They spent the summer refurbishing computers, building apps and creating games and virtual reality experiences.

On Monday, they will go back to school, hastening to bring similar opportunities to the classroom.

Middle and high school students in Oakland Unified School District are increasingly seeking out tech education outside the classroom. But this year, the school district will offer computer science and tech classes in more than 70 percent of its secondary schools, an effort to give students an early start in technology and an entry to the Bay Area’s burgeoning tech sector. The number of Oakland teachers trained to conduct such classes has grown more than tenfold since last year.

Oakland’s tech curriculum — and, in some cases, specific classes — was conceived with help and inspiration from some of the many groups striving to increase tech literacy among East Bay kids.

Organizations such as Hack the Hood and Hidden Genius Project work to build a bridge between communities and the tech companies that have moved into their neighborhoods. Throughout the summer, they have offered training, internships and mentoring to kids who otherwise may not have access to tech education, the Internet or their own computer.

All of the groups “are doing great work, and most of our arrows are pointing in the same direction, so now it’s time we all get swimming down the same stream,” said Claire Shorall, Oakland Unified’s manager of computer science. “The work is moving, we’re making progress, but it’s far from done.”

At an event at Impact Hub in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood Thursday night, 11 of those groups convened to show off the work their students had done over the summer.

The event, organized by the East Bay College Fund, had a science fair feel to it — students with poster board and sample equipment explained what they did and how they did it to curious adults and students from other schools.

Students from Skyline High School worked with We Care Solar to build “solar suitcases” — bags packed with wires and circuits that act as portable energy sources. They can be sent to areas with unreliable or limited electricity to power medical clinics and schools in developing countries.

Skyline student Mugisha Mutahaba, 16, learned to refurbish computers for a program in West Oakland that provides used electronics to low-income families. He’ll be starting his senior year on Monday with college applications on his mind.

“Technology is so fascinating,” he said, as he rattled off the names of different drives and parts of a disassembled computer.

At #YesWeCode, two young women invited passersby to apply for the group’s coding program, which sends participants from groups underrepresented in tech fields — women and non-Asian people of color — through a four-week boot camp. The program eventually places them in Bay Area tech companies for paid apprenticeships.

Students working at Youth Radio, a nonprofit station whose programs are run and produced by young people, learned to design educational mobile apps and interactive Web features.

Gameheads, which preps young people from diverse backgrounds for careers in the gaming industry, showcased nearly a dozen students who are creating socially conscious video games that deal with issues of teenage self-doubt and the political minefield of immigration.

Hidden Genius Project, which trains and mentors black male youths, and developer boot camp Hack the Hood, which focuses on low-income students of color, are already working with Oakland Unified.

The goal, Shorall said, is to have computer science classes in every elementary, middle and high school by 2020.

“There are 12-year-olds out here who built a game or are doing VR stuff, and I have to be responsive to that kid when they get back to school,” she said. “We need to be able to push that kid’s growth and development, while also keeping in mind there are a lot of kids we work with who weren’t in that room. How do we get them engaged, too?”

Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Marissa_Jae