It took longer than expected to get the third post going. The previous post introduced Lightbot which is a cool kit for getting kids to learn concepts of programming on a mobile device or tablet. This time I’ll show you how to scratch the surface of programming with Scratch.
In 2003 Lifelong Kindergarten Group at Media Lab at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) developed Scratch, a desktop software aimed at a range of educational and entertainment purpose. It promotes collaboration and allows mixing of various projects. It is said that the name Scratch comes from the DJ mixing techniques used with turntables.
Since 2007, Scratch is all online, web based, no need to install anything, just grab a laptop (something about a kid’s laptop coming soon in another post), and it is game on!
So what is Scratch?
Head out to Scratch website and check out for yourself. There are help cards, FAQs to get going. If you get stuck, leave a comment below or on our facebook page and I’ll help you out.
If you like TED Talks, you must see this. This is from the creator of Scratch. My a-ha moment was when he talks about how a kid is excited about learning the concept of a Variable in computing. I don’t recall I ever got excited with concept of Variable because I was taught in this way:
“In computer programming, a variable or scalar is a storage location paired with an associated symbolic name (an identifier), which contains some known or unknown quantity or information referred to as a value. The variable name is the usual way to reference the stored value; this separation of name and content allows the name to be used independently of the exact information it represents. The identifier in computer source code can be bound to a value during run time, and the value of the variable may thus change during the course of program execution.” – Definition of Variable from Wikipedia.
If this is how a kid is explained the concept of Variable, I don’t expect a response which can be remotely related to excitement, may be first signs of fear of programming will start to appear.
Here is the Talk:
“Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. See https://scratch.mit.edu“.
