My daughters, Sarah and Rachel, recorded this fourteen minute Cinchcast with me today discussing their initial experiences learning how to create with Scratch software from MIT. They discussed learning how to move Sprites, about costumes, loops, coordinate geometry basics, and more. Download Scratch for free from scratch.mit.edu.
Scratch resources from my Fall 2010 undergraduate course, “Computers in the Classroom,” are available on wiki.powerfulingredients.com/Home/cic/resources/scratch.
Cross-posted to Learning Signs.
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creativity, free, fun, learning, scratch, software, mit
Comments
2 responses to “Learning about Scratch Basics (a podcast interview with 7 and 10 year olds)”
Great sharing. Thanks to Rachel and Sarah to giving us some insights. I keep thinking about how to bring Scratch into the classroom.
Kevin
I’ll pass along your compliments, Kevin. Thanks.
One of the best resources I found last semester for thinking about how to use / integrate scratch was this page about Scratch project types on the Scratch wiki. It gives a good overview of what is possible. This semester I may have my preservice teachers work in groups to identify projects in each category and share them. Scratch is such an open environment… I think many of my students were intimidated by that. It’s important to get a better idea of the different things that are possible… perhaps that awareness can then lead to uses in different areas of the curriculum.
The biggest keys I think are encouraging students to create and share what they’ve learned. I’m hoping to start an after-school Scratch club at my youngest’s elementary school next year, once we figure out where we’re going to relocate in the OKCPS district.