The challenge was to teach SCRATCH to a group of 4th and 5th graders. What happened after an hour of giving the students the basics was amazing. Giving the students the remaining 20 minutes of our meeting to "play" around with the program, they were teaching us.
This was a powerful moment. With the possibilities endless as to what they could accomplish, the students found ways to incorporate their own voices and make seemless moves with their sprite's. The goal is for this group of students to create a collective presentation using this program for an upcoming MESA competition in April '08. The ultimate goal for me is to expose these students to a world of creativity and collaboration to reach a collective goal.
With laptops in hand, headphones and mics on head, and smiles on their faces, these students used their creative minds to explore the program with no boundaries. The feeling after the meeting was one of hope and expectation.
After I become more familiar with the ins and outs, I will begin to incorporate SCRATCH into the Science curriculum. This is a true example of collaboration in our education system. Believe me... these students will teach me everything there is to know about SCRATCH. I am looking forward to learning.
2 comments:
I played around with SCRATCH a few months ago but haven't tried it in the classroom. I'm curious - What are your ideas for incorporating SCRATCH into the science curriculum?
David,
I have come up with many ideas from the creation and publishing of video based productions for groups teaching others certain concepts. Right now my focus is on actually learning the software and preparing the MESA students for the competition.
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