Scratch dovetails easily into NGSSLearn to Code; Code to Learn

Greg Beutler – Director of TechsCool.org

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What Can Learning to Code Do for Students?

•Learn mathematical and computational ideas

•Learn process of design

•21st Century learning skills-analyzing-collaborating-communicating clearly-logical thinking

•In a meaningful and motivating context

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Computing Perspectives For Students

Perspective Description

Expressing Realizing that computation is a medium of creation“I can create.”

Connecting Recognizing the power of creating with and for others“I can do different things when I have access to others.”feeling empowered to ask questions about the world

Questioning “I can (use computation to) ask questions to make sense of (computational things in) the world.”

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C++ code Scratch Code

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Scratch by MIT

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How does Scratch Support STEM?

• Scratch language supplies a myriad of learning tools to teach coding and creative computing.

• Covers all major coding concepts• Creative Computing– supports the development of personal

connections to computing by drawing upon creativity, imagination, and interests.

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How does Scratch Support Computational Learning?

• Students explore games by creating projects that define goals and rules.

• Students learn computational concepts of conditionals, operators, and data

• Students learn computational practices of testing and debugging code are highlighted.

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How does Scratch Support STEAM?

•Students explore the arts by creating projects that include elements of music, design, drawing, and dance.

•The computational concepts of sequence and loops and the computational practices of being iterative and incremental are highlighted.

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“Along with the traditional thinking skills, it is now essential to add:Many media, creating, making connections, approaching a subject sideways, or solving a problem from the inside out– in other words, the kind of thinking fluent enough to come up with the innovations the future will demand”

-Marcus & Monday 2009http://www.newworldkids.org/authors/

Collaboration with peers using research, critical review, creating and presenting prepares students for a future of innovation and creativity

Collaboration is Essential

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Scratch by MIT

Introduction Students are introduced to creative computing and Scratch, through sample projects and hands-on experiences.

Arts Students explore the arts by creating projects that include elements of music, design, drawing, and dance.The computational concepts of sequence and loops, and the computational practices of being iterative and incremental are highlighted.

Stories Students explore storytelling by creating projects that include characters, scenes, and narratives.The computational concepts of parallelism and events and the computational practices of reusing and remixing are highlighted.

Games Students explore games by creating projects that define goals and rules.The computational concepts of conditionals, operators, and data, and the computational practices of testing and debugging are highlighted.

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Computational Concepts

Concept Description

sequence identifying a series of steps for a task

loops running the same sequence multiple times

parallelism making things happen at the same time

events one thing causing another thing to happen

conditionals making decisions based on conditions

operators support for mathematical and logical expressions

data storing, retrieving, and updating values

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Computational Practices

Practice Description

being iterative and incremental developing a little bit, then trying it out, then developing some more

testing and debugging making sure that things work – and finding and fixing mistakes

reusing and remixing making something by building on what others – or you – have done

abstracting and modularizing building something large by putting together collections of smaller parts

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Computational Perspectives

Perspective Description

expressingrealizing that computation is a medium of creation“I can create.”

connectingrecognizing the power of creating with and for others“I can do different things when I have access to others.”

questioningfeeling empowered to ask questions about the world“I can (use computation to) ask questions to make sense of (computational things in) the world.”

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Computational Components in Scratch

Variable

LoopRandom number

Conditionals

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Computational Thinking

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The standards emphasize understanding of concepts hands-on practices such as:

•defining problems •asking questions•designing investigations •analyzing data•using evidence to draw conclusions

Next Generation Science Standards for Today’s StudentsScratch dovetails easily into NGSS

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MIT’s Scratch supports Proposed NGSS Standards for 5,6,7,8th Grades

ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

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NGSS using Scratch CCSS.MATH.CONTENT5.G.B.4Geometry

Glide with cat on XGlide with cat on Yhttp://scratch.mit.edu/projects/21016789/#editor

Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.G.A.1

Understand that the first number indicates how far to travel from the origin in the direction of one axis, and the second number indicates how far to travel in the direction of the second axis, with the convention that the names of the two axes and the coordinates correspond

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NGSS using Scratch

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• Like training wheels computer scaffolding enables learners to do more advanced activities and to engage in more advanced thinking and problem solving than they could without such help.(NRC, 2000, p.214)

• One of the best ways to introduce Scratch is to give students a set of fun challenges that scaffold their learning of basic concepts and skills.

• According to (Alber,2011) "Scaffolding is breaking up the learning into chunks and then providing a tool, or structure, with each chunk" (par. 2).

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Scaffolding

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• Start with an interesting and appropriate level Scratch game, animation or project and break it up into chunks(challenges or explorations).

• Provide support (teacher does student watches/helps) and a challenge (student does teacher watches/helps) for each chunk.

• Create objectives for each chunk.• Challenges can be completed individually, in

pairs or groups.

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Scaffold learning with Scratch:

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Dodge ball Game and Scaffolding

• Each challenge should be designed to introduce a new skill or concept.

• Challenges should be sequenced from easy to more difficult in a way where they build on each other to complete a project (game, animation, story, etc.).

• Challenges don't always necessarily need to be done in order.• Solutions to challenges may differ.

We can break the dodge ball game up into 8 learning chunks: screen position, direction, movement, random movement, following the mouse cursor, sensing, broadcasting, and broadcasting in action.

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Dodge ball on Scratch

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Dodge ball Game and Scaffolding

• Scratch Code• Screen Position• Provide support by

introducing the following: position on the screen, position variables,

• XY coordinate system, and directed numbers.

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Dodge ball Game and Scaffolding

• Direction • Challenge• Get the ball to say its screen

address(position) using the following blocks:

• Provide support by introducing the following: sprite direction

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Dodge ball Game and Scaffolding

• Movement • Challenge• Get a ball to start at the middle top of

the screen and fall to the bottom, and then bounce back up again. Use these blocks:

• Provide support by introducing the three motion blocks: go to, glide, and move.

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Learning is High, when engagement is high

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Educational ConceptsReflecting: Design notebook question

Creating: About me

Reflecting: Design Process

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Educational ConceptsReflecting: Design notebook question

• Create a game of yourself that you could represent through images or sound?

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Educational ConceptsCreating: About Me:

• Introduce students to the concept of the interactive collage, a Scratch project that represents aspects of themselves through clickable sprites.

• Optionally, show a couple of different interactive projects.

• Give students 35 minutes to work on their projects, with the handout available to provide guidance for blocks to experiment with.

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Educational ConceptsReflecting: Design Process

• Invite 2 or 3 students to share their projects and encourage others to ask questions about their design process:– What was your inspiration?– How did you do that?– What did you get stuck on? – How did you get unstuck?– What are you most proud of? Why?– What might you want to do next?

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Student Project

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STEM is FUN!

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STEM is critical for economic growth,

innovation, and employment. Our future demands STEM!

Did you know that the number of high schools offering AP computer science classes is down 35 percent since 2005?

Did you know that-- The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that by 2020 there will be more than 1.4 million computing-related job openings?

Did you know that--At current rates, however, only 30 percent of those jobs can be filled with U.S. computing bachelor's graduates?

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Thank You!

Greg Beutler – Director of TechsCool.orgPh:(714) 309-3092greg@techscool.org