I teach a Scratch _club_ (grades 5-7) -- less structured than a class --
but in case it's helpful ...
I created the web site below so that my club members could each work at
different levels, on their own, to learn basic Scratch skills.
The Web site contains "lessons" that walk kids through small projects by
posing leading questions and providing hints. There are few answers on the
site, but if you want answers I can send you some.
The site sections are listed in the middle column of the home page. The
kids begin with the "Getting Started" section to learn how to do some
basic tasks in Scratch. After that, they go to "Drawing," "Games," or
"Stories" for slightly more advanced projects. I'm still adding to the
site.
One thing to note: I have found it most effective organize my teaching
around common tasks that kids want to do in Scratch rather than around
programming commands ("if," "forever," etc.) In other words, I organize
the lessons in a sequence like making a ball bounce off all the walls or
making a sprite move with the arrow keys rather than organizing them
around programming commands like "forever," "if," and so on. I find that
the kids understand the commands and structure of programming very quickly
via a project-oriented approach.
Finally, like many other teachers, I'm still struggling with how to keep
the kids from branching off wildly into their own projects at the cost of
learning the basics. To their credit, almost all the kids I've taught
start programming on their own about 5 minutes after opening Scratch. I
love that. I also try to help them understand that (as always) things will
go faster if we balance a "discovery" approach with some disciplined
learning. :-)
http://pikesprites.edublogs.org/
All best,
Terry
. . .
Terry Dash
Director of Technology
Pike School
A forum for independent school educators <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> writes:
>We are going to offer a Scratch programming class with some 6th graders
>after Spring break. None of us have ever taught the program- we are
>starting from scratch (pun intended, sorry). I have downloaded lots of
>goodies to look at over Spring Break, but was wondering if anyone has a
>course syllabus, scope and sequence, or day by day sequence we could look
>at to guide us in teaching this. Thanks so much.
>
>:) Laurie
>
>Laurie Yalem
>Technology Coordinator
>Churchill Center & School for Learning Disabilities
>1021 Municipal Center Dr.
>Town & Country, MO 63131
>314-997-4343
>lyalem@churchillstl.org
>www.churchillstl.org
>
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