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Reflections on Creative Computing Reunion 2012 - Saturday, January, 21, 2012

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ScratchEd Team
Administrator
January 24, 2012

The 2012 Creative Computing Reunion was a day-long event at MIT that brought together educators from the 2009, 2010, and 2011 Creative Computing summer workshops, as well as some special guests who joined us.

Here's a recap and some reflections from the reunion...

Attendees
If you'd like to contact someone you met at the event, click on their name below to leave a message on their profile page.

Recap
Despite a snowstorm, 27 educators gathered at MIT for the reunion. After a speed networking activity and a huge WELCOME BACK from Karen and Mitch, the group launched into morning breakout sessions. Four groups emerged:

  • Intro to Scratch - During this session, led by Mitch, those who were new to Scratch or wanted a refresher course were able to gain hands-on experience building interactive collage in Scratch.
  • Rubric Review - A group of educators from Suffern, NY are developing an assessment to accompany the Scratch curriculum guide draft and they organized this session to receive feedback on their rubric.
  • Scratch/CS/Java Course Connections - Frank and Stacy led this session to discuss how to make connections between the learning that their students are experiencing with Scratch and Java programming.
  • Scratch Activity Design - Ron, Michelle, and several other educators took this time to brainstorm activities and challenges that might help engage students who are stuck or are struggling to make personal connections with Scratch.

After lunch, we had the pleasure of hearing a wide variety of presentations during Show & Tell:

  • Frank discussed strategies for engaging both boys and girls in his class and shared some of the types of projects they created.
  • Jennifer talked about how she uses the Scratch website during class with her 8th graders.
  • Eleanor started a discussion around creating electronic design journals.
  • Claire shared projects that were designed by her fourth graders while learning about lists and variables.
  • Ron shared his experiences working to engage students about the coordinate graph using Scratch.
  • Anne Marie presented games created by 7th and 8th graders during an enrichment course.
  • Ernest shared a sample Scratch project that one of his students created during summer camp.
  • David presented an assessment rubric that he and his colleagues are currently developing to complement their Scratch curriculum unit.
  • Debbie showed a project she developed that creates melodies in Scratch.
  • Julianne presented a draft project and requested feedback on behalf of one of her 5th grade students.
  • Ryan presented student projects that were designed to use lists.
  • Lorraine shared projects made by her K-6 students that illustrate creating, communicating, and collaborating with Scratch.

After Show & Tell, we held two more breakout sessions, each lasting 30-minutes. During the first 30-minute period, sessions offered included: 

  • EDC/MIT Instrument Design - In this session, Francisco and Karen presented an assessment tool currently in development to evaluate the types of computational thinking skills that students develop while working with Scratch.
  • Intro to Curriculum Guide - Aaron and Michelle invited educators to learn more about the Scratch Curriculum Guide draft and share their experiences from using the guide.

The second set of breakout sessions covered:

  • Scratch Website - Jennifer led a group discussion around what challenges and opportunities might arise from integrating the Scratch website as part of the curriculum.
  • Connecting the Physical World - Mitch presented different tools that help make connections between Scratch and the physical world such as the LEGO WeDo Robotics Kit, PicoBoard, and Xbox Kinect.

Resources
Each participant received a Scratch Starter Kit which includes a copy of the Scratch curriculum guide, Scratch Cards, Scratch Cat stickers, a Scratch pin and other resources.

Future Events
We hope to see you a future event. Here are some of the upcoming ScratchEd events:

Keep in Touch
Don't forget to keep in touch!


Thanks again to everyone who participated this year and we're look forward to seeing you at the next reunion!
Sincerely,
The Creative Computing Team