"Scratch is a programming language that makes it
easy to create your own
interactive stories, animations, games, music,
and art -- and share your creations on the web.
"As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn
important
mathematical and
computational ideas, while also learning to
think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively." (Sounds a lot like the Common Core doesn't it?)
The video below demonstrates how well young students can develop their using Scratch.
The video below was actually created by a second grader.
Mitch Resnick: Let's teach kids to code
Coding isn’t just for computer whizzes, says Mitch
Resnick of MIT Media Lab -- it’s for everyone. In a fun, demo-filled
talk Resnick outlines the benefits of teaching kids to code, so they can
do more than just “read” new technologies -- but also create them. (Filmed at TEDxBeaconStreet.)
Mitch Resnick directs the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT
Media Lab, dedicated to helping kids of all ages tinker and experiment
with design.
Young people today have lots of experience … interacting with new
technologies, but a lot less so of creating [or] expressing themselves
with new technologies. It's almost as if they can read but not write.” (Mitch Resnick)
KEVIN HONEYCUTT, nationally known educator and inspirational speaker for teachers says the following:
*) Give kids choices to show us what they know.
*) If kids all do it the same way we're building middle managers rather than problem solvers.
*) We as educators have to find ways for kids to launch and one of the best ways is by using new online, web 2.0 tools.
*) Teachers need to become "digital dumpster divers".
*) Technology could be used as clubs after school so kids can be geeks and nerds and great at something.
*) Show them and their work off and let parents see what they are doing and creating with tomorrow's tools.
*) A kid's dream can only be as big as his personal experience. We have to teach them to have bigger dreams.
*) Good teachers have to throw education where their students are going to be not where they are standing right this minute.
*) Kids are going to spend the rest of their lives in our future not in our past.
*) Teachers should never stop to find ways to make their students be amazing.
*) When teachers become learners again, they have a personal renaissance.
*) In every civilization they turn their tools into toys so the kids can rehearse.
*) Maybe kids can do it because they don't know that they can't.
*) Audience of one is not enough. Give them an authentic audience. Kids find a voice when they have an audience.
*) Good teachers plant the seeds of trees that they may never sit in the shade of.
*) Kids have to learn to love to learn
Can't the majority of these statements pertain to integrating technology into the classroom and the possibility of using Scratch as well?
And what about Computational Thinking?
What is Computational Thinking? Computational thinking (CT) involves a set of problem-solving
skills and techniques that software engineers use to write programs that underlie the
computer applications you use such as search, email, and maps. Here are specific
techniques.
-
Decomposition: When we taste an
unfamiliar dish and identify several ingredients based on the flavor, we are
decomposing that dish into its individual ingredients.
-
Pattern Recognition: People look
for patterns in stock prices to decide when to buy and sell.
-
Pattern Generalization
and Abstraction: A daily planner uses abstraction to represent
a week in terms of days and hours, helping us to organize our time.
-
Algorithm Design: When a chef writes
a recipe for a dish, she is creating an algorithm that others can
follow to replicate the dish.
All these techniques can be introduced with the introduction to Scratch.
