Scratch coding activities expressing content as interactive illustrations, games, or stories¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The deck proposes Scratch as a block-based coding environment for content-area algorithm lessons, stating "Students will use Scratch to code: Rock Cycle, Animal Ecosystems, Story retellings or new endings". It notes that "Content can be expressed through an interactive illustration, game or story", and references a YouTube video tutorial. The activities let students represent science and literacy content through programmed artifacts.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Teachers and students need access to Scratch and the referenced YouTube video tutorial

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• Students in grades 3-8 in science and literacy content areas

Target Learning Goals¶

• Expressing content knowledge such as the rock cycle, ecosystems, and narrative retellings through programmed interactive artifacts

Related Elements¶

• App Inventor community-problem app projects with storyboarding
• Codable maze unplugged lesson for shortest-distance algorithms across content areas
• CT Boosters: 30-minute algorithmic-thinking professional learning sessions for grades 3-8
• ScratchJR app for young children to build interactive stories and games
• Code.org CS Fundamentals unplugged lessons: Dice Race, My Robotic Friends, Paper Planes, Plant a Seed, Tangrams
• Scratch block-based programming language and sharing ecosystem
• Eksploratoryòm: story-based, culturally relevant interactive STEM lessons in Haitian Creole integrating literacy and SEL

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Computational Thinking Boosters: Algorithmic Thinking 3-8. (2021). Presentation dated Jan. 12, 2021, supported by NSF grant award #1923314. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1923314