Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Podcast446: Reflections on a PBS Scratch Jr Coding Camp for Kids

Coding is an important literacy skill we need to introduce to everyone in the 21st century! This podcast features reflections by Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) following a PBS Scratch Jr. Coding Camp for Kids in Edmond, Oklahoma, on September 17, 2016. It also includes some recorded audio from Shelly’s lessons during the workshop for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. The coding camp was sponsored by The Div (@thedivorg), a local 501c3 nonprofit “dedicated helping the next generation thrive through access to technology education.” According to its official website, “ScratchJr is an introductory programming language that enables young children (ages 5-7) to create their own interactive stories and games. Children snap together graphical programming blocks to make characters move, jump, dance, and sing. Children can modify characters in the paint editor, add their own voices and sounds, even insert photos of themselves — then use the programming blocks to make their characters come to life.
ScratchJr was inspired by the popular Scratch programming language (http://scratch.mit.edu), used by millions of young people (ages 8 and up) around the world. In creating ScratchJr, we redesigned the interface and programming language to make them developmentally appropriate for younger children, carefully designing features to match young children’s cognitive, personal, social, and emotional development. ScratchJr is available as a free app for both iPad and Android tablets. For more information about ScratchJr, see http://scratchjr.org.” PBS Scratch Jr. was introduced in December 2015 and is an official version of the original app but includes familiar and favorite characters from PBS Kids. Check out our podcast shownotes for referenced links to all the videos and resources used in this Kids Coding Camp and mentioned in our podcast.

Shownotes:

  1. Tutorial videos and resource links from September 17, 2016 “PBS Scratch Jr. Coding Camp” in Edmond, Oklahoma
  2. Photos from PBS Scratch Jr. Coding Camp (Flickr album)
  3. PBS Scratch Jr app
  4. Scratch Jr. (main website)
  5. About Scratch Jr.
  6. The Div (@thedivorg)
  7. Why Tech Education Matters: The Div 2016 Promo Video
  8. PBS Kids Scratch Jr Code Camp In Edmond
  9. Follow Shelly Fryer on Twitter: @sfryer
  10. Shelly Fryer’s Classroom Website
  11. Shelly Fryer’s Teacher Blog
  12. Tutorial Video: Introduction to PBS Scratch Jr. (6:52) by @sfryer
  13. Tutorial Video: Create a Simple Race Game Animation in Scratch Jr (4:26) by @wfryer
  14. Tutorial Video: Moving Game using Scratch Jr (13:09) by @Baggiepr
  15. Showcase Video: PBS ScratchJr Passion Project – 4th grade (3:40) by @sfryer
  16. Tutorial Video: Creating a Conversation in the PBS Scratch Jr App (7:30) by @sfryer
  17. Tutorial Video: Create a Maze Game in PBS Scratch Jr. (12:07)by @wfryer
  18. Book: “How to Teach Primary Programming Using Scratch: Teacher’s Handbook” by Phil Bagge @Baggiepr
  19. Book: “Programming in the Primary Grades: Beyond the Hour of Code” by Sam Patue (@sampatue)

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With 1 of the developers of the PBS Scra by Wesley Fryer, on Flickr
With 1 of the developers of the PBS Scratch Jr. App” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer
PBS Scratch Jr Coding Camp by Wesley Fryer, on Flickr
PBS Scratch Jr Coding Camp” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer
We Love the PBS Scratch Jr app! by Wesley Fryer, on Flickr
We Love the PBS Scratch Jr app!” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

All past “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” podcast episodes are archived, dating back to August 2005.

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