Scratch it up

MIT, the technical wizards of the United States, developed a programming language called Scratch. It's not for super dorks writing code all day long so they can feel smarter than anyone else. It was designed with education in mind. I am in favor of teaching computer programming as a skill in school but not so they can program a computer for the rest of their lives. Believe it or not, knowing a computer language isn't that important - it's understanding the process of program development that is. Anyone can learn syntax, but the great programmers know how to manipulate commands to do what they want . They are the mad scientists of the computer world.

Relying on rote language and syntax restricts some students from learning well. I previously taught in a large urban district with a high ELL population (that's English Language Learners). I had bright, hard working kids whose grades didn't always reflect that because they didn't have a commanding grasp of English.

Enter Scratch. Students learn problem solving, developmental process, cause/effect, game theory, artistic themes, animation... all without relying on language because of how Scratch is applied.

It's also versatile. You can create animated scenes, slide shows, games - my favorite because of it's nostalgia is a perfect recreation of Nintendo's Duck Hunt, click the screen to go there.



Awesome. As big a Nintendo geek as I was, this is impressive. But it's not just recreating my childhood, Scratch opens the door for students and teachers to use it to teach concepts and skills in a constructive, interactive and authentic way.

I'll leave you with a project I created for the purpose of explaining RSS feeds. Let me know what you think.


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