Developed by MIT Media Lab, Scratch is a free, easy-to-use programming tool to create stories, games, art, music, and animations. Students simply imagine, program, and share. Scratch projects are a great way to address 21st century information and technology skills while promoting creativity, problem-solving, reasoning, and collaboration. This popular and practical tool has applications across grade levels and content areas. Learn more at http://scratch.mit.edu/

From BASIC to XML, programming has been a part of the K-12 curriculum since the beginnings of computer literacy curriculum. However not since the introduction to Logo has there been an authoring program designed specifically for young people. While learning the basics of logic and structure, students are able to create practical, products that incorporate animation, multimedia and interactive elements.

Since the introduction of Logo back in the early 1980s, educators have sought easy-to-use authoring tools to teach programming concepts. MIT's Scratch is the latest of these tools.

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce Scratch as a practical programming tool that can easily be integrated across the curriculum or directly into the technology program. Participants will learn the basics of the software as well as ideas for classroom integration.

Objectives

Participants will be able to:

• Apply Scratch programming to the creation of simple projects.
  
• Create projects to address specific programming objectives.
  
• Integrate Scratch into content areas.
  
• Design projects for both basic and advanced programmers.
  
• Compare Scratch with other programming options.
  
• Design a plan for integrating Scratch into the curriculum.

Outline

The following outline highlights the key ideas. Specific examples will be available at my website on a workshop page at http://www.eduscapes.com/sessions/scratch/

• Introduce Scratch resources and examples
  
• Hands-on: Explore and evaluate Scratch examples
  
• Introduce Structure and Logic of Scratch
  
• Hands-on: Create a basic project in Scratch
  
• Introduce Animation, Multimedia and Interactive Elements
  
• Hands-on: Incorporate Animation, Multimedia and Interactive Elements
  
• Introduce Sharing and Web 2.0 Elements
  
• Hands-on: Share project at Scratch website
  
• Introduce Scratch Teaching and Learning Communities
  
• Discussion: Design a plan for Scratch integration

Learn More

• The Logo Foundation
• Research and Papers. http://info.scratch.mit.edu/Research
• Paper, Seymour (1980). Mindstorms.
• Rice, John (2007). Programmed to Learn (PDF). Tech Edge.