ethical discussions, and gain confidence in using AI tools effectively. Built on best practices from organizations like Teach AI, EdSafe, CSTA, and AI4K12, this training ensures that educators have the resources they need to provide students with meaningful AI experiences.
How a High School in Georgia Is Leading the Way
One of the best ways to see the power of AI HackStack in action is through the students at Tift County High School. In Dr. Busbin’s Artificial Intelligence class, students have been exploring AI in a hands-on way, including a lesson where they debated whether a hot dog is a sandwich or a taco using AI models.
What started as a fun food classification exercise quickly turned into a deep discussion about how AI makes decisions, how biases can influence models, and why understanding AI matters. By using AI HackStack’s Food Classifier, students saw firsthand how AI can categorize objects—and where it sometimes falls short. This kind of real-world, engaging learning is exactly what AI HackStack is all about.
CodeCombat Junior: More Engaging and Accessible Than Ever
Originally designed for K-5 learners, CodeCombat Junior is perfect for anyone new to coding, thanks to its intuitive design and accessibility features. Its no-typing and no-reading options, along with full compatibility on iPads and tablets, make it an excellent entry point for early learners and beginners of all ages.
A Fresh Look and More Interactive Features
We’ve enhanced CodeCombat Junior with more engaging visuals and new interactive scenarios, creating a richer, more immersive coding experience. These updates make learning more dynamic and playful, keeping students motivated as they progress through the levels.
More Practice, More Progress
With 173 structured learning levels and over 1,100 practice levels, CodeCombat Junior ensures a personalized learning experience. The platform automatically assesses each learner’s progress and adapts by recommending custom-generated practice levels when additional support is needed. This dynamic approach helps students build confidence, reinforcing skills at every stage. Learners can move at their own pace, retry challenges, and receive targeted guidance, while parents and educators can track progress and provide additional support as needed.
Always Improving
Thank you for joining us on this journey to review our latest features and improvements! As always, we welcome your questions and feedback. Feel free to email us at schools@codecombat.com.
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