SCRATCH: FOUNDATIONS OF CODING THROUGH PROJECT DESIGN
Developing Computational Fluency
Computational Thinking,
Habits of Mind,
and Student Agency
2
“Computational fluency involves not only an understanding of computational concepts and problem-solving strategies, but also the ability to create and express oneself with digital technologies.”
-Mitch Resnick
3
Developing Computational Fluency
4
Habits of Mind
Student Agency
Computational Thinking
Computational Thinking
A New Framework for Studying and Assessing the Development of Computational Thinking by Mitch Resnick and Karen Brennan
5
Computational Thinking
Concepts
The concepts that designers employ as they program.
Practices
The practices designers develop as they program
Perspectives
The perspectives designers form about the world around them and about themselves
6
Computational Thinking Concepts
7
Computational Thinking Practices
8
Computational Thinking Perspectives
9
16 Habits of Mind
Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick
10
16 Habits of Mind
“The Habits of Mind are an identified set of 16 problem solving, life related skills, necessary to effectively operate in society and promote strategic reasoning, insightfulness, perseverance, creativity and craftsmanship. The understanding and application of these 16 Habits of Mind serve to provide the individual with skills to work through real life situations that equip that person to respond using awareness (cues), thought, and intentional strategy in order to gain a positive outcome.”
-After Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick,
Habits of Mind: A Developmental Series, Copyright © 2000
11
Student Agency
13
Student Agency - What it is.
Student agency refers to learning through activities that are meaningful and relevant to learners, driven by their interests, and often self-initiated with appropriate guidance from teachers. To put it simply, student agency gives students voice and often, choice, in how they learn.
14
Student Agency - What it isn’t.
15
Student Agency - Why?
Student agency gives students a stake in choosing from opportunities provided for them. Their ability to make a decision triggers a greater investment of interest and motivation.
16
Student Agency - What it looks like.
Students have been learning about biographies in library class. They are asked to interview a family member about their life and experiences. Students are asked to create a Scratch project to present the information from their interviews. They can choose to create a “day in the life” project, a quiz, an interactive collage, video game, write a short story, reenact the interview like a talk show, or present the information in any other creative way as long as they program it in Scratch.
Developing Computational Fluency
18
Habits of Mind
Student Agency
Computational Thinking
1.
INTRODUCTION AND GETTING STARTED
19
Getting Started with Scratch
Tips and Suggestions for Using Scratch in Your Classroom
20
Creative Computing Curriculum
Designed by the Creative Computing Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
https://creativecomputing.gse.harvard.edu/guide/curriculum.html
21
Your Students’ Scratch Accounts
22
Scratch Studios
23
Commenting Suggestions
24
Reflecting
Scratch Surprise
What can you make happen in Scratch?
Habit of Mind: Take Responsible Risks, Finding Humor, Thinking Interdependently
26
Step-by-Step Instructions
Can you follow directions then build off what you know?
Student Agency: How can you support your students by teaching skills without creating "cookie cutter" projects and still promote creativity?
27
10-Block Challenge
What can you create only using these 10 blocks?
Student Agency: How might different students react to the idea of creating with constraints? What might this tell you about how students learn?
Habit of Mind: Thinking Flexibly
28
Testing and Debugging 1
Can you fix a “buggy” program?
Computational Thinking Practice: Testing and Debugging
Habit of Mind - Thinking about your thinking
29
Interactive Collage
How can you combine interesting images and sounds to make an interactive collage about yourself/topic?
Student (Teacher) Agency: An interactive collage can be a great way for students to present information about a topic. Think about an activity or project in your class where you could have students create an Interactive Collage as a presentation.
Computational Thinking Concept: Events, parallelism, sequence
30
2.
EXPRESSING YOURSELF THROUGH SCRATCH
31
Programmed to Dance
Unplugged activity
Several activities you could try
Computational Thinking Practice: Abstracting and Modularizing (Express a complex activity using a sequence of simple instructions)
Habit of Mind: Finding Humor
32
Make Music
How can you utilize Scratch to create sounds, instruments, bands, or styles of music that represent the music that you love?
This might be a fun activity to tie in with
MakeyMakey
Computational Thinking Perspective: Expressing
Computational Thinking Concepts: sequences, loops, events, and parallelism
Habit of Mind: Managing your Impulsivity
33
Make Digital Art
How can you use Scratch to create an art project?
Orange Square Purple Circle -or- Pen Tool and Geometry
Computational Thinking Perspective: Expressing
Computational Thinking Practice: Experimenting and Iterating.
Habit of Mind: Applying past knowledge to new situations
34
Animate It!
How can you take an image or an object and make it come alive?
