I've been letting the kids explore Scratch on their own using the Scratch cards. Yesterday I walked them through step-by-step how to create a video game. I explained to them some of the "blocks" I used and why I used them. This example shows two different Sprites interacting, along with a stage. Here is the game:
Anthony's ChallengeHow do you make a Sprite roll across the stage?
bonus: Can you make the Sprite roll - following the cursor? bonus bonus: Can you make the Sprite roll in different directions based on keyboard keys (e.g. L for left, R for right)? Last week the students learned that applications tell a computer what to do. They found out that applications have to be very specific in order to get things to work the way you imagined. This week they will be introduced to a kid-friendly programming environment called Scratch which was developed by MIT.
Today students are going to learn the terms Hardware, Software, Computer and Applications through an activity. Students will pair up. One student will be the computer and the other the application. The computer will have a blank piece of paper and pencil. The application will have a drawing that the computer can't see. The application will tell the computer what to draw by using words like "shapes" and "locations". The results are always entertaining.
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May 2013
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Photo used under Creative Commons from missycaulk