Students use the paint editor to manipulate a sprite’s costumes to create a moving animation.
Student agency: Some students are particularly interested in developing animation projects and prefer to spend their time drawing and designing sprites, costumes, or backdrops. It is important to engage these students in both the aesthetic and technical aspects of their project.
Computational Thinking Concept: loops and parallelism
35
Testing and Debugging 2
Students continue their problem solving skills.
Habits of Mind: Persisting, Thinking Interdependently, and Striving for Accuracy.
36
Greeting Card, Music Video, or Quiz
I introduce this project every year to all three grade levels. Each year, the card they create becomes more sophisticated and requires additional coding skills.
Student Agency: students have a lot of choices to make while creating.
Habit of Mind: Creating, Imagining, Innovating
37
Greeting Card, Music Video, or Quiz Project
3.
STORYTELLING IN SCRATCH
38
Conversations
What are different ways to coordinate interactions between sprites?
Broadcasting can be a difficult concept for students to understand.
Computational Thinking Concepts: events, sequence
Computational Thinking Practice: Reusing and Remixing
Student Agency: students can extend this project using their own jokes or riddles. They learn, through experience, that there are times when the wait command works, but broadcasting can be more efficient.
39
Scenes
What is the difference between a stage and a sprite?
Students create a project with several backdrops, like a story with multiple scenes. They experiment with the different blocks related to backdrops.
Computational Thinking Concepts: events, parallelism
Computational Thinking Practice: Experimenting and Iterating
Habit of Mind: Thinking Flexibly
40
Make a Block
Do you want to make your own Scratch blocks?
The Make a Block feature can be used anytime you want to repeat a procedure in Scratch.
Computational Thinking Concept: data, operator, sequence
Habit of Mind: Thinking Flexibly
41
Testing and Debugging 3
Students continue their problem solving skills.
Habits of Mind: Persisting, Thinking Interdependently, Striving for Accuracy, and Thinking About Your Thinking
42
Tell a Story (Brainstorming)
How can you use Scratch to express your ideas?
Habits of Mind: Creating, Imagining Innovating, Communicating with Clarity and Precision, Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations
Student Agency: Students create stories that are unique to their topic.
43
Tell a Story (Storyboarding)
Modify or duplicate slide as needed
Scene 1 (background image)
Scene 2 (background image)
Scene 3 (background image
44
Scene 1 Sprites/Dialogue/Story
Pseudo Code: What do you need to program?
Scene 2 Sprites/Dialogue/Story
Pseudo Code: What do you need to program?
Scene 3 Sprites/Dialogue/Story
Pseudo Code: What do you need to program?
Tell a Story (Reflection)
What are some lessons or units you currently teach where you can have students present information or tell a story using Scratch? What resources do you already have available to you related to the storytelling process?
45
4.
SCRATCH VIDEO GAME DESIGN
46
Video Game Design
While this unit is based upon the Creative Computing Curriculum Unit 5, my colleague created this great resource that she printed out and laminated for students. It combines storytelling with video game design.
47
Starter Games
Through starter games, students learn the basics of programming game mechanics.
48
Variables
To learn how to program a score into a game, students remix the Fish Chomp game. Before programming, they first analyze the existing code and add comments to tell what each part of the code does. Then they need to figure out where to place variable blocks to keep score when the big fish eats the little fish.
Then students choose one of their starter projects to remix and program a score variable into it.
Computational Thinking Practices: Reusing and Remixing, Abstracting and Modularizing
49
Game Enhancements
There are many things students can add to their game to make it more interesting or challenging.
50
Testing and Debugging 4
Students continue their problem solving skills.
Habits of Mind: Persisting, Thinking Interdependently, Striving for Accuracy, Applying Past Knowledge to CUrrent Situations, and Thinking About Your Thinking
51
Video Game Arcade
Once students finish programming their games, they add them to a class studio where they are evaluated by one another using a class-created rubric. Then they vote on their favorite.
The winners from each class then are put into another studio where the whole grade level votes for their favorite.
Student Agency: Students create the scoring tool as a class - hold one another accountable and provide meaningful feedback.
52
21 Day Getting Unstuck Challenges
53
Scratch Cards
54
Additional Resources
55
Questions?
Shad Wachter rswachter@southfayette.org
Follow me on Scratch: shad647
Follow us on Twitter: @SFIS_Steamlab
Link to presentation: Scratch: Foundations of Coding through Project Design
Survey Links:
Certificate of attendance (i.e. Act 48) to be submitted to your district: https://forms.gle/RfUiQxDBX4h2daLz6
Feedback for the PASmart grant on today’s Ignite Talk: https://forms.gle/gxGX45KXi9cLjYQX8
56